The Church revisited

More reflections on the Church...




...I am continuing to think through and respond to my friend about the church. I thought I could clarify my thoughts on just what the Church is and isn't.

The Church is a group of people who have committed to a life of learning from Jesus; people who recognize in themselves a flaw so serious that it requires outside redemption, and see in the Executed King the only possible source for that redemption.

Because of their commitment these people will engage God, each other, the rest of humanity, and all of creation, with love and power, enduring commitment and humility, grace and justice.

The Church isn't a place, a building, a program, a meeting, or a leadership structure. The Church isn't a club for ______ people (fill in the blank with your choice of words: american, white, black, good, spiritual, etc.). The Church isn't a business, or an institution.

The above comments, when taken to their logical end, signify that "Church" happens whenever beleivers gather in his name and seek to do his will. This means that church happens when my friends visit me and my sick daughter in the hospital, or when everyone gathers together to sing to God, or when I invite a friend over for dinner and card games (if your church thinks cards are from the devil then insert the appropriate form of entertainment).

When I envision the church we will be planting, I still have a grey area around just what and when our corporate gathering will be. There is no reason to have corporate worship on Sunday morning, or to have corporate worship and teaching at the same event, etc. We will use Sunday mornings as our time of organized blessing and service to the community when we first plant, and we may continue that even after our church reaches the size necessary to hold "corporate" events. The church consists of people gathering in the name of Jesus to draw close to Him, to draw close to each other, to draw those outside of God's family inside, and to raise up men and women into Christ's image; nothing more, nothing less.