Is going to church necessary?

Yesterday I worshiped in my home church, First Southern Baptist Church of Terre Haute, Indiana. As an adult in a culture where I can choose to worship any place I like, there is something bracing about returning to a church I did not choose. My parents began attending this church when I was an infant, and as I grew up, we remained there because the Bible said that we should not forsake gathering together with other believers (Hebrews 10:25). The sermon at First Southern was on 1 Corinthians 8, and the pastor emphasized the first three verses: concerning knowledge that puffs up and divides, and love that builds up the church and its people.

In religious life, the knowledge that divides us can be doctrinal. However, other kinds of knowledge can prove a more subtle danger. If I know that some churches orchestrate their services with care, skill, and beauty, it can become difficult for me to worship in a service that does not come with a detailed outline and unswerving schedule. If I know that some buildings have stained glass, I might regret the plain sanctuary of a less affluent congregation. If I know that some Sunday school classes provoke lively, thoughtful discussion, I might resent other styles of teaching.

During his sermon, the pastor of First Southern mentioned a passage from C.S. Lewis's God in the Dock. In this essay, Lewis answers a number of questions about the Christian life. His response to the following question about the role of the church reminded me how important it is to humble knowledge--even right knowledge--to love:

 Question 16.
    Is attendance at a place of worship or membership with a Christian community necessary to a Christian way of life?

Lewis:
    That's a question which I cannot answer. My own experience is that when I first became a Christian, about fourteen years ago, I thought that I could do it on my own, by retiring to my rooms and reading theology, and I wouldn't go to the churches and Gospel Halls; [...] If there is anything in the teaching of the New Testament which is in the nature of a command, it is that you are obliged to take the Sacrament, and you can't do it without going to Church. I disliked very much their hymns, which I considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as I went on I saw the great merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit bean peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren't fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit. (God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994. 61-62)

How would you answer the question Lewis tackles? Is attending church and belonging to a Christian community necessary for the Christian life?