living as the church

What is the church? Is it the building in which worshipers congregate? Is it the surrounding walls of the sanctuary? Is it the programs and marketing techniques copied, envied and even denounced by other churches? To understand the church today, we need to understand the first church. For starters, the first church lived organically NOT programmatically. Brothers and sisters in Christ loved God, loved one another and lived in community.

Before the Church is called to do or say anything, it is called and sent to be the unique community of those who live as participants of the Kingdom of God. It must be before it can do. In being the obedient community of God, the Church can represent a true and transforming relationship with God. In addition, the Church does not only exist as a community of believers reconciled to God, but as a reconciling community for those who are yet to know God. Thus, being missional (serving) and evangelistic (proclaiming the Word of God with words and actions) is at the core of the essence of the Church.

Origins of the Church

The Church began as a tabernacle and then a temple. In short, and without due respect to all the tabernacle and temple entailed, the tabernacle was God's dwelling place among God's people. The temple was God's palace as the King of Israel. Later, Jews gathered in local synagogues, places where believers "gathered" together to worship God. Today, we use the word "church" to describe our place of worship, which is a compound word in Greek meaning, "The called out ones." Thus, the Church is God's people called out by God, to God, and for God's purposes.

What is the Purpose of Church?

First, the church is a place of edification for God's people (cf. Ephesians 4:10-13). Edification refers to the growth and progress of believers and is not to be interpreted individualistically. Believers are to be equipped for works of service for building up the Body of Christ and loving a broken world. Second, the church is a place of meeting with Christ. As faithful followers of God, Christians met together and sang psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in their hearts. The repeated the shema - an understanding of God as one and their identity as God's people - and prayed for one another. Through this, they witnessed Christ among them as they saw powerful works of Christ in and through one another. Finally, the church is a place to worship God. Worship is understood as a particular expression (praise, prayer, sermon, Eucharist, etc) of the total life-response to God, through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Another way to understand church is a place in which the Kingdom of God is manifest. The kingdom, or "reign" of God exemplifies the power over darkness and evil through power of God's light and grace. Therefore, the church must live as the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and as both receivers and givers of God's grace.