Is the Church a building or a movement of people?
Maybe we need to change the way we do church or the way we look at the church.
To put this statement into perspective, we need to read the words of one Floyd McClung in his book, ‘You see bones, I see an army: Changing the way we do Church’:
“If we think of the Church as a celebration service that only happens in a building on Sundays, then Jesus doesn’t fit the model. We certainly won’t be able to call him ‘Pastor Jesus’…. If the Church is more dynamic than that; if indeed living like Jesus is how we should be and do Church, then thinking of Jesus and his band of followers as a Church community helps us have a more dynamic concept of what Church is all about”.
These words ring true now more than ever before as Christians struggle with the idea that they are not able to attend Church as they have been doing for years. Many are unable to come to terms with the new normal, some even going to the extent of saying that the Church is under persecution.
Is that really true? In the current situation, is the Church unable to fulfill its mandate? Well, let us go back to where it all began.
Christians are Christians because they are followers of Jesus Christ. As Peter said in Acts 10:38, “... God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil”. Jesus did “good” wherever he went, everyday.
Jesus Christ is the author of the Church. He started it as a community of men and women with a mission, a new purpose for their lives. He gathered them, invested in them, and then commissioned them to go and live what he had lived among them. Based on what Acts says, Christians are supposed to do good the way Jesus did good.
Jesus told his disciples just before he ascended to heaven: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”.
The Church today ought to fulfill the same mission that Jesus Christ came to fulfill. So, what was Jesus mission on earth? This can be found in Luke 4:18-19: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor”.
From the above scriptures, one would say that if Christians are to imitate Jesus Christ and obey his commands, then the mission of the Church is to do good, to proclaim salvation and to make disciples in all places. Are Christians unable to do these three things in the current situation? The answer is no!
If that is the case, it is obvious that doing good, proclaiming salvation and making disciples can happen in communities where Christians live and not only within buildings.
At a time like this when the Church is not gathering as it has always done, what is needed is for every Christian to understand his or her context and to discover God’s mission for that particular context. Christians should ask themselves questions like: What are the biggest problems in my community? What does Jesus have to say about these problems?
It is only when Christians ask these critical questions and respond to them that they will be relevant in the current situation. If not, then the Church will continue to speak the right message in the wrong language and no one will listen to the Church!
I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ is not a building but a movement of people who are called to fulfill the mission of Christ. I am sure that Jesus was not talking about a building when he said in Matthew 16:18, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it”.
So, whether people worship in a building or in their houses is neither here nor there. Jesus expects his followers to be light and salt of the earth wherever they are. They are to do good, preach the good news of salvation and make disciples wherever they are.
The Church ought to adapt to the new situation and continue doing what Jesus expects it to do, as they wait for the situation to go back to normal (if at all it will happen).
The Church that Jesus envisaged is a movement of believers that is having a positive impact among the poor and the marginalised in society, and not just a building where people gather together once in a week to encourage each other.
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