deTheos

I ran across this quote from a book I hope to one day read. Charles Drew in his new book A Journey Worth Taking, writes:

“Church” is not an event. It is people–people whom God calls us to love. What is more, it is in a very important sense an involuntary community of people: we don’t choose our brothers and sisters–God does. And sometimes (oftentimes) those people are not terribly compatible with us–not the people we would choose to hang out with. But it is this very incompatibility that is so important, for at least two reasons. First, learning to love the people I don’t like is by far the best way to learn how to love (it’s easy to love people I happen to like). Second, the church is supposed to be a sociological miracle–a demonstration that Jesus has died and risen to create a new humanity composed of all sorts of people. [HT: Tim Challies]

How opposite is that view of church (as people > event) with this list I came across for the reasons they go to church (quoting another person):

1. It is the will of God.
2. I go out of habit.
3. My family needs to be in church.
4. I enjoy the services.
5. I like the fellowship.
6. I go to meet business contacts.
7. It’s required for salvation. Isn’t it?
8. My family or friends would think badly of me if I didn’t go.
9. I help in the nursery.

I think that list gives somewhat the gist of why I went to church when I first became a Christian in college (I realize #7 above was given tongue-in-cheek). But then my heart and mind began to be captivated with God, to be enthralled with Christ, and I could not get enough of Him. And then I began to grow and see the contribution I can make to others in the church.

We don’t “go to” church or “do” church but rather have been redeemed to be the church, to be the called out one’s (Greek understanding of ekklesia) assembled together at various times (Jewish understanding of ekklesia), organized in various ways to fulfill Christ’s mission for us with Him here on earth. At some time He will call us home to glory, but until then let us not just “go to” church like we are playing church, but rather be the outworking of Christ’s hands and feet in our community, families, homes, and workplaces. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him for the very reason (Matthew 28:18-20).

This entry was posted on Monday, October 15th, 2007 at 10:38 am and is filed under Blog, Ekklesia, Love, Ministry, Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.