It was a Saturday evening, and October playoff baseball had inched its way into November. The Toronto Blue Jays had made their way to game seven of the 2025 World Series, and my family and I sat huddled around our TV, mirroring hundreds of thousands of households across Canada. After a charged and turbulent playoff run, including an 18-inning marathon of a game just a few nights prior, it all came down to this, winner take all.

I followed the play-by-play of the official TV broadcasters, but also the (arguablymore absorbing) running commentary on my Facebook news feed. When Bo Bichette hit his three-run homer early in the game, we all collectively cheered—high-fives in the living room, celebratory emojis in the comments section. When the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied, we collectively held our breath. And when the Blue Jays were defeated in extra innings, we shouldered the weight of disappointment together.

While it wasn’t the result we had hoped for, the Blue Jays playoff run brought my family, our community and our country together in a way that little else could.

Could we have watched the Blue Jays games by ourselves?

Throughout the playoffs, rather than siloing ourselves in various corners of the house, my family congregated together most evenings to cheer on our team. When I found myself at a ministry conference during the same time frame, my colleagues similarly came together to enjoy the game after a day of sessions, rather than retreat to our rooms. And suddenly, complete strangers had something positive to chat about on the bus or in line at the grocery store—and did we ever! 

Could we have watched the Blue Jays games by ourselves? Sure. But there was something about watching them together that made the experience that much more special. Without acknowledging it, we were each reminded of the beauty of shared experience.

It’s the same with our Christian experience.

In the days following the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing numbers of Christians became comfortable practising their faith on their own and disillusioned with corporate worship. But when we neglect meeting together as Christians, we risk missing out on fully experiencing all that God wants for us.

While God can surely meet us in moments of solitude, it should not be the only way we meet with him. Our three-in-one God designed for us to experience him in community, in the company of others, to share in our worship, exploration and discovery of him.

Biblical scholar and author Carmen Joy Imes explores this truth in her book Becoming God’s Family: Why the Church Still Matters. Reflecting on a family member’s desire to go it alone on his faith journey, she writes, “Perhaps we’d rather … embark on a personal quest for fulfilment. Instead, God calls us to be with and for each other. He invites us to serve and be served, to let our lives become entangled in healthy ways with other followers of Jesus.”

The New Testament authors use various metaphors to describe the church: we are the body of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 12), living stones built into a temple (see 1 Peter 2:5), members of God’s family and citizens of an alternative kingdom (see Ephesians 2:19). In each of these illustrations, there is an emphasis on individuals coming together to become something greater. This is God’s vision for his people. 

When we sing together, it brings unity of mind and heart. Studies have even shown that group singing significantly reduces stress and boosts mood and emotional resilience.

When we study the Bible together, we glean shared wisdom from perspectives and insights offered around the table. Iron sharpens iron, and even contradictory viewpoints can sharpen our faith as we learn to coexist in loving relationships.

And when we pray together, we experience mutual support and comfort, knowing that there are others lifting our joys and our needs to God. Burdens are lifted as we are reminded that we are not going through life’s struggles alone.

As Imes reminds us, “When we stop meeting together, we miss out on the possibility of the presence of God mediated in part by our brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Just as our excitement around the Blue Jays’ playoff run was heightened by experiencing it in community, so, too, is our awareness of God’s presence heightened when we come together to worship, study, pray and live life together.

Captain Laura Van Schaick is the corps officer at Barrhaven Church in Ottawa, and the territorial gender equity officer.

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