House Church, Organic Church, Simple Church... These are names that you will hear circulating in conversations around the Christian world today. I'm not going to attempt to thoroughly address this issue but wanted to simply give you some food for thought.
Just some quick questions to perhaps get those juices flowing:
1. Does the bible have anything to say about where a church body meets?
2. Does it have anything to say about how often?
3. What makes a church a church and not just a group of friends?
4. If you had to define the church (i.e a true body of Christ) in one paragraph, could you?
When we look into the Greek word used for "church" in the NT we will find that it is ekklesia and the Greeks in Jesus' day would have commonly used that word to describe any group of people who meet regularly because of a common identity or a common interest. This word, ekklesia, was not a spiritual or "Christian" word, it was a commonly used Greek word of that day.
Over the last few hundred years it's common English translation, "church", has come to mean a lot of different things to different people. So right out of the shoot we need to leave behind the word "church" in our thinking about how to describe this group of Christians.
Here are some other terms used to describe the gathering or NT believers in the NT:
The Body of Christ
The Bride of Christ
The Family of God
God's Household
These are all names that, to me, address the functionality of a group of Christians more than the form they take on. Take a few moments and let these terms sink in as your think about what they mean....
As the body, we continue to carry out the work of revealing the Father to the world that Jesus was doing 2000 years ago.
As the Bride we are deeply loved by Jesus and he is continually loving us and preparing us for glory.
As the family and the household we are to live in submission to the Father continually doing His will and helping each other to submit to Him.
In all of these examples we are to:
Live in submission and obedience to God
Love and care for each other
Bring the the good news of redemption to a lost world
Love and cherish our Savior
Submit to one another
So in conclusion, I think that a "church" may simply be a group of Jesus followers that are committed to doing the above together... as a team, a group, a fellowship or whatever you may call it. What this group "looks like" or the form they take in order to accomplish the above SHOULD vary depending on the setting the people live in! And what you call it is nearly completely irrelevant.
Just some quick questions to perhaps get those juices flowing:
1. Does the bible have anything to say about where a church body meets?
2. Does it have anything to say about how often?
3. What makes a church a church and not just a group of friends?
4. If you had to define the church (i.e a true body of Christ) in one paragraph, could you?
When we look into the Greek word used for "church" in the NT we will find that it is ekklesia and the Greeks in Jesus' day would have commonly used that word to describe any group of people who meet regularly because of a common identity or a common interest. This word, ekklesia, was not a spiritual or "Christian" word, it was a commonly used Greek word of that day.
Over the last few hundred years it's common English translation, "church", has come to mean a lot of different things to different people. So right out of the shoot we need to leave behind the word "church" in our thinking about how to describe this group of Christians.
Here are some other terms used to describe the gathering or NT believers in the NT:
The Body of Christ
The Bride of Christ
The Family of God
God's Household
These are all names that, to me, address the functionality of a group of Christians more than the form they take on. Take a few moments and let these terms sink in as your think about what they mean....
As the body, we continue to carry out the work of revealing the Father to the world that Jesus was doing 2000 years ago.
As the Bride we are deeply loved by Jesus and he is continually loving us and preparing us for glory.
As the family and the household we are to live in submission to the Father continually doing His will and helping each other to submit to Him.
In all of these examples we are to:
Live in submission and obedience to God
Love and care for each other
Bring the the good news of redemption to a lost world
Love and cherish our Savior
Submit to one another
So in conclusion, I think that a "church" may simply be a group of Jesus followers that are committed to doing the above together... as a team, a group, a fellowship or whatever you may call it. What this group "looks like" or the form they take in order to accomplish the above SHOULD vary depending on the setting the people live in! And what you call it is nearly completely irrelevant.
