The statement in the title is one that seems to be the "new" reason on why many (who claim to be Christian) do not attend regular worship times or participate in a local church or congregation. The claim is that they believe in Jesus, but they really don't want any association with the organizations that have sprung up as part of God's Church in a more national or international sense.
I will admit that I have some sympathy when someone makes a claim like this. One of the sad realities is that organizations can forget their reason for existing, and start to make their continued existence of the utmost importance. When a church starts to exist simply to be a church (rather than to be the bearer of God's message of Good News), then a problem has developed. I can understand someone who wants the purpose of the church to be God in Christ Jesus, and not merely maintaining itself. The local congregation should not exist merely to exist, but to be the place where God's people are fed, encouraged, equipped, and prepared for their life and the circumstances of life.
However, there are also times where I am less than sympathetic to someone who would speak this phrase. Let's say that a person or family has found something or someone that they don't like within the congregation. Rather than make an effort to deal with the situation or person in a loving, grace-filled way, it may become easier to simply disassociate from the congregation, and then make this claim. In this situation, the claim is made simply because the person didn't want to go through the challenge of working through a disagreement or a struggle. In my mind, this equates to something like running away from a situation rather than dealing with it (which has led to all kinds of things in our society, such as high divorce rates, people changing jobs at a rapid rate, and other similar things), and so I tend to have less sympathy toward that person, simply because they are choosing not to deal with a situation rather than having a "problem" with the church or with God.
The reality is, we are all tempted to have our own version of our faith life. The way that God paints the picture, that is a very dangerous thing for us as Christians. The last verse of the book of the Judges in the Bible says that everyone was doing what seemed right in their own eyes, and in the context of that book of the Bible, this is a very disturbing thing. It's not the way God created us, since He created us for community, and to be in fellowship with each other. He created us to live in a community, which means that we have responsibilities to care for others around us, and at times, to put their needs as higher priority than our own. It means that we live by God's words and laws as we love our neighbor as ourselves. Keeping ourselves isolated in our faith life doesn't show that love to others, who may need our presence just as much as we need to hear God's message.
The thing that really strikes me about this statement is the selfishness that it seems to convey. It seems to make the claim that what I want and what I desire is far more important than being with my brothers and sisters in Jesus. Satan is the one who wants to isolate us from our brothers and sisters, who can encourage us, equip us, challenge us to grow beyond what we are now, but who, most importantly, can share the love of God and the forgiveness and life of Jesus with us.
There are always dangers when the need to organize comes up (which happens once more than one person is involved). Yet, God chose to make us part of a community, despite the dangers, because He knew of our need for each other. While I will always sympathize with someone who thinks this way, I will also challenge them to think about the reasons why they make this claim, and hopefully, lead them back into the local body of believers for the strengthening of their faith.
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