Over the past few weeks and one of those things I've been thinking is 'church'. What is church, what it means to be part of church and what should the church look like??
Over the weekend I had the chance to go over to Northern Ireland to visit one of my favourite families having agreed to go other a do a talk on CAP at a church over there. I am not going to mention the name of the church or denomination as this blog isn't about victimising or black listing any group or church. During the weekend I was a 2 different services as the church I was speaking about CAP at took place on Saturday and during the previous week I had the opportunity to go to evangelistic speaker training-in the same building as a church that takes in Bradford and there was art work on the walls from one of their interest groups-some absolutely stunning and the rest-simply beautiful.
But when I look in the Bible-apart from the instructions of the letters to the churches which are to specific churches at a specific time, there's not a lot of description really apart from in Acts 2 and Acts 4...
Acts 2 42-47 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 4 32-34 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
These are descriptions of the first churches. There is nothing in these about a church building-it says they meet in the temple courts but had nothing claiming as their own, an order of service-they had teaching but nothing of a structure of how that was done or a specific time to be together...it just said every day.
I count it a great privilege to be brought by parents who know the Lord and who took my to church every Sunday but I think through that I have allowed this to blinkered my view of what church is and how it should operate and how it should grow and work together. Since coming to uni my preconceptions have been ripped apart and I find myself asking - why should church be the way I think it is? The truth is, it doesn't need to be - its what God wants it to be. I believe I have belittled God so often thinking His family, His body had to be a certain way...all you have to do is look at your friends physic and see-God makes bodies in all shapes and sizes. The church is Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. That's Colossions 1:24.
I do know that in scriptures like 1 Cor 12 that give instructions about service and also about the 5-fold ministry in church but nothing says it has to be Sunday morning, between 10-12, all sitting in rows etc etc...
I was talking with my friend Ed in Bradford and I came out with this phrase and I realise that this is conclusion that I have come to about church (think I told him that it's what I concluded a while ago but actually it came out my mouth as we spoke and realised then it's what I realise...didn't mean to lie Ed-sorry) I realised that every single church should be unique, some may look incredibly similar to one another but because everyone is unique, therefore uniqueness should characterise the church because all these unique bodies are coming together to make one-none will look alike. So why for so so many years have we tried to reproduce what has happened else where?
I think I've realised that a lot of things that I have looked at and said 'that's church' hasn't been - its been a club and institution and things where I've looked at and not thought it was church, didn't think it was anything has actually been church-church how God intended it to be.
From what I know church is called to establish the Kingdom of God/Kingdom of heaven here on earth. I think there is another reason why the scriptures in Acts doesn't mention about service or structures particularly is because the church is the people-its all the individuals within it that make it.
The church means an ending of an individual person because you become part of a body - the body of Christ.
Oh Lord, would you break off our blinkers of our hearts and minds about what your church is, what your body is. Father God - teach us what your church is like, how you want your body to be.
I don't have a neat conclusion for today's blog...these are just the spilling of my mind about what I'm thinking about-see what you think-leave a comment...email me...lets learn together. Christ died so that the church could be His body in this world,the church is His plan A...I want to see it.
1 comment:
Hi Hannah,
I like it! The Body is an organic thing- something growing and it must always be rooted and grounded in The Word and growing up into Christ, the Head. But I agree, structures and culture can actually get in the way of the flow of relationship, of how the Body interact and live and breathe as one. "Put on Love which is the Bond of perfection"
I think this is a study worth really really digging deep into. Look at the Hebraic roots too- Peter and John still went up to the temple to pray, there is SO much in this study worth delving into.... What bits can we strip away and let God's love and Spirit move amongst us in a more flexible way? Which bits are our own constraints. We are people who, whether we think so or not, like to section things up to help us feel orderly. But the God ordained order is one which is of a Body! HEad to toe! With Oil spilling down it (How Good and How pleasant it is when Brethren dwell together in unity). Another thing I find exceptionally helpful in understanding the Church as The Body is to study God's order for marriage and the betrothal time before....... because that is the mystery of Christ and His Bride- us.... hope this is giving loads of tangents to meditate upon and chew over..... it's very much a non thought out comment with lots of ideas so I hope you can pick out bits to think over.
Having moved the church meeting I go to in recent months this has all been a very current subject for me.
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