Church: What is it?

As a Christian, I ought to know the answer to this question. Knowing what "church" is would then define how I relate to it, I would think. So this is what I am going to do here. I am going to kick off a list of verse references that help to define "church" from a New Testament (NT) perspective. Specifically, let's keep this discussion "NT." Even if you reference something Old Testament (OT) please let it be supporting material to your NT point. Let's get started:

• Jesus is the head of it (Mat 21:42)
• People get added to it and it is like a family (Ephesians 2:12-19)
• Jesus is the establisher of the foundation (goals and intent), foreseen by prophets, implemented by people with apostolic callings (Ephesians 2:20)
• The people that make up the group are all equally wedge into it together (Ephesians 2:21)

There seems to be a metaphor here that the church (people) is growing up, together, and the metaphor is that we are parts of this building that is being constructed. This is cool to me for two reasons: (1) we can see here how someone might miss the metaphor bit and think an actual building IS the church - which possibly explains how we mistakenly say things like "I am heading to the church." If you are part of the church, then that sentence perpetuates a non-relational expectation that "church" is about a building where we go, and (2) constructing a building requires a plan at the minimum, with rooms built to serve different purposes. Imagine an entire house of bathrooms. That is ridiculous. And so it is important that the one constructing the building be in charge of what room get built where. Could you imagine a bathroom deciding it was a kitchen? Recall the expression, don't poop where you eat?

Now it is your turn. And remember... we are only getting started, and there will be a million other topics! But this is a foundational one. Do you have thoughts on these scriptures? Do you have other scriptures that the Holy Spirit is showing you that are helping to define church community? Add a comment and be ready to discuss?

THiNKChurch goals

THiNKChurch is an admonition to the body of Christian believers. It is a request to take a healthy look at the activities within the church community for the purpose of examining what we do, how we do it and how that compares to the type of community life that Jesus set into motion.

I might be refering to a recent book I've been reading on this topic as well as thoughts that many of us have reflected on for years. My hope is that I don't simply blog out ideas into the interweb where people quitely disagree with me, but rather that we take the time to make a lot of comments, to exchange these ideas. I want to be sure that this doesn't turn into a rant of any kind, so I am going to play the role of moderator a bit here, but for the most part I am hoping that some good discussion happens.

Goals I don't have:

• Irritate a bunch of people: not my goal... if simply hearing ideas that you don't agree with makes you angry, then this might not be for you.
• Determine popular opinion: I don't really care about what most people are thinking (in general.) I am interested in what you might have to say, specifically, and how that constructively adds to the conversation.
• Gain momentum and concensus on a perspective: Hopefully the realities that line up most with scripture will rise to the top and we will chew on them with the help of the Holy Spirit. But rest assured, this isn't about the marketing of ideas or a place where the loudest opinion wins. If everyone agrees, and we are all wrong, then we are still all wrong... but we are discussing, and praying, and hoping to hear from the Lord, both through His scripture and from his Royal Preisthood (in case you forgot, this is reference to you, and so everyone gets to play.)
• Hearing opinions out: Again, not so much interest in what most people think, in general. I am hoping that the blog is a place where we talk through issues, but that we are looking for answers through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit with regard to scriptures (revelation, baby! we will pray for nothing less)

So, I hope you find this interesting. And if you don't then imagine for a moment that I am not throwing the old "questions" out there: why does pain exist, homosexuality, sin, heaven and hell, forgiveness. This blog is more foundational topically speaking. So, if you are still interested or curious, here is the premise:

Church is not a building, it is a people. But it is not only a people, it is a community of people relating to one another. Jesus said he is the head of that community. If he is the head, and we are going to get involved in His community, then we should get the clearest Biblical perspective of what church community looked like (in terms of it's values and goals) at the time Jesus set it all into motion. While that expression of community may have grown, we shouldn't have lost track of or be competing with the Biblical goals Jesus set into motion. As a result, we will be discussing elements of church community life with a complete willingness to bring back or completely boot out expressions that should help or can no longer hurt the church Jesus is wanting to build. As a result, hopefully we will end up with a list of values and sample expressions/ideas about how we can let the Lord define our culture in a way that blesses Him so we can bless one-another.

Very soon I will be throwing down the first thoughts for us to examine. I won't be grinding this stuff out like a twitter of busy thoughts. We will hopefully take the time to chew on this stuff.

I know I am looking forward to hearing what you all might have to say! And if you know other who might be interested, please, pass along the URL: http://thinkchurch.blogspot.com/