Beyond Mere Community
Thursday, May 12, 2011 at 11:27AM 
I wrote these words a year ago, and after thinking about it for a year, I have only one revision to make: After 41 years of walking with God I have met plenty of unhealthy Christians who belong to a church, but I have never met a healthy Christian who does not belong to a church.
It’s difficult to stand in defense of the church when the church is so screwed up. It’s a helluva a way to run a railroad, but apparently the Father thinks it’s worth the risks. We were designed for community, but also something beyond mere community, we were designed for the church.
Many will object, and I invite you all to tell me gruesome tales of hypocrites, self-righteous blowhards, and sexual predators. I get it. The North American church is desperately sick, and in many cases the church hinders the spiritual growth of believers. But before we all decide have coffee and croissants down the street with the cool kids and call it church, I’d like to suggest that God has given us a few clues about what He thinks makes up a church. The bottom line is: church is God’s idea, and we ignore it at our peril.
It’s a book-length discussion--a life-length discussion, actually--but here is one man’s list of at least six vital parts of a real church:
- The church meets together regularly: Sunday morning isn’t the only possibility. In fact, Acts 2:42-47 suggests they met together far more than North Americans might find comfortable. In a variety of settings, for a multitude of reasons, followers of Jesus meet together regularly and share their lives together. I don’t give a rip when or where, but regular, habitual gathering is a mark of the church.
- The church has a defined structure: Structure is built into God’s order of creation. Single-celled organisms reveal astonishing complexity of function; in the human body there is individualized function. Without the structure of a skeleton, the body cannot stand. These physical realities point toward spiritual truth. Amazingly, the scripture seems to endorse a variety of church structures, but every New Testament church had a recognizable structure. We can disagree on what that structure may look like, but it’s not possible to read Acts or the Epistles without recognizing it’s importance.
- The church provides authority: Authority! Just mention the word and people tense up. Abuses abound, guilt is common currency, and the church in North American differs little from any business down the street. Yet we all must personally come to terms with passages like, “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority.” (Hebrews 13:17) Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus could be considered all about authority! Nearly everyone has a horror-story about abuse of authority in the church. Here’s my take: authority without compassion and relationship makes a sham of God’s Kingdom, but compassion and relationship without authority misses God’s Kingdom entirely.
- The church is a proving ground for love and forgiveness. “Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (Colossians 3: 12-14) These words are impossible to live out in isolation. I believe the Father designed families and churches as the venues for love and forgiveness. How can we live out these words apart from our families, or the church--which is the family of God?
- The church equips God’s people. Christian maturity requires a nurturing family atmosphere. Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the development of Christian character thrive in a healthy community. Entertainment apart from equipping is antithetical to God’s plan for the church--there are plenty of churches that amount to nothing more than TV shows. But fellowship and community without equipping also falls short of the mark. If there's no equipping going on, it's not fully the church. Jesus is into lab, not lecture. And it's not recess, either.
- The church provides a unique corporate witness: There have been exceptional individuals throughout history. Saints and geniuses appear larger than life, and because they are are so exceptional, they are easily dismissed as individuals, even freaks. But who could dismiss an entire community of faith? “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another,” said Jesus in John 13: 34 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” The early church would either get you healed or care for you until you died. Widows, orphans and outcasts of the first century knew there was a refuge called “the church.”
Some things should change--and I believe the change begins with us as individuals. If you must leave your current church, then go. But where? If you can find a group of believers attempting to fulfill these six ideals you will land in a safe place. Leaving a sick church may be the best decision. Ignoring God’s plan for your personal growth as a disciple never is.
Reader Comments (8)
We've got to meet up so that you don't have to write this again in another year.
We are out there, Ray (maybe too 'out there' for you) but like mushrooms some of the best and most favorable types grow in the wild.
I acknowledge your position, and know that you have come to your viewpoint with vast experience and careful study. I really do respect that. I have also experienced some of the best gatherings, care, equipping, loving & forgiving, and following Jesus in such a way that people are drawn to Him - outside the walls of a local church, the constraints of a denomination, or the limitations of a man's vision.
