God organized His church to strengthen God’s people—and also to serve the world. The plain fact is, we can do far more together than we can as isolated individuals. Take just one example: the Seventh-day Adventist Church. We carry on an extensive medical work around the world—from inner-city health vans to clinics in remote islands of the South Pacific. Our educational institutions have brought tens of thousands of youth to a knowledge of a better life in Christ—from Loma Linda University, pioneering in heart transplants, to tiny mission schools scattered through the African interior. We carry on famine and disaster relief. Local churches in the U.S. and Canada help clothe and feed the poor and homeless at over 2000 Community Service Centers. And even more important, groups of Seventh-day Adventist believers are sharing the message of salvation through a soon-coming Saviour in more than 200 countries.

Could private religion have accomplished all this? Of course not. Only an organized group of dedicated Christians could have this worldwide impact.

Christ and the apostles emphasized the need for individual believers to work together.

“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable . . . its parts should have equal concern for each other . . . . Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
—1 Corinthians 12:21-27.

All parts of the body are not exactly alike, yet every segment is important and all must work together in harmony. An eye separated from the body can’t see. A hand cut off has no value. Whether we are an eye, a hand, or even only a finger, we can’t be truly effective for Christ totally on our own. Belonging to a church, being united to the other members of the body, strengthens us as Christians.