There are many benefits of being a member of a local fellowship - IF that fellowship is being led by one who lives by the Scriptures and is doctrinally sound in their beliefs, but the main part of fellowship is to first know that you yourself have 'fellowship with GOD alone', so that you can discern something that isn't Scriptural elsewhere.
GOD only ordains men who are doctrinally and Biblically sound to be over His people and to come under the 'authority' of one who is not 'led by HIS Spirit' and stays within Biblical perimeters can be hazardous to one's confidence in The LORD Himself.
He speaks of us, 'individually' as -
1Pe 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light
... and praises the Bereans as being of the more noble sort that go home and search the Scriptures to see whether those things be true, that they heard from the preacher.
There are times when GOD will call us away and show us that we've depended on men, and sometimes in a church setting, to the degree that if they hurt us, that our relationship with Him is hurt and that our relationship with Him should never be affected by another human being - whether they be 'christian' or not.
Some don't realize how much their walk with GOD depended on them being at Church, until 'church' is taken from them. They either sink or swim when they either lose their church or their church lets them down, legitimately or Scripturally.
GOD wants us to be able to stand alone, because we are never guaranteed that there will always be someone there to hold our hand close to GOD's.
We, ourselves, need to have a good hold of Him before we'll be able to be affective Christians ourselves. If our relationship with Him is affected by what other 'christians' do to us - it's GOD's way of trying to tell us that we've depended on humans a bit more than we should and not in the most healthiest way.
How are we to discern 'who' are appointed by GOD Himself to be an Authority 'over us'? If that person isn't Scripturally sound or their behavior isn't Biblical, that is the clearest indication that they have appointed themselves to some position of authority over you and not GOD.
A shepherd/pastor leads the sheep by walking ahead of them and they follow by their own free will, His Christ-like example. If he is GOD ordained to that position, he will not abuse the sheep verbally or any other way and he gains respect for his humility and jealousy to walk according to sound teaching.
I've been under excellent Pastors for yrs and I've met some that were never ordained by GOD.
During the times that I had to endure mistreatment or watch these men mistreat others, I had to draw close to The LORD to endure and get through and to get away from these types. But under the good shepherds/pastors, the more we were with them, the closer we felt to Christ Himself, because that's Who they behaved like. The Good Shepherd of His Sheep.
Be careful who you submit to and just be certain that you are not ever tempted to leave the protective covering of your Loving Good Shepherd because of any human being.
Draw nigh unto GOD and He'll draw nigh unto you and make you stronger than you were before and lead you onto the path He would have you and your family to go.
Even if He leads you out of that particular fellowship, He'll help you to come out Better, not bitter. Loving their souls even the more in prayer, either way.
GOD bless you & yours with Himself. Amen.
