Church as Community

I am excited about all I am learning as I read and prepare for our January messages on "His Glorious Church." I have been blessed, challenged and stretched as I have read Total CHURCH: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community. (Thanks for the book Zack!)

The authors emphasize the Church as community and they do so very well. Let me share a couple of excerpts that I believe are very important for us to understand.

"At the heart of God's plan of salvation are a family and a nation. God's purposes are not focused on many unrelated individuals but upon his people. Christ died for the elect, his bride, the church. The Bible is the story of God creating a new humanity, a new people who will be his people. "I will be your God, and you will be my people" is a central refrain running through the Bible. The church is not simply a historic convenience, a useful way of organizing discipleship and mission. No, the bride of Christ, complete and perfect, is right at the heart of the climax of salvation. And God's purposes are not only to redeem a people for himself but also to reconcile them with one another. The fall of humanity led to alienation not only from God but also from others. But in Christ the two have been made one, the dividing wall of hostility has been broken down (Ephesians 2:11-22). That is why Christian unity is so precious. God's great plan of reconciliation is now realized in the Church."

 "To be a Christian is, by definition, to be a part of the community of God's people. To be united with Christ is to be a part of his body. The assumption of the New Testament is that this always finds expression in commitment to a local church. The centrality of the church means the centrality of the congregation or it means nothing. Commitment to the church is easy while the church is abstract, universal reality. But the New Testament assumes a commitment to real people in real local churches with all the faults and foibles." (emphasis added)
(Total Church, p. 87-88)

I think "The centrality of the church means the centrality of the congregation or it means nothing." is a very important sentence in that paragraph. Either the local church is important and we should be an active participant in its ministries or it is nothing more than a social club that we can visit every so often.

As a Pastor, I am concerned for those who take a "social club" approach to church participation. I am concerned because "church" is more about "who we are" than "where we go" but when we know who we are we will desire to go and be a part of our local congregation.

In writing about Pastoral Care in the framework of community they write on page 135:

"If our primary identity is as persons-in-community, then our ability to THRIVE will be shaped by our involvement in a community. Life as it should be lived is life-in-community. Community is not merely an added benefit to me. It is an essential part of what it means to be human. And this means that the Christian community is essential to what it means to be a Christian." (Emphasis added)

Wow! Can you see why I am so passionate about the emphasis on the Church as we begin 2015 here at Everett Springs? Church is essential; and by church I mean the community of believers. We are many members in one BODY by God's design. Is it really possible for a believer to self amputate himself from the BODY that Christ died to create? I don't think so.  So why are there "professed" believers who are not an active part of any local church?

Could it be there is a profession of faith without a possession of faith? Could it be that some have allowed what appears to be "Urgent" to crowd out what is truly "important"? Is it possible that some need others "who are spiritual" to "restore him in a spirit of gentleness" to that from which they have fallen away? YES, to all the above. That is no doubt a reason the Apostle Paul instructed Timothy to "reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching." (2 Tim. 4:2). Because that is what we all need and we need it in the context of community that comes in and through our connection with a local church.

Local Church involvement is VITAL not optional for the life of a believer. It is for that reason that I plan, pray and prepare for each time we gather together. And that is why I write this. Jesus is building His Church and I want each member of what He is building to be an active participant in the Church.

Hope to see you when the Church gathers on Sunday!
Pastor Mike