Don't Be Done With Church, Be The Church

As I sit here, snowed in on once again on a Sunday morning, I ponder the many Facebook status updates of friends, little passing comments heard in conversations over the years, and the general zeitgeist of people in America. It seems like a lot of people are following Jesus and are done with church. It's kind of a growing trend. It's almost hip to follow Jesus yet not go to church.

If you're considering that route, I hope to encourage you to not turn your back on the church. If you have already chosen that route, I hope you would reconsider.

Being "done with church" won't bring Jesus to our world. The reason is because Jesus chose for the church to be the vessel through which His work would be done in this world after He ascended into heaven. To make this theological concept brief, Jesus came to establish the church. Up until Jesus, the kingdom of God was the nation of Israel. Through Jesus, the kingdom transitioned from being people who were identified by an ethnicity and border to being a people of all ethnicities, nationalities, and locales.

There is something to be said about community. Community isn't easy, though. I understand that. It takes work. Oftentimes, we just think that work isn't worth the effort, that the frustrations caused by the idiots around us just isn't worth enduring for the value that community brings.

In community, we grow. We are stretched and fed by the thoughts and actions of others. True, sometimes we are offered drivel that we just want to reject. But if we refuse to be arrogant and honestly look back at our lives, our personal growth came through the challenges of others. Removing ourselves from community removes ourselves from a great potential of growth. We stagnate outside of community.

In community, we serve. A healthy church provides a variety of service opportunities inside and springing out from the church. True, you can choose to not be part of a church and use the ministries of the church. They will gladly let you serve through them, using them as a buffet where you can just pick and choose the service opportunities that you like. However, we are called to something greater than that. We are called to create opportunities to serve. We are continually challenged to serve in community.

In community, we have to work with others and work through our disagreements. This is actually a positive thing. As we work together, we grow together. As we grow together, we become one. As George S. Patton said, "If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking." Of course, there will be disagreements and headaches. But we need to change our perspective and view them as a good thing. Together, we meld into something better, through our disagreements, than we would be if we were left alone.

In community, there is permanence. It provides a place for people to connect with other like-minded people. It provides a lasting group of people in a locale that will be there long after we are gone, whether that is from our moving or our death. The time invested in creating and being a group of people is a lasting investment.

In community, movements happen. Movements don't happen from individuals. When we look at history, we like to imagine the great leader doing great things. But if you look closely at any great leader, you will see a group of people making the vision that they share with the leader happen. The leader that we recognize just becomes the face of the movement. The true movement is all of the people who are working toward the same goal that the leader is working toward. Movements don't happen when we choose to be done assembling in community with others. Gathering together is necessary for movements to change this world.

I'll be honest. There have been many times that I have wanted to be done with church too. People are often a frustration. I have a low tolerance threshold for things that I consider stupid. Drama is ridiculous. I don't like people making big deals out of little things. The mission of the church sometimes gets muddled. The passion gets polluted. And Jesus gets lost. Or, more likely, just ignored because Jesus doesn't get lost. He's in the finding business.

Instead of being "done with church", I would love for you to be involved in creating a better local church. Assemble likeminded people together and start a church. You don't even have to call it "church" if that is a taboo word. Instead, call it a gathering or whatever you want. Church at its essence is just a group of people in relationship with one another while being in relationship with God through the grace of Jesus. The world desperately needs followers of Jesus gathering together to make an impact on their communities, regions, and around the globe.

If you want to grow, serve, and be part of a movement that will be greater after you are gone, then you must church. It's easy to attack and leave the church you don't like; it's much harder to listen to God and be involved in creating something beautiful. Don't choose the easy route. Don't be done with church. Be the church. The world needs it. You need it.  

One last note. If you don't think the community of believers that you are part of helps you grow, serve, and create a movement that will last after you are going, try to nudge that one in that direction. Make sure that you are being guided by God and not your own personal opinions. Ask yourself what you can do to make the change you want happen. Avoid asking what others need to do to make it happen. And if you feel that the cause is hopeless in your current community of believers, find a community of believers that will work with you to make that happen. Don't give up on church. Create or find that church. And be the church your heart feels the world needs.

