My Personal Trainer

As a missionary I get asked the question "why do we need an organized church?" a lot. As long as we are aware of God and seek to be good people, why do we need a "middle man"? Well, I must admit, it is a valid question, and so, I have begun to research it. I found my answer in two ways-scriptures and an analogy.
1-One reason we have a Church is because God commanded it. All throughout the Bible and Book of Mormon we learn of God calling prophets to set up and establish Christ's church "for the perfecting of the saints" (Ephesians 4:13). Christ tells Peter "upon this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18), the Old Testament speaks of "congregations", and Christ himself called 12 Apostles and set apart men to help Him bring others to Christ. Basically, Church was never man made, but God mandated. We have a church because God set one up for us, and He even names its purpose, "for the perfecting" of us. That leads me to reason number 2.
2-Many of us have had the chance to walk into a gym. In a gym we find people taking classes, lifting weights, running on the treadmill, and even those people that go just to check themselves out in the full size mirrors. A few of these people may have a personal trainer with them, showing them workouts that will best help them reach their fitness goals. To me the people who have chosen to have a personal trainer will get far more out of their gym experience then those going at it alone. They may reach many of their goals, but for the gym to have its best affect on them they need a personal trainer who has all the knowledge and tools under their belt to help personalize, motivate, and teach them how to use the gym to their best advantage. The personal trainer isn't a middle man or a roadblock in the gym members way of using the gym's facilities-he or she is only there to work with them as they use all the gym has to offer. This is exactly how I feel about Church. It is not that Church is in the middle of me and my relationship with God and His commandments. Rather, Church is there to work with me to fully understand God's dealings with His children, motivate, uplift, and help me reach my personal spiritual goals in an individual and real way. It is not a hindrance at all, rather, a blessing and a tool God has placed here for us. I don't need Church to have a good relationship with God, but I do need the Church to help me build the strongest relationship I can have with Him. I would feel ungrateful and horribly amiss to say I didn't need the help of the organization of Christ's Church to become all I can become-to reach my full potential. Otherwise, I would be selling myself short. I never could have learned what I have or had the strength to apply what I have learned without the help of church meetings, leaders, and the incredible Spirit I feel each time I enter the building. It has been my personal trainer, and I am eternally grateful for its role in my life; I would not be who I am without it.

Additional Information Church Organization/Attendance:
Bible Dictionary: Church
Bible Dictionary: Sabbath
3 Nephi 27:3-11
Leviticus 8:3-5 (example of congregations)
3 Nephi 18:1-25
Moroni 6:5-6
Doctrine and Covenants 59:9-15
Exodus 20:8-11
1 Corinthians 12
Mosiah 18:8-9, 25
Doctrine and Covenants 29:7-8
Alma 6:6
Matthew 18:20
John 10:16
Ephesians 2:19-20