what is church?

 

Perspective- Something that is constantly changing and expanding as I am here.  

Church growing up was always a place. “We’re going to church” meant hopping in the family car Sunday morning and driving to a building to listen to a sermon – that was church. Living out here in North Carolina and on the Excel college campus has really changed my vision of what “church” looks like. Here, rather than a once-weekly lecture, church is a lifestyle. We live in a christ-centered community. We are the church. 

A big change to me when getting here was not attending service on Sundays. For the past 18 years of my life, I can only recall missing church service a handful of times. Even on vacation, my family would try to find a local church to attend. Here, rather than all attending church on Sundays together, we spend sabbath however each interprets. Each person finds rest in different mediums. Some attend or watch a church service, others go out with friends and having meaningful conversation, and some others just sit and rest in the Lord’s presence. It was a strange transition at first but in this absence I also realized that I relied a lot on a pastor and their sermons to spur on my knowledge of the Bible. I left a lot of biblical interpretations and desire for depth up to others. In my daily devotionals, I read the bible but never really took the time to study it. Now, with this realization, I’ve include intentional bible study into my sabbath routine with others but also alone. So sweet. God is so kind! 

The physical building that many of us have been raised to see as the church helps facilitate worship and ministry amongst God’s people, but church is actually the people rather than the building. God is still present whether his people meet in a park or a traditional, stained glass building. I think the slow regathering of smaller groups of people in “unconventional” church settings as COVID restrictions have lessened and opened this perspective to many people. The church is wherever we are and wherever we invite him. (Matthew 18:20). Living on the Excel campus has been full proof of this. You can tell that the Lord resides in each living space and bedroom. Even the streets we walk on were made to be a place of worship. In one of my last blog posts, I mentioned how my team is working to revive a grass field for future soccer games and school events. Even working out there, we pray daily that the Lord will meet people in the future through the completed space of fresh green grass. 

Acts 2:42-47 depicts the atmosphere created by the first church on the earth! They devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles, prayer, and communion. The fellowship of people believed God’s promises together and kept one another accountable in their faith journey. The people on campus here, including my team, actively engage in the word daily together. We have morning prayers as a campus and bible studies as a team. Prayer has been an immediate response to life’s unexpected circumstances and difficulties. Read about it! Acts 2:42-47! And reflect: 

How does the Bible depict what the church actually is and should be? Is church really just attending a Sunday service or is there truly more? Are there major differences between what church looks like in the Bible and what it looks like in America? What are these differences and how does it make you feel? 

People were made to be in community. The church was intended to be a community consistent of many backgrounds, perspectives, ethnicities, etc. Heaven was created to be a diverse place. The second part of 1 Corinthians 12 describes a community centric around the Lord but consistent of many different people. My team is evidently a huge example of this. We’re all from different places and upbringings yet united under the body of Christ and in expectancy of the promises God will fulfill. It has been so awsome serving alongside them. Everyone brings so many different perspectives yet we can still love one another so well because Jesus did first and his love resides in each of us.

I’m not here to criticize the church or what we each view the church to be. Evidently the corporate church and traditional worship services have it’s benefits and provides solid foundation for many people. It’s all good. I think I’ve just learned that there is more – more to discover than what I already know. I think that during these last few weeks of living out here, I’ve learned to examine things I’ve believed just because I’ve been raised that way. Again, not saying that the things I’ve been told are wrong; there is just more to discover for myself. Going back to the root of things and the way the Bible sets a solid example, I found new perspective of what church was intended to look like. People still need the church, but this realization has given me greater enlightenment for how I should view church in how Jesus originally intended it to be.