A Look At Fellowship. What Is Koinonia?

What is "fellowship?"

Some times translations do not adequately get the point across of the word they are translating. "Fellowship" is not one of those cases. It is a great translation of the Greek word “koinonia." The word is just the combination of two words put together that in their essence really do grasp the meaning of the original word. Unfortunately, the word "fellowship" has become so common that it no longer strikes us as being the combination of these two separate words. With "fellowship," we have the word “fellow” and the word “ship" melded together. "Fellow" is not a commonly used word today unless you are from the Deep South or involved in a university. A fellow at a university is someone who is considered an equal in a group of peers. When you become a fellow, you become part of a group who make decisions together. There is no superior in a fellowship.

When you combine fellows and put them together on a ship, you have a group of equals heading in the same direction. People on a ship have to work together to get where they are going. This is not your typical ship though. It is not a ship with a hierarchical structure; it is a ship of equals. The key to being a fellowship is that we are going somewhere together knowing that our success on that journey depends on us working together. If the ship sinks, all of the fellows on the ship sink. If the ship gets to the destination in record time, everyone gets to the destination in record time. We rejoice together. We weep together. We struggle together. We celebrate together. Life, in a fellowship, is shared.

Koinonia, the word translated fellowship, was used in Greek times as a union between people. It was most often used to describe the relationship of people who were in business with one another, but it was also used to describe the bond between two people in marriage. This means that fellowship with one another is not something to be taken lightly. It is not something that can be lived out with just a simple handshake. It is not something that we can have with one another just because we share doctrinal concepts. It is not attained through just gathering together at a specific building at a specific time. It is something that has to go much deeper than that. Koinonia, as shown in its traditional use describing business partners and marriage partners, shows a bond between people which is focused on the idea that the success of one is linked with the success of the other.

Imagine that I opened up a business with you and another. Let's say in our case it is a restaurant. Our friend would be the cook. I would run the floor, and you would do the bookwork and ordering. Say we shared ownership in the business, each of us owning a third, making us financial partners. Your financial success as the bookkeeper would be dependent upon my success in serving the customers and training others to do a great job serving the customers. My success would be dependent upon our friend, the cook, making great meals and training others to make those same savory meals. We would be in the business together and our success or failure would depend upon each one of us doing our jobs well. If one of us fails, our business fails. If each one of us succeeds, our business succeeds. That, in a nutshell, is what koinonia or fellowship is – it is a link between people in which they share mutual dreams, actions, and respect. The success of each person is intimately linked with the each others' success.

Koinonia is a family relationship of sorts. Not a fragmented and fighting family like many that we see around us, but a healthy family. The Bible describes our relationship with other believers as a family in various places. Peter describes us as the “family of believers” (1 Peter 2:17). Paul describes us as the “family of faith” (Galatians 6:10).

Maybe you know an amazing family. What is experienced in that well-built family is a great example of what it is to be a family. People look at good families and want to be like them. They see the fun the family has together at family gatherings and want to join in. That is fellowship. The main difference between the fellowship of biological families compared to the fellowship we are supposed to have as the church is that a biological family's fellowship is based upon a shared bloodline and is typically exclusive to people who are either born into or married into the family. (I am not saying there is something wrong with a healthy biological family like that. That's sort of family fellowship is one that I wish to emulate with mine.)

The fellowship in a church should be just as great or even greater than any biological fellowship. But is it? Are we the type of people who share our lives together in a way that others long to be part of our community? Do we know each other intimately like a family? The main difference between the fellowship Christians should experience and the fellowship of a healthy biological family is that our fellowship is not exclusive to bloodlines; it is inclusive to anyone who is seeking God. Our family should be growing as God continues to draw fellow sojourners in Jesus together to bring about His will here on earth.

