Core Belief :: CHURCH

I believe the church is God’s primary way to accomplish His purposes on earth today.

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
-Ephesians 4:15-16 TNIV

You may be surprised to hear me say this, but this is a tough one for me. I've been a part of the church my whole life, and church leadership has been my vocation for over 20 years. In that time, my life has been enriched beyond measure through the church, as it has for millions of other people. In that same time, I have been deeply hurt by the church, disappointed in the church, frustrated with the church, and sometimes bored with the church. I've wanted to quit church work several times, and have had others recommend that I do so. You could say I have a love/hate relationship with the church. I often think God could have come up with a better plan. So why am I still here? -because CHURCH is a core belief of Christianity, and you don' get to pick and choose only the ones you like; and because when the church isn't being dysfunctional, there is nothing like it on earth.

If I had to believe that the institutional church--the denominations, the buildings, the national or global organizations, the hierarchy and the bureaucracy--was God's primary way to accomplish His purposes, I might have to bail. But thankfully, that's not actually the church. I can't find any of that stuff in the New Testament. Just like he lived his life, Jesus established his church with amazing simplicity. The 1st-century church thrived--in fact changed the world--without budgets, buildings, headquarters, or media campaigns. All they had was people and the Holy Spirit, which turned out to be a pretty good combination. People, equipped and empowered by the Holy Spirit to love God and their neighbors in ways that changed the world. People were drawn to them like moths to a flame, and embraced Christ and the Christ-life in staggering numbers.

If I didn't think that was still possible right now, right here in our community, I would cash in my chips and quit. I still believe that's what God is up to, if any Christ-followers have the courage to shed the trappings of religion and exchange them for the Christ-life. I love the first word of today's verse: "Instead." Pursue New Testament community instead of religious meetings, and true belonging instead of organizational membership; loving each other radically instead of gathering weekly with pseudo-strangers and acquaintances to listen to a preacher; pursue thinking, acting, and becoming like Christ instead of engaging in religious activity; and giving away our lives together instead of merely writing checks or doing our duty. People who live like that, empowered by the Holy Spirit, change the world. That's the real church. And yes, she is God's primary way to accomplish His purposes in the world. I've seen her, and she's beautiful. One look and you'll fall in love.

E.M. Bounds captured this better than I can in this visionary statement about the church. Ladies, please take the "men" references generically and embrace this vision:

"We are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or sink the man in the plan or organization. God's plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than anything else. Men are God's method. The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more novel methods, but men whom the Holy Spirit can use. The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men."

- Emerson McKendree Bounds