"Being" the Church (Part 1)

I said earlier that I would write more about this new phrase "Being The Church"TM. I have read repeatedly on all the PoMoEm blogs that we have to stop going to church and just "be the church". Sounds very existential, very mystic, very New Age... it also sounds dangerous if not defined. In a generation of "youth dudes" (don't call me a minister) that hate to have to worry about definition and just want to "be", we need to set down some guidelines for "being" the church.

Although is a very popular catch phrase most people even in their big, [cue the scary music] cold, "corporate headquarter" "religious-Mafia" churches believe that the church has always been the people and not the building. The problem arises more out of the "religious people that gather together" that have become a social club. When ever the WORLD or the WORLD system governs a "church" there is destined to be a contradiction of what the Word of God says church should look like.

The discouragement should not be directed at the "Church" but the denominations that have tried to add their traditions to the guidelines God set down as a church. God gives strict guidelines to the churches. An example is there are only two official offices in the church. Pastor and Deacon. Ways of dealing with those who live in sin, by the church. It is even shown that there were no denominational hierarchies and that each church was independent of any franchise as they were just local embodiments of the greater and complete "body of Christ" (some call the "universal" church). I say this to draw the attention to where much of the error has come from. It doesn't come from a local body of believers (church) owning building's, ministering with different event's and programs, running bus routes, or any of the other things that many of the "Youth Dudes" despise. When you really get down to it most of the "YD's" have a problem with Pastoral authority and anyone who rains on their "theological entertainment" philosophies for ministry. Or it comes from Senior Pastors who disagree with their local "precincts" and "bishops" over something. Maybe sometimes it comes from people who's denomination offends or hurts them in some way. Or maybe an individual offends them. The point is that the "church", Christ's bride is not to blame, but man in everyone of these instances.

The real dilemma comes because of the way God designed us as men and women. We can accomplish more when we work together collectively. When we see someone hurting or in need we can accomplish great things that allows the whole church body to be used of Christ to minister to others in the body. We do this by organizing. We do this by buildings, Sunday schools, bus routes, organized visitation, Prison Ministries, YOUTH MINISTRY, and many other ways. There is no one way that is the right way to do it. Christ gives to us all different means and gifts to reach different people. But that is the whole purpose of our ministries. We are to be ministers of reconciliation. And all things [are] of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; (2 Corinthians 5:18) It's why Christ come and why we are left here and not raptured upon salvation. The trend would end pretty quickly if that were the case... "Hey I just figured out how to get saved...[poof] Oh, Hi God!". The church is the vehicle for this. The buildings are a meeting place, an identifying mark. We live in a carnal world and a temporal world and as such there is a portion of the church body that has to be represented to the populous in a carnal and temporal way. God doesn't hate building programs [in fact he has had quite a few of them himself that he thought were pretty important*** more later]. God has given us the mind and capability of organization and expects us to be good stewards of that. A good steward was never punished for feeding the household and using the oils and reserves... only for wasting them. God isn't unhappy when we have building's etc. as long as they are for the SOLE purpose of leading the lost to him.

So lets get to my point of "Being the Church" and how it is dangerous unless defined. So many hurt people are turning away from institutions to a life of isolationism or at best, limited fellowship.

How do you "Be the Church". Isn't it true that when we repent and receive salvation that we already become members of the Church Body? If that is the case then technically we are already the Church and should worry no more about going any further. The problem is this is not the model we see in the much vaunted "1st Century Church". So how do we "Be the Church". The answer is fairly simple. Can you identify someone that is a Police Man? Most of the time he has a police uniform, unless he is under cover. If he is undercover or not, a uniform is not the sole identifying factor. He probably has a gun or night stick. He may even have a cool cop car. But all those things are just props. What makes him a cop is that he DOES cop things. It is the same with the Church.

Being Means Doing... I have to go DO some stuff and stop just BEING for a moment. Catch you next time round for PART TWO.