The church is the people of God who follow Jesus into the world, whether they meet in a building or not. Therefore, you cannot go to church; the church goes with you.
I believe there is only one church, the universal church (not to be confused with the Universalist Church) and all believers in Jesus Christ throughout time are part of this church. We are one body, united by one Spirit. Wherever you are, there is the church.
It’s like the first time I saw a GPS program. It was right before GPS became widely available, and my dad had just purchased a Palm Pilot. This was even before smart phones. One day he said he wanted to show me the new GPS program he had downloaded for free from the internet. He handed me his organizer, and on the screen was a big “X,” and underneath the “X” were the words, “You are here.”
I try to remember this whenever someone asks me where I go to church. I always tell them, “Right here.” After a bewildered look around, they often ask what I mean, and we have a great conversation about church and following Jesus.
Well said! We’re the church wherever we are.
I had three places to go this afternoon. It’s so easy to do my business and get out of there as quickly as possible. I tried to pay attention to the people around me. Just one friendly remark provoked conversations with at least two people each place. I now know six people I didn’t know before, their professions, their problems, who they live with. etc. etc. I didn’t ask about any of this stuff. They want to be known. They want someone to hear their stories.
So true. People are so lonely these days, they really want someone to hear them and be there for them. We as the church can lead the way in this, whether or not we are in a “church building.”
I like your idea of having a succinct response to that question. I’m still working on mine. For sure I would agree that church really shouldn’t be referred to as a building or even a place; but I think I slightly vary my definition thinking of church as a gathering of believers…that I am not church all alone but part of the bride…one of the living stones that makes up the temple. I know you agree with this concept, and I guess what I’m trying to say is, I would word it differently, like, “We don’t go to church, but we collectively are the church.”
Am I splitting hairs?
Esther,
Yes, you are right that collectively we are the church. That is really what I was trying to get at. Since all of us collectively are the church, even though we never all gather physically, this means that that we are unified in Christ by the Spirit. This means that are still all “together” in Spirit even when not gathered physically.
This doesn’t mean that any of us should be a “lone Ranger Christian” since we need the physical gathering for encouragement and accountability.
I am still thinking through all these concepts and ideas myself. Thanks for helping me think more about them!
Hey, that’s a good way to put it, we are still all together in Spirit even when not gathered physically, with add encouragement to keep meeting up too.
As you can see, I’m still struggling to find a way to speak of “church.” Online conversations with you and other bloggers certainly helps.