The Church in America

For my first "REAL" post I thought I would start the conversation going with thoughts on the church in America today. This first post will have several parts to it, and I will try to keep each segment as short as possible. (like around 1,500 words HA HA!) There are many areas we could start with like the condition of church members, the styles of services, the preaching that comes from many pulpits, and how churches hold their members accountable. We could also look into topics like the church's role in society today, how involved it should be in politics, and how we should go about engaging the culture. All of these are great topics and will be discussed in some form along the way but I thought I would start today with more of a Theology of the church to kind of get us going.

The church was started by Christ during His personal ministry when he first began calling disciples to himself. This is evidenced by the Matthew 18 passage when dealing with fellow believers who have fallen into sin, he tells His followers to take it to the church if they have not responded to individual or group counseling on the matter. Of course, we know that the church became fully functioning and active at Pentecost, where 5,000 were added to her number.

But to get even more specific, why the word "church". For those that don't know the word "church" comes from the Greek word "ecclesia" meaning an assembly. More particularly this was a common word in the Greek world because for most Greeks the ecclesia represented what we might call today a type of City Council. These were people who had been elected by a group of people to represent them in meetings to discuss what needed to be done for the betterment of the town. So, why does Christ desire to use this word when beginning to build His ecclesia of believers. Well I believe the answer is obvious because what Christ intended His ecclesia (church) to be was a body of elected (called out/saved) people coming together to do His and the Father's work. That is praying; reading the scriptures; giving of tithes and offerings; singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs; and finally caring out the Gospel (The Good News) to the rest of the world.

My reasoning for beginning here is that I think today the church has lost sight as of what it initially was even brought together for. She was not brought together for coffee and donuts (not that having coffee and donuts is wrong but that's not her main concern). She was not called together for big productions that entertain the masses. She was not brought together to fix all of the social misfortunes outside her doors. ( I know this is a hot topic so I will clarify my stance on this later) What the church was called out to do was and still very much is the work of God. It was called out to minister to the sick, it was called out to preach the Gospel, it was called out to observe the ordinances, it was called out to be a light in a dark world.

Why people today have such a bad view of the church in general today is because we have not looked like a called out people. We instead have distorted the words of Paul when he said, "I have become all things to all people so that by some means I may save some..." into thinking that we have to lose our true identity in Christ for a more worldly image. In doing this we have lost the first importance of what the word "church" even means. We no longer resemble a peculiar people set apart by God through the death of His Son. We no longer resemble an assembly of Christ followers coming together to do His work for the Glory of God. Instead we look like ( and by that I mean act like) the very people we are suppose to be set apart from.

It's interesting to note that when Christian got to the wicket gate and began his journey on the narrow path that he was first given new clothes that would set him apart from the others he might meet on his journey. This helped him remember that he too had been set apart from the rest of the world, and it also helped others to see that he was in some ways different from them. Now, I am not saying that we all should wear only white garments everyday (even though I do prefer only white dress shirts with my suits, hmm), but the purpose it does serve is in showing us the importance of being a people who have been genuinely set apart.

For the church in America today I believe that this is the first step in rescuing our lost reputation. We must look like a people and act like a people who have been called out, separated, and saved from the rest of the world. We are the ecclesia of God and should be a people about His business.