What is Church?
Our church planting course has really been stretching me - getting me outside my comfort zone but not for the sake or newness or innovation, but to step away from tradition and step into the Scriptures. One comment our professor made has been especially recurring in my thoughts. He said, "if you were to take a sheet of paper, draw a line down the center of it, and write all the essentials of what it takes to actually be considered a church Biblically, and then all the nonessentials on the other side, how much of what is known as 'church' would fall in the nonessential category?"
That's right, it doesn't take a steeple, a building, powerpoint, organ, guitars, pulpits, fellowship halls, programs, youth centers, vans, choir robes, nurserys, or pews to be a church. I still haven't gotten over how much the nonessentials would outweigh the essentials side of my paper as I consider his question. Amazing isn't it? Even if we know this, we don't recognize it. Just recently I heard someone "dreaming big" about 'church' - it was a dream to add an educational facility on our already huge millions of dollars campus. I'm not saying it's wrong necessarily, but it's easy to to just write a check and show up to a building. It's much harder to die to self, love and esteem others higher than you, and take up your cross daily in with our brothers and sisters in Christ and in full submission to our Father. That has more to do with church than brick and dry walls do.
So what is a church? According to our professor, a simple, definition could be:
A group of Christ-followers who understand themselves to be a function, in their particular geographic area, as His called out ones.
If this is so, why do we tally our sanctification based on how many times a week we are "at church" (gross misuse of the word)? Does the Bible ever talk about being at church every time the doors are open? Not that I know of...mainly because assemblies of saints gathered in homes - daily - not multi-million dollar structures that cost tens of thousands to run each year. So, church is people, not stuff or events. Perhaps our theological ignorance of this practically has to do with why we stink so much to the world. It is one thing to offend by holiness - it is quite another to offend by hokiness.
Are we living as called out ones? Are we gathering with one another - not just under the same roof, but investing in one another, praying for one another, encouraging one another, sacrificing for one another - if we can't do it with our brothers the world will see and take note that we indeed cannot love the Father whom we have not seen when we do not love those in our fellowship whom we have seen - and if we cannot do it with our brothers, what makes us think we can do it with the world? The label of hypocrite would be one we would have to own and tattoo on our foreheads.
The lost, the saints, our affluent nation is empty, not knowing why, and are starving for authenticity - real relationships, and that cannot come until we are real with our King, and stop giving the lies of Satan our affection, and Kiss the Son, who will then fill us with His love that can overflow and spill out to our brothers - then the world will take note and see and they will know we are Christians by our love, and desire a relationship with our Father who gave us His Son that we may be a family, His Bride of one, the Church, covered under the blood of Christ.
It would do me good, and I could imagine, quite a few of us, if we'd get back to the Biblical basics and re-evaluate what church is, or should I say, who church is, and start living as a body and a bride, with our Head and our Husband leading the way through a world that He came to seek and save.
That's right, it doesn't take a steeple, a building, powerpoint, organ, guitars, pulpits, fellowship halls, programs, youth centers, vans, choir robes, nurserys, or pews to be a church. I still haven't gotten over how much the nonessentials would outweigh the essentials side of my paper as I consider his question. Amazing isn't it? Even if we know this, we don't recognize it. Just recently I heard someone "dreaming big" about 'church' - it was a dream to add an educational facility on our already huge millions of dollars campus. I'm not saying it's wrong necessarily, but it's easy to to just write a check and show up to a building. It's much harder to die to self, love and esteem others higher than you, and take up your cross daily in with our brothers and sisters in Christ and in full submission to our Father. That has more to do with church than brick and dry walls do.
So what is a church? According to our professor, a simple, definition could be:
A group of Christ-followers who understand themselves to be a function, in their particular geographic area, as His called out ones.
If this is so, why do we tally our sanctification based on how many times a week we are "at church" (gross misuse of the word)? Does the Bible ever talk about being at church every time the doors are open? Not that I know of...mainly because assemblies of saints gathered in homes - daily - not multi-million dollar structures that cost tens of thousands to run each year. So, church is people, not stuff or events. Perhaps our theological ignorance of this practically has to do with why we stink so much to the world. It is one thing to offend by holiness - it is quite another to offend by hokiness.
Are we living as called out ones? Are we gathering with one another - not just under the same roof, but investing in one another, praying for one another, encouraging one another, sacrificing for one another - if we can't do it with our brothers the world will see and take note that we indeed cannot love the Father whom we have not seen when we do not love those in our fellowship whom we have seen - and if we cannot do it with our brothers, what makes us think we can do it with the world? The label of hypocrite would be one we would have to own and tattoo on our foreheads.
The lost, the saints, our affluent nation is empty, not knowing why, and are starving for authenticity - real relationships, and that cannot come until we are real with our King, and stop giving the lies of Satan our affection, and Kiss the Son, who will then fill us with His love that can overflow and spill out to our brothers - then the world will take note and see and they will know we are Christians by our love, and desire a relationship with our Father who gave us His Son that we may be a family, His Bride of one, the Church, covered under the blood of Christ.
It would do me good, and I could imagine, quite a few of us, if we'd get back to the Biblical basics and re-evaluate what church is, or should I say, who church is, and start living as a body and a bride, with our Head and our Husband leading the way through a world that He came to seek and save.
