Thoughts Along The Journey

God, by His initiative, draws us into His community; “the community of all true believers for all time.”  We quickly want to move on from this ‘universal’ concept to the more practical ‘local’ concept.  Communities of believers are both, but the universal concept highlights for us the reality that we are not alone, that we are not marginal.  The people of God are a community bigger than we think.

The Scriptures describe the people of God at numerous points as those called to gather or stand before the Lord (for example: Exodus 19; Isaiah 2:2-4; 56:6-8; Hebrews 12:18-24; and Revelation 5; 19:6-10).  Reading chronologically, this gathering becomes larger and larger.  In some way, when we come together as a community of believers, we gather in the presence of a much larger community.  

One author put it this way: “Our gathering together is not incidental – the church is the assembly of the people of God.  Moreover, as we gather we stand in the presence of the Lord.  We are in the company of the angels and of all believers.  We gather with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; with David, Elijah and Isaiah; with Peter, James and John.  Above all we come where Jesus our Savior is.”

In a very real way, when we come together as a community of believers, we gather in the presence of our Master Jesus. 

We also recognize that God’s drawing of His people into community, to stand in His presence, always give rise to a particular expression or response.

So, how are you doing discipling your Singaporean student to grasp the concept that ‘church’ is first of all a community of believers called to gather with Him, defined by their relationship to God and initiated entirely by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

Filed under: Church, Community | Leave a comment »

God unites us to Himself, draws into relationship with Him.  We become part of the community of believers, the church, because of His work in our lives.  Relationship and initiative, His initiative, become primary when we talk about the assembly or community of God’s people. 

When Jesus said to Peter, “and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” (Matthew 16:18), the emphasis was clearly on God’s initiative: “I will build my church.”  We were lost, but now are found.  We were once not God’s people, but now are the people of God.

That initiative on God’s part is very much a Trinitarian one as well; for we are the people of God, the body of Christ and the fellowship of the Spirit. 

Recognizing that God is behind this whole work, that we are drawn into His community by His initiative of love, immediately frames the expression of this fellowship that should follow.

So, let’s consider this situation again: An older Central Asian man comes to Christ next week through a study which you facilitate.  How, and by what means, will you help him begin to grasp the concept that ‘church’ is first of all a community of believers, defined by their relationship to God and initiated entirely by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

Filed under: Church, Community | 2 Comments »

The community of believers, the church, should be described first as those who have been lovingly called out by God to become part of His family, His body, and His people: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2.9-10)

Ed put it this way in his comment to my post yesterday: “When thinking of the church theologically and globally, it cannot be defined by form or size but can be defined primarily by relationship and secondarily by function.” 

Most people, however, talk about church primarily (or perhaps exclusively) in terms of what we do at church.

So, let’s consider this situation: A young Cambodian woman comes to Christ next week through a study which you facilitate.  How, and by what means, will you help her begin to grasp the concept that ‘church’ is first of all a community of believers, defined by their relationship to God?

Filed under: Church, Community | Leave a comment »

Get on the road for a few weeks and you can quickly see your ability to post sort of peter out.  Then again, the time away can allow you to see things from a different perspective.

A few weeks ago, I started a conversation on what we, as a World Team community, mean by “church”.  In one post, I raised this question: “How do we begin to describe what we mean by “church” so that it provides a common base for all from which to work and which allows the functions of the church to take appropriate cultural forms where the church is established?”  That question is ultimately centered on the discussion of form and function; a needed and necessary discussion.

However, while I sat listening to a presentation at one of our 2011 Area Conferences, Mark brought me back to an even more fundamental or foundational principle, that the church is the community of all those God has brought into His family, His body.  “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.  For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews of Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”  (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)

The church is first of all universal, and finds its expression in local communities.  We are part of something that is much “bigger than we think”, to borrow Patrick Johnstone’s phrase. 

So when we engage ourselves in establishing new communities of believers, we are not working in a vacuum or creating an entity that stands alone.  We participate in seeing that universal worshipping community extended, and manifested in the places where we live.

Filed under: Church, Community | 4 Comments »