Redefining Church
On Friday morning, we had an opportunity to attend several connection sessions in order to speak to more specific areas we were concerned with. Amanda and I chose to hear Francis Chan again as he talked about redefining the church. He made the point that when he and his team planted their church they were trying to be all things to all people. They wanted to have great worship so they could feel the Spirit move. They wanted to have solid Biblical teaching in order to present the truth. They also wanted to connect with people so they would feel at home. In designing their church, these were the three things they wanted to have happen. They succeeded. They drew large crowds, had authentic worship and Biblical teaching, and connected with people in meaningful ways. But there was still something missing.
He confessed that in designing their church, they had neglected to seek God's guidance, to search the scriptures as to what the church should be, not programming wise, but who they should be as people. They sought the things man said were important and forgot about the leading of the Spirit. After all, if we are the "Body of Christ" shouldn't we look at what Jesus did? Shouldn't we seek to do the same things?
He made the point that we are a people who seek after miracles, just like the Pharisees. We want to see amazing things happen, sick people healed, lame people walk, and the lights flicker in our sanctuaries because the Spirit of God moves. As rational and linear as we are, we long for the mystical, as if we need God to prove he exists. If we look at scripture, we find this is exactly who the Pharisees were. They wanted Jesus to perform miracles to prove his deity.
Cool worship services are not the answer. Engaging and charismatic preaching is not the answer. Programming that fills our lives with busyness is not the answer. Jesus is the answer. Following him is the goal. Why do we offer up offerings that God didn't ask for? In Samuel, Saul was condemned for offering up a sacrifice that was illegal. His excuse seems pitiful to us, but don't we do the same thing? "But I thought you demanded sacrifice! I thought you wanted us to sing you worship songs!" And the reply of Samuel is the same to us as it was to Saul. "To obey is better than sacrifice." We should give God what he wants, our obedience, our lives.
Chan walked us through parts of 1 Peter. One of the scriptures that caught my attention was 1 Peter 2:5. "You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
His point was this: we are the stones the church is made of. Peter called us living stones. Therefore, the church we are building is a living organism. It's the same message Paul gives us about spiritual gifts and unity within the body. Peter goes on in chapter 2 to talk about how we once were not a people, but now are God's people. We are his people. We are of his tribe, of his family. We have his DNA. We are a global race of Jesus followers set aside to show the world what God is like.
The mission of the church matters. It matters how we build up a fellowship. It matters how we set things up because it sets the pace for what is to come. We must do things the way God wants them done and give him what he asks of us.
Church = Body
Church = Living Building
These are two of the metaphors we've been given to help us understand the role of the church.
What do our churches look like?
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