Yes, you read it correctly. I encourage you not to GO to church anymore, but rather, BE the church. If church is a place you go each Sunday, then it’s a place you can leave each Sunday. I hear preachers all the time referring to their church building as the church. And I catch myself doing it from time to time as well. But the Scriptures speak of the church in terms of people, not bricks and mortar.
The word used in the original texts is ekklesia, and it has two primary meanings. One is an assembly of people. So then, we don’t go to be at church, we go to gather with the church. That might be in a building dedicated to spiritual activities, or under a tree, or even in a fast-food restaurant! The emphasis is people, not place.
The second connotation is those belonging to the body of Christ throughout all the ages. All true believer’s are apart of the church. This meaning helps us to understand that if we are incapable of assembling with God’s people for some reason, we do not cease being a part of the church. Yes, we may cease to be a part of the church’s local expression, a particular gathering, but that does not diminish our part in the universal church. That doesn’t mean we can skip out on meeting with God’s people though. God spoke through the writer of Hebrews and said not to stop meeting together (10:25).
Does it really matter how we view the church?
I think so. Over the years many folks have told me that one of their main requirements for finding a church, is how the building itself makes them feel. If the architecture inspires them, they are likely to stay because it invokes in them a sense of spirituality and awe. Or the church building must meet some superficial, traditional criteria that they are culturally used to. While a building that inspires reverence or awe is not a bad thing, it’s very easy to equate that with something that seems spiritual and “what a good church should be.”
To focus on the architectural qualities of a building for a church is at best misguided, and at worst, terribly misleading.
The Bible shows us it’s the people that are gathered that matter — how they love God and each other — how they are growing in and becoming more and more like Christ.
So, my recommendation for each of us is to stop going to church. Rather, be the church. Gather with the church. Enjoy the bricks and mortar that house the church, but do not confuse the two.
—DW
3 comments:
I agree completely! Plus another side of it is that many who don't currently go to church are often intimidated to go to a church building in a typical church setting. Getting these people to meet at a nuetral setting like a McDonald's or a coffee house would be much easier.
I agree totally also. We need not to go to church, but to be the church. Great words of wisdom!
Just read this in McManus' book "An Unstoppable Force" and it seems relevant:
The New Testament word for “witness” is the same as for “martyr.” The purpose of the church cannot be to survive or even to thrive but to serve. And sometimes servants die in the serving.
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