The Church

The church has magnificent buildings, superb equipment, trained leadership, excellent teaching materials, organizational ability, and yet lacks that one thing that could take all these tools and make them the channel of God's will. In spite of its ever-increasing membership, the church lacks the spirit of God's growing love and understanding that can transform it from an efficient organization into a loving, dynamic fellowship where men and women become vitally alive with faith, love, and hope. ... Thomas M. Steen, "Renewal in the Church"

Jesus said, “Tear this temple down, and in three days I will rebuild it”. Jesus understood clearly what we never seemed to get. The church is not the building, it never was, and it never will be. The Pharisees and Temple Priests were aghast at what Jesus said; it was even used against Him in His trial. They never seemed to get the idea that Jesus was putting forth, that the new sacred space, the new holiest of holies was not the temple anymore, it was Jesus Christ. In Christ was the embodiment of God, there was no need for the Temple or the lost Ark of the Covenant, Jesus was the new Ark of the Covenant, the New Covenant. And when the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD the Jews were lost, they felt that their sacred space was gone, all because they didn’t believe on Christ.

Many modern Christians are just like those Jews of Jesus’ time. We seem to think the embodiment of Christ is in the building. We build bigger and bigger monuments that we call churches. In spite of all that building the fastest growing elements of the emerging Church these days are house churches. They are actually the only way people can freely worship in China and other countries where Christians are persecuted or Christian practices are illegal. A growing number of people in the U.S. are meeting in small groups in peoples houses for worship. Ministers travel between houses bringing the message, praying, offering Holy Communion and all in the intimate setting of a living room, just like in the New Testament. Any house will do, these folks have none of the trappings of an established church. When the people leave, the room is immediately transformed from a sacred place of worship to a living room ready for family recreation. The house church knows that the real Church lies in the people in the room, not the room itself.
In John 6 verse 28 & 29 the crowds ask Jesus a question: "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." You see Jesus says clearly that the only work required of us is that we believe in Him. This is not the standard English “believe” but a deeper meaning comes from the Greek text – to put your entire faith in, to commit to…. When we do this all the trappings of the church seem to slip away. Our focus is on Christ and not on what we think Christ wants us to do. The Spirit will be evident to us and we will follow His leading and do the work of the Father instead of work we design to hopefully please the Father. It is our intent, as a Church to be that loving and caring dynamic body of believers led by the Holy Spirit. We often quote the scripture that tells us the Church is a body, but we all too often forget to end the scripture with “and Christ is its head”. A body can do nothing unless he head tells it. We must give ourselves to Christ, and when we do we will hear His call and become the Church we are intended to be.