"Unattached" Christians

The Barna Research Group, a Christian polling organization, identifies a small segment of the Christian population they call the “unattached.”  The unattached consider themselves to be Christian but without any personal interaction with a regularly-convened, mutually supportive faith community.   According to Barna, many of the unattached revel in their independence from church families and ecclesial structures.  
 
I am sure the reasons for being among the unattached varies, but probably a popular sentiment among them is, “Church wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for all those other Christians.”  Some of you reading this right now may hold this sentiment.
 
Let us look at this, however, from God’s perspective.  Consider why God created us in the first place.  In short, is to be in a loving relationship with Him and, by extension, in a loving relationship with each other.   We were created out of love to be the objects of God’s love.  Additionally we were created “in His image” and therefore called to love with that same unbounded, sacrificial, unconditional, divine love with which God first loved us (1 John4:19).  From this it would seem that stepping away from intentional fellowship of God’s people is not a very Godly option.  God did not create us to be Lone Ranger Christians.
 

To better understand this, look at where all of Scripture and Salvation History is pointing; that is, the destination or telos of redeemed humanity, to use the biblical Greek word for it.  Our destiny as God’s people is to be gathered into the full presence of,not only God, but each other... into what we call the Communion of Saints.   The Church here on Earth (what the Church Fathers called the Church Militant) is the embryo of the Communion of Saints in Heaven (the Church Triumphant).  In Christian community God is teaching us to love others as he first loved us.  In a way, to shun community now is to miss the dress rehearsal for that great gathering with the Communion of Saints