Believe me, I have a lot of respect for the local church. I wouldn't be where I'm at today without it. I am full of gratitude. At the same time, I am no longer beholden to it or any other model in my personal walk with Jesus or in my place in the Body of Christ.
Not all mushrooms that grow in the wild are poisonous, Ray. We are still a part of the Body, even if we don't attend your services.
First of all, we *definitely* have to meet up: I would be the better for it. And second, I like mushrooms!
Thanks for your kind and gentle disagreement with me--you are always welcome here. I think we agree that He has not limited Himself to the walls of a church; and man's vision brings limitations as well; and denominations? Don't get me started! You'll get no argument from me about he shortcomings of churches--especially, I think, in Evangelical North America.
Even so, the church permeates the New Testament. It is expressed in ways both overt and subtle. When the Risen Jesus dictates letters to John in Revelation, He addresses them to the churches. He spares no criticism, but he honors them in the rebuke.
Finally: it's just so representation of our age to spurn the church in favor of a highly personalized faith. He *is* personal, but he calls us to corporate expression, characterized by certain structural distinctives. I believe we ignore them at our peril.
Peace to you!
Thanks for the conversation, Ray. I always feel safe discussing this with you.
I am not in disagreement with you about the purpose of the need for the "whole." Our lives can be found both in our individuality (like Peter, James and John) as well as their gathering together as a group of disciples that are together following Jesus. All of us parts aren't made to exist alone but should come together as family and build each other up.
What I am spurning isn't the CHURCH; what I'm challenging is that what we've been calling the local church - and held up as the standard - is more representative of our American corporate culture than it is a Biblical model. You would be hard pressed to convince me that what I see on Sunday morning in my neighborhood is what was happening in Ephesus, Philippi and Jerusalem after Pentecost.
I'd suggest that everything Jesus did with his followers incorporate all of the elements you listed above of being necessary for the Body, yet his model doesn't look like Paul's. And I bet the methods that Apollos used, even though he traveled in some of the same places as Paul, looked different.
I know it is hard not to interpret scripture through our cultural glasses, but in the case of "how to do church" I think we come close to idolizing certain methods and places while Jesus provided us with His Spirit for the opposite purpose.
Personally, it has taken me coming out of the church system as I grew up in, went to school for, and became a professional in, for me to really discover my need of the Body.
Again, thanks for giving the rooms to share from my side of the room.
Oh my gosh, Exactly! :-)
Good word. I think at the end of the day, it does all comes down to "who are the people who are helping you mature into Christlikeness". We are called to be like Him, and we need a spiritual family to hold us accountability and be the tangible body of Christ to minister to us in our need and weakness. I still go to church regularly, but I've found a lot of life in the notion of forming missional communities, which is essentially a spiritual family committed to living out the gospel tangibly to a specific place or people.
Hi Jesse! Yep: I think family is a pretty good synonym, and sadly so many believers sit in church-meetings week after week without experiencing the Fatherhood of God or the family of believers. I like your definition of missional communities.
Oh my gosh, Exactly! :-)
We've got to meet up so that you don't have to write this again in another year.
We are out there, Ray (maybe too 'out there' for you) but like mushrooms some of the best and most favorable types grow in the wild.
I acknowledge your position, and know that you have come to your viewpoint with vast experience and careful study. I really do respect that. I have also experienced some of the best gatherings, care, equipping, loving & forgiving, and following Jesus in such a way that people are drawn to Him - outside the walls of a local church, the constraints of a denomination, or the limitations of a man's vision.
Believe me, I have a lot of respect for the local church. I wouldn't be where I'm at today without it. I am full of gratitude. At the same time, I am no longer beholden to it or any other model in my personal walk with Jesus or in my place in the Body of Christ.
Not all mushrooms that grow in the wild are poisonous, Ray. We are still a part of the Body, even if we don't attend your services.