Our fellowship should be a fellowship that other churches would long to emulate and people would want to join in on, but that is not our goal. Our goal should be to remain faithful to what God has called us to and to be the group of people He intends for us to be. Being a follower of Jesus is not just adhering to a set of doctrinal statements, attending a worship gathering, or some other legalistic ritual that we have morphed it into being; it is living our lives together in such a way that we exhibit the life together that Jesus intended for us to live. This life lived in fellowship would give credence to the authority of Scripture and the doctrines we share. This life would make God known in our world today. Let us strive to be the people Jesus died for us to be. Let us live in His resurrected, eternal life today, together.
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Let love be genuine. 
Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.  
Love one another with brotherly affection. 
Outdo one another in showing honor.  
Do not be slothful in zeal, 
be fervent in spirit, 
serve the Lord.  
Rejoice in hope, 
be patient in tribulation, 
be constant in prayer.  
Contribute to the needs of the saints 
and seek to show hospitality.  
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.  
Rejoice with those who rejoice, 
weep with those who weep.  
Live in harmony with one another. 
Do not be haughty, 
but associate with the lowly. 
Never be wise in your own sight.  
Repay no one evil for evil, 
but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.  
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.  

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”  To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:9-21 (ESV)

Church. Local.

A few years back I wrote an article called Out of Town Church'in. In it, I tried to encourage people to go to church in the community they live in. From the comments that I received regarding it, I think it was the most unpopular article I have ever written. And looking around my town, I don't think it worked on too many people. So this time I am going to try to make the point in a more proactive and even more offensive way. Offensive only in that I am going to more adamantly state a truth that is offensive in the hope that some of you reading this will start going to church in the community you live in.

You need to go to church in the town you live in.

The church needs that. And if you claim to be a Christian, you should be concerned about what the church needs. You spiritual life, whether you recognize it or not, needs that.

If the purpose of going to church is for you to be entertained or for you to enjoy the best programs, then by all means, find the best church and drive to another town to go to it. Churches with better programs and a slicker presentation are out there.

Maybe you go to an out-of-town church because you grew up in that church, your family goes there, or you went to that church when you previously lived in that town. I understand all of those reasons, but the truth is that you moved. You moved. You chose to move, so switch churches to a local one. The town you live in now needs you to go to church in it. And your spiritual life needs you to live in close proximity with the Christians you worship, study, pray, and serve with.

Church is not something you go to. At its heart, church is all about relationships. It's something you are when you have given your life over to Jesus and are in relationships with brothers and sisters in Him. Church is about loving your neighbors and your community. Those things won’t be done in the community you live in if a lot of the Christians go to churches outside of that community.

Because that out-of-town church with the nice programs, your family, the proper doctrines, or the charismatic preacher won't help the community you live in. They aren't focused on reaching your community for Jesus. They're focused, like they should be, on reaching the community they have been placed in for Jesus. See how it works. A church works to reach the community it is in, and you work through a church to also reach the community you are in.

Now, I understand that you can be all-out crazy in ministering to the community you live in when you go to church in another town, but I don’t see that happening much. I don’t see any of the larger churches that pull people from other towns investing money ministering back to people not in their town.

I agree that churches in communities outside of your town have better preachers. That’s nothing against the preachers in your town, but there are always better speakers out there. I agree that churches outside of your town can provide better programs for your children although I am sure that the churches in your town all try their best with what they have to fill that need. I agree that churches outside of your town have better facilities, but I don't really think facilities are something that we should be all that worried about.

None of those reasons are good enough reasons for a person to go to church outside of your town. This is true if you live in my town of Antwerp. It's also true in Payne, in Paulding, Woodburn, and New Haven. Wherever you live, it is important to go to church in that town. Antwerp needs Antwerp Christians to be the church in Antwerp if the people in Antwerp are going to see Jesus through its churches. The Christians in your town need to be involved in ministering to your town if your town is going to be reached for Jesus. The good churches from other towns aren’t going to be interested in ministering to your town. And we aren’t going to be the recipients of missionaries from overseas to minister to our towns. The missionaries for our towns are you and me.

What I hope to convince you of is that God intends for you - your time, your energy, your sweat, your passion, your prayers - to be part of His plan in ministering to the town you live in. God brings His will into our reality through people like you and me.

The people in your community need Christians loving them through the churches in your community. You are an important part of that because the church is only people who are in relationship with one another under the Lordship of Jesus. That is how the Kingdom of God grows. Please, go to church where you live. It's better for you. It's better for God's kingdom. It's better for your town. It really is better all around.

