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Introduction

 

How do we incarnate the body of Christ in this new frontier, this increasing wilderness? What do the roots of Christianity, of the apostles first forays into the world have to say for the church today? These are the questions that drive me. How are we to be the church in a culture that has forgotten the ways of Christ?

The call of the church today is to abandon its fortresses and to become nomads, following the breath of God as he fills the world with life; to pursue the shadow of an unrelenting and unceasing God that is passionately reclaiming what is his. I want to understand how he spoke through his first apostles as he called together and formed the body of believers in the upper room with his holy fire. I want to inhabit the words and minds of the ancient theologians and mystics that sought God above all else. Through all of this though I want to gain an understanding on how to inspire, lead, and bring others along on the narrow path, to one day see the new heavens and the new earth in all their glory, and to see the face of my savior and embrace his feet in awe.

This journey is both intimately personal, and at the same time impossible without being in community with other believers and unbelievers alike. For truly as the gospel states we all have sinned, and fallen short of God’s glory, but praise be the cross is sufficient for all who embrace it’s story.

-David

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Entries in church (2)

Saturday
May222010

Theology 101: Introduction to Basic  Ecclesiology

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I once had a professor tell me to never use theological words when I happened to be preaching. I am sure you also received that advice if you attended xyz school for ministry. The only problem is that advice leads you and me down the road to theological immaturity. Yes, the Bible doesn’t use some of the big boy theological words that have been devised to convey it’s message. However if you are going to study law, it’s not enough to just watch Law and Order.  You have to get a little down and dirty with the lingo.

I know this is not going to blow the socks off of all of my pastor/church leader/seminary friends, but I didn’t write it for them. I also will admit that what I am about to say is neither new or profound; but, if you love Jesus, you want to take it up a notch in the theological ladder, and impress your pastor next Sunday then read on...

Term: Ecclesiology

Origin (via Wikipedia): from Greek ἐκκλησίᾱ, ekklēsiā, "congregation, church"; and -λογία, -logia

Definition: Ecclesiology is the study of the church, asking what the church is. I wrote on this a while back here, if you care to time travel.  In short, the church is the body of Christ (the Lord’s people) called out from among the world to be his people and bear his message back into all creation.

Thoughts: In my theological academic study I have probably thought about this question the most. In what many have termed to be the twilight era of Christendom, I want to know what it is that we should be doing as the church in the west (USA, Canada, Europe), and how we should be doing it. Even the what and how questions are preceded with a why question: why is there a church to begin with?

With this diagram I am taking the what question of ecclesiology down to it’s essence, this is what any church should be about.

 

The church exists to be a community of Christ-followers that worships God and also equips, trains, and helps people that love Jesus build relationships with people that don’t yet know Jesus. This is/should be the basic ingredient as to what we are about as the Church, as Christ-followers. It’s not about programs, bands, movies, it’s about building relationships. Every program, event you have should be about helping people the love Jesus connect with people that don’t yet know Jesus.

Throughout time the ‘church’ has grown, changed, developed, sinned, just like any human institution. sometimes we have taken our eyes of this basic understanding of relationship building (and always to our detriment).

Summary: Ecclesiology is the study of the church, who we are, why we exist, and what we are to be doing in the world.

 

 

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Monday
Mar092009

Why I Go to Church

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In many ways the simple answer is, because I always have.  As a child church was not optional for me.  That is not to in anyway say that I did not enjoy going to church, although there were times I really wanted to be playing outside.  As I grew up I came to love the friendships and connections I built within the context of church.  However I also had many friends outside of my church as well.

When I went to college, I for the first time had a choice.  I could sleep in, as my freshman year roommate consistently did, or I could choose to go out.  The freedom in being able to go, or not go, and if I went to choose where I would go was something new to me.  Needless to say I chose to continue going to a church, and after around 5 or 6 months of trying a few options I landed on a church.  I stayed in that church through college and for the first 6 years of my marriage.

At the end of 6 years, after the church changed pastors, I was presented with an opportunity to help start Trinity Family as a core family.  Alicia and I had been looking to purchase a house in the same community that Trinity Family was going to launch in, it seemed like God had it worked out, so we leapt and here we are.

If you notice there is a progression to this story;  I had to,  I chose to, I was called to.

For those of you who never ‘had to’, there is an element of disciplining yourself into a church community.  Not a ‘bad boy’ discipline, but a marathon discipline.  Fortunately I developed this early and have stuck with it.  I guarantee that whether you are 5 or 32 and have not developed this discipline it is hard; especially as an adult that can choose.

For those that ‘chose to’ come to Trinity Family and do so consistently they have found a sense of community and connectedness with others that share their hunger for knowing God and serving him.

Finally, the point.  There are those of us that feel a special calling from God for our participation.  I consider myself part of that.  The church for me has become integral to who I am as an individual.  Without my church, I loose a part of my own identity.  I would say, somewhat ironically, that I don’t go to church anymore.  We are the church, those of us that participate in the lifeblood and ministry of the church and have embraced God’s mission in our communities.  The church for me is as essential as my heart, my hands, my neck, or my eyes.

In our culture it is easy to objectify church, to turn it into a commodity, a segmented part of our lives.  I urge you to challenge culture, and to dive in and embrace church as not just a place for spiritual enrichment, but let it integrate you into it’s identity.  We are all part of the body of Christ.  The body does not exist for the finger, but the finger for the body.

As the t-shirt says; don’t go to church, be the church.

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