In the next few blogs I’m going to explore a couple of theses. They are first, every group of believers that get together is “church.” Second is “missions is the mandate of every group of believers that gathers together. That is to say, that whatever group you call yourself, wether Bible Study, Youth Group, Prayer Group, or sunday School, an integral part of the vision of that gathering needs to be some type of outward mission focus. The bigger the group the bigger the project or the more groups together the greater the vision and greater the action.
I understand that I tend to talk circularly. I make several points and tell stories all as I surround a main point getting ever closer until I reach that point. Straight lines are for chumps.
There are a few Bible verses key in these thoughts:
where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them (Matt 18:20); All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18); If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal (1 Cor 13:1); Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.'All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."(Matt 22: 37-40); 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. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (matt 28: 19-20)
If every group of believers that gets together has an outward vision then we begin to love our neighbours. We are only truly able to love our neighbours because we love Jesus with everything and He transforms our hearts. This is The Great Reconciliation! If, as groups os believers, all we do is look inward then, generally through this habitual looking inward, we begin to only see ourselves. Focus on ourselves. We see our needs, our wrongs, our rights, us, we, me, I. We look out to God not in to God. We are not God. Believe me, you may be scoffing at this leap but looking inward is a slippery slope that leads to us being gods--whether explicitly or implicitly the result is the same. We are the gods. This is where a lot o humanist ideas come in, or that whole secret stuff on Oprah or things like that. Okay i am straying from the topic...
What is church? I guess that is a question that needs to be answered. We need to grapple with this. I’m with Ralph Winter when he says that both the local church and the traveling church are Church (check it out). Church is all about Jesus. He is the center, the head, the bridegroom. Church is about loving God with everything and loving our neighbour. Its not about us. we people that happen to go into a certain building on a sunday morning are not the focus.
I am not sure exactly what church is supposed to be all the time. I think it is all hands and feet and heart and eyes and all of us together but different. We are bound together by love and all have Jesus at the center and want more people to love Him. Love is the watchword. I don't think we are to build a church like a field of dreams. We are not to build it and simply expect people to come. We are supposed to go out. Jesus told the guys to not just stay in Jerusalem but to also go out into all the world. I guess it's like this, if there is no going out then it shows a true lack of love, a lack of love for Jesus and lack of love for our global neighbours. Then those church buildings are just all white noise, clanging symbols...
I understand that I tend to talk circularly. I make several points and tell stories all as I surround a main point getting ever closer until I reach that point. Straight lines are for chumps.
There are a few Bible verses key in these thoughts:
where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them (Matt 18:20); All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18); If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal (1 Cor 13:1); Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.'All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."(Matt 22: 37-40); 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. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (matt 28: 19-20)
If every group of believers that gets together has an outward vision then we begin to love our neighbours. We are only truly able to love our neighbours because we love Jesus with everything and He transforms our hearts. This is The Great Reconciliation! If, as groups os believers, all we do is look inward then, generally through this habitual looking inward, we begin to only see ourselves. Focus on ourselves. We see our needs, our wrongs, our rights, us, we, me, I. We look out to God not in to God. We are not God. Believe me, you may be scoffing at this leap but looking inward is a slippery slope that leads to us being gods--whether explicitly or implicitly the result is the same. We are the gods. This is where a lot o humanist ideas come in, or that whole secret stuff on Oprah or things like that. Okay i am straying from the topic...
What is church? I guess that is a question that needs to be answered. We need to grapple with this. I’m with Ralph Winter when he says that both the local church and the traveling church are Church (check it out). Church is all about Jesus. He is the center, the head, the bridegroom. Church is about loving God with everything and loving our neighbour. Its not about us. we people that happen to go into a certain building on a sunday morning are not the focus.
I am not sure exactly what church is supposed to be all the time. I think it is all hands and feet and heart and eyes and all of us together but different. We are bound together by love and all have Jesus at the center and want more people to love Him. Love is the watchword. I don't think we are to build a church like a field of dreams. We are not to build it and simply expect people to come. We are supposed to go out. Jesus told the guys to not just stay in Jerusalem but to also go out into all the world. I guess it's like this, if there is no going out then it shows a true lack of love, a lack of love for Jesus and lack of love for our global neighbours. Then those church buildings are just all white noise, clanging symbols...
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