Church is:
- A community of God's people
- The body of Christ
- People joined by Holy Spirit
- A place where worship exists
That's all I can think of at the moment. For the past few years, I have been bugging my brother, Bernard, about this concept of Church. What is church? What is community? How does this look like? I don't get it... I have been attending church for years now, but 'church' does not look like what I discussed above. Perhaps it's just me and my thirst for more. I feel so dissatisfied with what church seems to be. I love my church and the people in it (even those I rarely talk to). But why do I still feel so restless?
Perhaps I have become so familiar with how to 'do church' that I'm losing my familiarity with Jesus within the church. I want to accept the challenges in scriptures and experience God through loving others. Reminds me of something Bonhoeffer said: "The Church is the Church only when it exists for others." We gotta stop being so inwardly focused such as creating programs that comforts the congregation to stay or attracts people to come. If the Gospel is truly central in our lives, should we not be comforting and attractive? When we outreach to people outside of the church, we don't bring them to the church... we bring them to God. The church is simply a place where they may encounter His presence. I recognize that programs, events and outreaches are effective ministry tools. But the focus of Church cannot be on generating programs only. It should be focused on generating disciples.
If the church is truly a place where die-hard disciples exist, then why are we not a community of God's people that incarnate the body of Christ, joined by one Spirit, worshipping in Spirit and truth?
I think this is a challenge to every generation, the idea of church is meant to constantly conform to Christ, as his bride. He's constantly changing us and we should have that desire. The things of the past must be let go of to move towards the future. I think the cycle of many of the old ideas have come to an end and more growth is coming.
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