One of my most recent spiritual fascinations is scrutinizing the concept and meaning of Church.
Today, Church seems to be one of those words that can get you into trouble, cause arguments, make people stop speaking to you, or get people to love you to death – weird?
The Greek word used in the Bible for Church is Ekklesia which apparently means ‘a Christian community on Earth’ or ‘popular meeting’. This throws a whole new light on what actually constitutes Church? It encourages questions to begin to tingle in my mind like..
Could Church be a community or a meeting in a pub, or in a house, or even your local Starbucks?
For me, the concept of Church certainly isn’t boring, nor religious, nor even antiquated.
For me, it should be, but is not always (if I’m totally honest): a place of hope, rescue, restoration, and, a place of unity that gives itself to revolutionary thinking.
Your opinion counts on this one, and I’d love to hear it .
Can you help me on my quest to define Church?
N
{ 6 comments }
hard one to define
For me the word CHURCH has two meanings. One is the Church of Christ world wide which all born again believers belong to, and the other the local church. The early church met and broke bread from house to house and then met together in larger gatherings from time to time. The Bible makes clear that a church is that gathering together of a group of believers who meet to worship and break bread together. The Bible does not suggest what type of building that Christians should meet together in. However the early Christians had a reverence of the Holy God that we worship and realised that the breaking of bread was no light matter. Hence the warnings in Corinthians about being self prepared to participate in that special event.
I feel that while we are called to reach the ‘world’ with the gospel we must not compromise the fact that God is a Holy God who is one day going to close the days of grace and return with frightening judgement for those who rejected his offer of repentance. It is important then that the church does not ‘melt’ into the world’s systems and rituals just to try and be trendy, as most non believers can spot compromise anyway. It does not matter from the Bible if a local church belongs to a denomonation or not. It is not stated in the Bible that a church meeting should be in church building as we are used to today. As Christians we have added huge ammounts of tradition onto what the Bible defines as a church. That has been the case with all denomonations including open and ‘free’ churches as well as pentecostals. Many of these traditions are good and have stood the test of time and have come about through Christians in the past having to learn from mistakes. I believe it is up to the ‘church’ today to adapt to the needs of our particular society that we live in while staying firm on the the parts of the Bible that will NEVER change. We can be at church if two or three are gathered together in His name at any venue or location as long as the prime purpose of that venue is not for sinfull practice. That would be defined as an ‘outreach’ into a broken world rather than a place for worship.
In conclusion then my thoughts on the local church is that it is a body of believers who have been born again by God’s grace who meet on a regular basis to worship God, break bread, and share with each other in spiritual and practical means. A building or denomonation is of little consequence but at times can be of help. Hope that makes sense Norman.
Bless you and Emily good.
Chris
Nice one Chris.
Given your experince and opinion then, what does this mean locally?
N
Well…… In Derry..Maybe Des Farrel should let us set up Sunday morning service in the Middle of Foyleside shopping centre on a saturday afternoon to let people see what we do…only which of us would be more embarressed….the Christians..or the shoppers.. Sometimes it is good for us to sit back and look at the way we do things and see if we can make it less religious in format!!
Having spent a bit of time in “that world” there are six values I think we see in scripture and should be at the core of local church life. These are adopted by me from Catalyst and are intended for individuals but I think can be applied across a broad spectrum of local church life.
1. Authentic in Influence – Authenticity among the leadership as well as the entire body as opposed to always putting on the church face.
2. Uncompromising in Integrity – Has to do with stewardship, character, values
3. Passionate about God – Worship, spiritual disciplines, God’s presence
4. Intentional about Community – This has to do with peer relational pastoral care and a genuine sense of belong to one another
5. Engaged in Culture – As opposed to boycotting, railing against, judging… this has to do with not only being good citizens of Heaven but also where God has planted us in the meantime.
6. Courageous in Calling – An empowering DNA that not only preaches but also gives people the freedom to flourish. That takes courage not to micromanage or give in to the tendency to mandate though controlling structures.
Imagine a church where everyone was healthy in these areas and serious about all six. That kind of church would be what it was intended to be to the local community and the world at large.
Quality sutff Dan. It is hard to imagine.
Christy – Des would let you use Santa’s Grotto stage if you asked him nicely!
N
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