"The Church is the people." Blah, blah, blah...
Ask anyone who’s been a Christian for longer than two minutes what the Church is, and they’ll probably tell you, “It’s not the building; it’s the people.”
And yet, if you’re honest, what comes to mind when you think about “your church”?
If you’re like most Christians, it’s the Name (e.g., Watercrest Baptist), the Pastor (he preaches great sermons, doesn’t he?), the Sunday service (which you’re either eager or embarrassed to invite your friends to), the teaching, the theology, the programs, the building, the culture, the vibe. It’s these you’ve chosen to attend, to partner with, to identify with.
You might throw “people” in there because you know you’re supposed to, but the truth is, they’re a bit of an afterthought.
This is the difference between right doctrine and revelation. This is the difference between going to a church and having a church.
You may know, doctrinally, that the church is actually only the people, but when push comes to shove, is that how you think?
I tell you, if the people aren’t the very first thing that comes to mind when you think of “your church,” then you lack revelation.
And no, I don’t mean the general population. I don’t particularly care that “all the people at your church are so nice and friendly,” and that’s why you’ve chosen to go there. What I’m interested in is, who are the specific individuals whom God has called you to serve, to love, to lay down your life for?
Church leaders are often thinking about the general population (though just as often, they are thinking about their careers, their reputation, their ministry, the building, the organization, etc.), but the general population is not the people in the way that I mean.
When I say “the people”, I mean the real, living-and-breathing individuals whom you personally know, love, pursue, protect, and build up intentionally with your time, your energy, and your resources for the purpose of conforming them into Christ (and they you).
Tell me their names.
If you just thought to yourself, “I don’t have anyone like that” or “that doesn’t describe any of my relationships,” then frankly, you lack a church (in any meaningful sense, that is).
Go build it.
Ask the Lord to help you decide who to pursue.
Invite them into your home for dinner, for prayer, for Bible study.
Go grab a coffee or lunch.
Ask them about their spiritual life.
Tell them you want to build relationships with people to share your faith together, and to build each other up in Christ.
Pray for them, for their needs, for their sanctification.
It isn’t rocket science, folks! You don’t need a seminary degree or a pastoral license or a special call to ministry. You need the Spirit of Love, who indeed dwells within you (provided you belong to him).
You have been called to the service of the saints, and that calling isn’t met by door-greeting, event-planning, slide-preparing, donut-hole serving, daycaring, Sunday-school teaching, or anything of the like, however helpful those acts of service may be.
Go ahead and do those things if you feel led, but don’t be deceived. Your church is meant to be your family in a realer sense than any earthy family. And that doesn’t entail generic participation within a general population, but specific devotion to a limited number of people, the value of which measured by the amount of Christ’s sacrificial love that is shared between you.
Now then, if the Church is truly just the people, then we have to ask ourselves, why all this other stuff?
Is all this other activity teaching people to serve people—i.e., to build deep, Christ-centered, Spirit-led relationships, with love at the center? Or is it actually distracting them, teaching them to replace service to people with service to systems, programs, institutions, and the like (all under the false banner of “serving people” and “building the Church”)?
It shouldn’t surprise you that I believe the latter is the case, and the result is a Church that looks little to nothing like the organic Body of Christ.
Christians give their money to build new buildings. Meanwhile, God says that we are the Building, and Stephanie—a hard-working single mother—can’t pay her rent this month. The Smiths are in $100,000 of medical debt. Frank needs a working vehicle, and he can’t get a loan.
You tell me what’s a more important allocation of funds. Or actually, don’t tell me; show me. Where do your tithes go? Are you giving to specific people, or are you giving to “the church”?
Don’t run from it. Recognize that your actions reveal something about what you believe the Church is.
When you invite someone to your church, are you inviting them to the Sunday service or the programs, or are you inviting them to meet the people who will be there—the most important people in your life?
If you’ve ever feared your church falling apart, what exactly do you fear losing? The pastor you barely know? The services you’ve grown so accustomed to? Your job (if you’re in church leadership)? The security of having a clean-cut organization to identify with?
Or do you fear losing specific relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you fear seeing those named individuals walk away from Christ, or fall into bitterness toward one another?
When you think of your church, what does your heart long to nurture and preserve? (Again, to all the church leaders out there, the general population is not a satisfactory answer!)
I tell you:
When a few people in front of you are an entirely sufficient and fulfilling expression of the Church…
When you are not satisfied with any standard of “growth” that isn’t defined by their growing up into Christ…
When you recognize that these named individuals are your ministry, your calling, your life’s purpose…
When you’re anxious for their well-being and regularly on your knees in prayer for their sanctification…
You’ve then discovered what it means to have a church, and you see the sheer foolishness in everything else that tries to take its place.
So now what?
What then? If this is true, what shall we do about it?
That’s a BIG and IMPORTANT question, which I pray you will keep on asking.
It’s also why I’ve written this brand new book: Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church AND why I’m hosting a 10-week book study, available to paid subscribers only (start date: TBD).
Christians all around the world are longing for a deeper, more biblical expression of the Body of Christ, and God wants to equip them to build it—outside of the conventional systems that exist today.
If you’d like to be a part of a growing community of like-minded Christians, who aren’t satisfied with the status quo of the institutional church, sign up for my book study using the link below. I’m confident that it will be a transformative experience for everyone involved.