Is This The Church?
June 28, 2010 by kristinemac
Filed under Life Stuff
Over the past week I've been doing a lot of thinking. Thinking about God, faith, what it means to be a Christian and how or if that even plays out in what we now call the church because I'm not so sure.
What is "the church"?
Is it this? Buildings…simple or complex. Small or gigantic. Lots and spaces full of brick and mortar. Parking areas and satellite campuses. Security guards and traffic monitors. Full to capacity or old and empty . Is this the church?
You know to some people it is which then becomes loyalty to the building where they grew up, got married, baptized babies.
A kind of righteous, neighborhood clique.
There are certain "churches' where people attend because of the reputation of the pastor or for the prestige of being a member. It's where "the cool kids" go "to church". Perhaps "the church" evolved (some might say "devolved") in America because we've tried so hard to become "likable", "palatable", and "politically correct" in a society which has grown ever more hostile to Christian thought. Maybe we have come to define "the church" as a place, a building, a program, a "hang out", a social activity, a place to take our kids, or just "something to do" out of a desire to be socially acceptable to our peers in the world.
To be honest with you, these days I don't see much difference between going to a sporting event, a movie theater, a music concert, a coffee house, or any other place where people are entertained and catered to and what we now call "the church." Perhaps this is why so many young people are leaving or folks decide they wan't to be "spiritual but not religious". After all, what is there in what we now currently call "the church" that is truly relevant to what people are going through this moment? Sure, we have music, movies, games, books, magazines and all kinds of "stuff" but is this where our energy as Christians should be spent…mostly on ourselves? Is "the church" honestly about being entertained or help us feel spiritual?
I can't help but believe there must be something more.
What is it then which should make "the church" different from every other thing to do or place to be that's out there? What should set us as Christians…as "the Church"…apart from what the rest of the world has to offer?
Jesus 
Christ in Us.
So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you?
"You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am.
"If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
"For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. John 13: 12-16 (ESV)
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (NIV)
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:37-39 (NLT)
Be honest…is this what we're seeing daily in "the church" on the whole throughout America today? I'm not talking about the buildings, the programs, the services on Sunday or Wednesday, the rah-rah events and conventions, or the many activities or places which have now become synonymous with the church. I'm talking living whole heartedly for God in every thing we do, every place we go. Loving the unlovable, serving those who speak harshly to us, and following the example of our Lord?
What we are seeing…as a whole…today in America, is this the church?
I have my own opinions.
What's yours?
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I think the church has forgotten how to love one another, it seems we only want to fellowship with people who think like us and look like us. We have forgotten to love people who are not like us! this can be applied in and outside of the church. We isolate ourselves with other Christians, or we create clicks within the church. We have forgotten how to be like a family. it's about coming and going, like we belong to some club. Many leaders also treat church like a Job, it will be interesting to see what God does to the Church in America, I am hoping we all hope for something more than our culture. Which by the way is very isolating. Everyone doing their own thing. Hopefully those who are having good fellowship remembers to be graceful with one another, so we don't become legalistic, too much into each other's business. judging each other. Why can't we have something more. WE have to hope for something more and the Church needs to behave in ways that attract other, THEY Will know WE are Christians by our LOVE for one another!
Indeed, they will know we are Christians by our love for one another.
The church is a "who" not at "what'"
My point exactly!
I'm right there with ya girl!
I think it's going to take peeps like us sayin and doin stuff to start making the difference, my friend.
It is sad that so many churches do so much to try and "win" the younger crowd with all those things you mentioned and yet they are still leaving. Loving others and yet not compromising the truth of the gospel is somethng my husband and our church family focuses on.
This hasn't made us the cool or popular church though! The ones with the Starbucks are winning out in our community!
My recent post Im Only the King if the Queen Says So-
Loving others and not compromising the truth of the gospel!! Amen
I think we've been focused on the wrong thing for so long. Growing up it was all about what took place inside the 4 walls and if you didn't live and breathe inside of those walls you were, well , not accepted.
I agree with you my friend.
The Church is the body. Christ is the Head (Col. 1:18). “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things,
and by him all things consist” (Col. 1:16-17). Five of the seven Church eras in
Revelation 2 and 3 lost their Head, Jesus Christ! They had many serious divisions. Many of these members may have remained in the same church, but they still didn’t “hold together” spiritually.
“And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” (v. 18). Christ is the Head of the body.
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Col. 2:8).
The question is are we being this today or have we lost our way?
The world offers us distractions. It's like arguing with someone. A clever person will throw out something small in the conversation to derail the argument so the focus now changes on that small something instead of the bigger picture. So we have our concerts, our stuff, our programs, and somehow the people who need us the most get lost in the crowd especialy if it's a mega mega church.
Mega mega churches really should break down to smaller churches so a sheperd can disciple the sheep more readily, keep them accountable, show them love, etc. I love our church because two of our sermons have kept our congregation very accountable. Our pastor deals with situations head on. He's a rare leader. Sadly, I rarely hear about accountability. It seems as if churches have gone all the way to teaching only love when love and discipline go together. Now I'm not speaking as if I have gone to every church in the nation, but in the ones I have attended, it is rare.
I know what you mean and yes I do think accountability is so important and some how either lacking or rejected quite often.