Churches often identify themselves with their buildings, even though Scripture does not. How did this happen?

A full-length book is needed to fully explain the cultural and theological history about how the church began to identify itself with buildings.   I will try to summarize it in a few blog posts. If you want to read more, I highly recommend The Subversion of Christianity by Jacques Ellul, and Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna.

This post summarizes the first 100 years or so of church history, much of which you can read about in Acts and the Epistles.

When considering the history of church buildings, it is crucial to remember that almost all of the first followers of Jesus were Jewish. There were a few Samaritans (cf. John 4) and an isolated Gentile or two (Matt 8:5-10; 15:21-28), but for the most part, the masses that followed Jesus were Jewish. Even after the birth of the church in Acts 2, the vast majority of the early Christians were Jewish, and most of the Gentiles who converted were “God fearers” which means that they knew and respected the teachings of Judaism, and even followed many of the Jewish traditions and practices (cf. Acts 10:2).

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With a nod to Tertullian, I ask, “What indeed hath buildings to do with church?”

The answer is: Nothing. The church has nothing to do with buildings. Though buildings may be used by the church, they are not required to be the church. Buildings may help the church accomplish its mission, but at the same time, the church must admit that buildings may hinder the mission as well.

One thing the church must not do, however, is treat buildings like holy sacred places where the true, spiritual stuff happens and everywhere else is secular and unspiritual. Nothing could be further from the truth.

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We hear a lot of talk about how denominations are bad, church splits are bad, and all the various congregations in a city are bad. Some look at this and say the church is broken. But I’m not so sure.

A few posts ago, I floated out the idea that the primary way the church is gathered together is in Christ. Yes, some of us gather together physically from time to time, sometimes weekly, to encourage and edify one another, and while this physical gathering is one way of manifesting the church, or being the church, the physical gathering itself is not “church.” (I’m not fully sure I believe this myself, which is why I desire your feedback on the idea.)

If this is true, then the passage in 1 Corinthians 12 about spiritual gifts and the unity of the Body makes me feel a lot better. I have often heard it taught that one reason we need “larger” churches is so that every gift can be present and active. If you are only meeting with a group of ten people, there is a good chance that you are missing several spiritual gifts in the mix, some of which are quite vital for the healthy functioning of the body. I mean, how can a group of ten people function well as the church if they are missing the gift of teaching, or encouragement, or administration? To use Paul’s analogy, it would be like trying to live life without an eye, a hand, or a foot. It’s possible, but not easy.

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Can a Christian be the church by himself?

Previously, we looked at Matthew 18:19-20, which we discovered cannot be used to define church as a minimum gathering of 2 or 3 people. So what is church? It is defined not as the physical gathering of people in a particular location, but as the spiritual gathering by God of all believers into Jesus Christ (See the discussion here).

So, it seems possible for a person to be the church all by himself.

However, I do not think a person can be the church all by himself when he is alone.

Confused?

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In a previous post, I suggested that you do not go to church; the church goes with you. Or to put it another way, wherever you go; there goes the church.

This raises questions about Matthew 18:19-20, which says that wherever two or three are gathered together in the name of Jesus, He is there with them in their midst. This verse is often used in one of three ways.

Matthew 18:19-20 – Three Uses

First, it is used to condemn lone ranger Christians. You know, the ones who have church by themselves on the ski hill, in the bass boat, or (most likely of all), asleep in bed. To these sorts of Christians, people quote this verse and then say, “You can’t have church by yourself.” Of course, they frequently go on to say that you can’t just be with one another believer, there also needs to be a preacher, and some singing, and prayer, and an offering, and communion, and… well, you get the picture.

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