Could Church be a verb, not a noun?
(The word ‘ecclesia’, often translated to church in our Bibles, doesn’t mean a church building but an assembly, a meeting.)
I have been reflecting upon what is ‘Church’ today. Although we have seen increased attendance at churches over Christmas, they may not seem to wish to continue attending church once the decorations have been put away and our focus is upon the next festival or occasion.
Our current congregations are a series of relationships and communications as they meet in our building. We might even call them fellowships which infers a more structured, static, formal notation of church. Does it need to be structured and formal?
In early days, the initial Christian believers would meet in their home (1 Corinthians 16:19). They were originally considered a cult from the Jewish faith. The Christians, first named that in Antioch, had been encouraged by the teachings of Paul, the man ‘converted’ on the road to Damascus…but he was still a Jew so why do we say conversion? Actually he was a Jew and a Christian! Those first believers would meet in small groups in various houses. They would be generous in their support of others (Acts 2) and of those they held dear, back in Jerusalem; but these people didn’t ‘go’ to a church building – they were church!
It was possibly only following Emperor Constantine’s declaration that Christianity was now to be an accepted religion in 323 CE that the Christians could freely worship in buildings or basilica’s. And wow, they used some mighty fine buildings. Their robes were now reminiscent of the Roman leaders, fine elegant toga’s. But had their faith changed?
Would our faith change if we were suddenly accepted by those who had persecuted us viciously over the past few centuries?
In our churches today we may count those who attend each service, because ‘size matters’. It could be seen as a measure of possible income. Pete Ward in his book Liquid Church suggests that Church today could be described in three ways: a Heritage site, which offers a slice of history, where tradition is important; a Refuge, a shelter which can be made comfortable for those who attend; or a Nostalgic place, for those yearning for a previous age, somewhere communal meetings can be held in society.
Surely there are different options also available? Think today of Cathedrals and their sense of spirituality and of parish churches which support the local community.
In Scripture we read of the many relationships which strengthened the resolve of believers. Of Prisca and Aquila, for all that they did in Corinth, of Barnabus, Timothy and Silas as they supported Paul on his travels, and of Jesus who sent his Holy Spirit to sustain us in our relationship with God. There’s that wonderful description of a man walking alongside Cleopas and possibly his wife along the Emmaus Road (Luke 24). These are all descriptions of relationship, not focussed upon a building.
Here is a drawing of a network. There are just three different groups highlighted: one in red, blue and green. Some of these groups are interlinked. Importantly, there’s a central link – not the building but Jesus (in Gold, if you were wondering 🙂 )
So what if the church wasn’t the building but a network of relationships focussed upon Jesus. This is akin to the descriptions of the church as a ‘body’ in Paul’s writings. This network is formed of different dimensions, of different groups meeting at different times and in different locations. They need not meet on a Sunday at 10:30 or 11am, they may not even meet weekly. They’d adapt to the prevailing circumstances within their group, to the cultural need of our community.
Together, this is church.
This is a radical reversal from today. This isn’t the Church saying that the community needs God due to their sin, but that the Christian believers are looking to meet the needs of the community, for within that relationship the believers offer opportunities for people to discern God. God is already there, we don’t need to do God’s work: we are there to join where God is working already and show his love. This may mean that our formalised structured programme of events, our set calendar, may need to adapt.
Are we prepared to do that? Are we prepared to adapt from being building-focussed to becoming relationship-focussed?