Out Of Town Church'in

If the purpose of going to church is to be entertained or to enjoy the best programs, then by all means, find the best church and drive a half hour or an hour to go to it. Maybe you go to an out of town church because you grew up in that church, family goes there, friends go there, or you went to that church when you previously lived in that town. I understand all of those reasons.

But what if the purpose of the Church is bigger than those reasons? What if, instead of going to church, you are to be the Church? What if Church is about what you can give to it rather than what you get out of it? What if Church is about relationships with one another? What if Church is about loving your neighbors and the community you live in? What if those things won’t be done within the community you live in if the Christians in your community go to churches outside of that community?

Now, I understand that you can be all-out crazy in ministering to the community you live in when you go to church out of town, but I don’t see that happening. I don’t see any of the larger churches that pull people from our town investing time and money ministering back to the people in our town. I don’t see any person in our town radically serving our community for Jesus while going to church out of town. If I did, I probably wouldn’t be writing this article. If you are doing that and I have missed it, keep on serving.

I agree that churches in communities outside of Antwerp have better preachers. That’s nothing against the preachers in Antwerp who I respect and love. I agree that churches outside of Antwerp can provide better programs for your children. I agree that churches outside of Antwerp have better facilities.

None of those reasons are a good enough reason for an Antwerpian to go to church outside of Antwerp. And the same is true for all of you from other towns. It’s true in Payne, in Paulding, in Woodburn, and in whatever town you live in. Antwerp needs Antwerp Christians to be the Church in Antwerp if the people in Antwerp are going to see Jesus through its churches. The Christians in your town need to be involved in ministering to your town if your town is going to be reached for Jesus. The good churches from other towns aren’t going to be interested in ministering to your town. They’re doing what they were called to do and ministering to their town. And we aren’t going to be the recipients of missionaries from overseas to minister to our town. The missionaries for our towns are us.

If the people in Antwerp go to churches outside of Antwerp that are focused on ministering to the communities they live in, then where will the resources and manpower come from to minister to the community of Antwerp? I understand that God is in control and all of resources are His. But what I am trying to convince you of is that God intends for you (your time, your energy, your sweat, your passion) to be part of His resources in ministering to the town you live in. He doesn’t force His will but waits patiently for faithful people to bring about His will. God typically brings His will into our reality through people like you and me.

One disclaimer: There is no substitute to following God’s calling on one’s life. If you go to church outside of the community you live in, then you need to figure out whether you are doing that because of God’s calling. If so, keep on doing it. Who am I to go against the calling of God or to establish a new law that everyone must follow? However, if you are going to church outside of the community you live in and it is not because of a clear calling from God, then I hope that you prayerfully consider switching to a church in the community where you live.

The people in your community need Christians loving them through the churches in your community. You are an important part of that because the church is only people who are in relationship with one another under the Lordship of Jesus fulfilling His mission. Living out that life together is how the Kingdom of God grows.
Here are some quotes from friends of mine:

“It is best to go to church in the town one lives in because an integral part of the Christian faith is being involved in community with other believers. We spent a lot of time travelling from town to town in order to develop relationships with others in our congregation (when we went to church outside of town). It takes a lot of time, and the intimacy is just not the same as being in community with people who are also in your geographical community.” – Mary Adams.

“I think it’s best to go where you live so you stay more connected with the people in your town and the needs there.” – Diana Watson.

“It is best to go to church in the town where you live especially if you have children. They need to develop relationships with other Christians with whom they go to school with every day instead of only seeing their Christian friends on Sunday and possibly Wednesday.” – Marilyn Lepper.

We should ask ourselves some questions. What is the purpose of Church? Why does God have me living where I live? Am I being a faithful Christian in ministering to the people where I live? Let us all continue to strive to be who God wants us to be. We only have one life to live; let’s live it as best as we can for God.

This article could be seen as an attack on some of my friends and neighbors. It is not meant to be that. But I look at the community I minister in, I see people go out of town for church, and I know that this is detrimental to the faith community in this town. I can't remain silent. The community of Antwerp needs the Christians who live in Antwerp ministering through the churches in Antwerp. This is probably true for every other small town community.