Why are we here?
Friday, January 1st, 2010click here for past entriesWhy are we here?
Every so often I am led to ask, “Why do we do this?” Why do we have congregations and set budgets and have a council and committees? Why do we make demands on people’s time and resources? Why do we have a church?
The reasons for asking such questions are many. Some people seem overburdened with all of the demands on them and see the church as one more commitment that they don’t have time for. Some people have become discouraged because others don’t act the way that they “should” and don’t seem very “Christian.” Some people have tried to get things going and have been met with apathy and non-committal responses all around. Some people have simply ditched the church altogether and have decided that they can believe just fine on their own. Surely this isn’t what God intended for the body of Christ!?
The church is actually spoken of quite lovingly in the New Testament. John writes “to the elect lady and her children” – i.e. the church (2 Jn. 1). The church is also described as the “bride of Christ” (Eph. 5; Rev. 19:7) and the “body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12). The church is one body with many members that is to be Christ’s presence in our world.
The fact that there needs to be a church is not in dispute in the Scriptures. However, what form that church will take is not necessarily defined.
If we look at the earliest church described in Acts, the people gathered together regularly (actually, daily!) for worship and prayer, for fellowship and for the Lord’s Supper, and to listen to the teaching of the apostles (Acts 2:42-47). They did this in the temple and in the homes of believers. Those who believed in Jesus became part of a community of people who worshiped and prayed together and who supported one another in the faith. There was no such thing as believing all by yourself.
The other thing that happened was that those who gathered together pooled their resources in order to provide for those who were in need. Each person offered what they had – spiritual gifts, financial means, time and talents – for the support of others and for the building up of the body of Christ. In this way they lived out their faith and served as witnesses to those who did not yet believe in Jesus.
At base, this is what the church is all about, not only then but now. It is the addition of things like church buildings and paid professionals and charitable status that necessitates having a constitution and a governing board and a budget. Yet, it is also the addition of these things that seems to make it easy to lose sight of why we have a church at all.
We need to worship as part of a life-giving relationship with God. We need the support of other believers in order to grow in our faith. We need the spiritual nourishment that comes from biblical teaching and the Lord’s Supper. We also need all the members of the body to be healthy and contributing.
Just as when your body has a broken arm or some other ailment, there are times when certain members will need to receive care rather than to give. However, if a bunch of members choose to receive rather than give, then it becomes like dragging one leg around in which none of the muscles are working – very hard work!
At the same time, if some members end up doing things that are not one of their gifts, it becomes kind of like an eye trying to do the hearing for the body. It is far more helpful for the eye to do the seeing! Not everybody does well as a council member, and not everybody does well with detail work, yet everybody has a gift for something! The body functions best when people use those gifts to the glory of God and in the service of others.
Thank you to those of you who continue to contribute to the building up of the body of Christ. “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 1:4).
In Christ,
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