We the CHURCH

"The Church is Plan A. And there is no plan B."

-David Platt

Lately I have been reflecting a lot on this idea of the Body of Believers being the actual 'Church'. Growing up the church was always referred to as though it was a building. We would ask eachother questions like:
"What church do you go to?"
"How big is your church?"
"Does your church have good music?"
"Do you like your church? Cause if not you should come to my church"?

Or to unbelievers:
"Have you ever been to church?"
"Want to come to church with me?"

You know what I'm talking about... we all talk like this....and deep down most of us know the church isn't really a building... or do we? Recently as I have reflected on what the actual "Church" is I have been struggling with what we are portraying it as to those outside and to those inside. The message we are sending to people outside of the Church is most likely, and seems to be the message we are believing within the Christianity.

How many people do you know who call themselves Christians because the "go to church" on Sundays? How many people believe that's all Christianity is?
How many people have left a building and ended up leaving the "Church"?
How much disunity is there between "churches" of different denominations?

My point is when Jesus said to his disciple, Peter referring to his calling "... on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." (Matt 16:18) I don't think Jesus was referring to a whole bunch of buildings where people meet once a week. He was talking about a movement of people who, like Christ's disciples, learned to be disciples and make disciples of others.

In Acts, the Holy Spirit comes upon the group of disciples meeting in prayer and the "Church" begins to grow - however there were some distinct markers that identified Christians:

" They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:42-47)

\When you use words like devoted generally what does not come to mind is people who meet together once a week to sit as audience members in a building, rush home to their real priorities and forget all about "church" until the following Sunday. Clearly in Acts the early members of the church saw conversion and discipleship as an all encompassing life-call. I mean, imagine if rather than just seeing people once a week we saw each other every day. Imagine if someone had a need we didn't go to some "fund" for those needs but we all dug deep into our pockets. Imagine if we weren't known as Christians because we "attended Church" but because we Were the Church. Imagine if we didn't settle to pour our resources into a building but instead sought to build the kingdom of heaven all around us. What if in whatever vocation we were in - be it doctor, lawyer, server at Red Robin, insurance broker or mechanic - we lived as the Church serving and loving and inviting in people wherever we were placed. What if Christians weren't known for their judgmentalism, their hypocrisy and their half hearted 'devotion' but were known for their love, their their generosity to all people, what if Christians were known for being like Christ. It seems to me that we, the Church, have forgotten that Christian means "Christ-like" and have started thinking it just means we try and live marginally more moral lives than the unsaved. 

My desire isn't to bash the "church" it's to remind all of us what the Church is called to be. If we stay safely hidden in our buildings an denominations we will cease to be the salt and light and love in a dark, aching, broken world desperately in need of the light of the Gospel. It begins in each one of us - a stirring up of dissatification at living a marginally "American Christian" life and a desire to live a life of passionate devotion to the Gospel that is fleshed out in a radical commitment that demands every square inch of your heart and your life. 

I will leave you with this excerpt from a letter to an emperor during the second century of the early Church. This is the way a non-Christian talked about Christians - how humbling and challenging is it to think of how far from this we have drifted. I pray you are challenged but also encouraged. We are called to be the Church - so let us be it.


"Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of the human race by country or language or customs. They do not live in cities of their own; they do not use a peculiar form of speech; they do not follow an eccentric manner of life...They give proof of remarkable and admittedly extraordinary constitution of their own commonwealth.  They live in their own countries  but only as aliens. They have a share in everything as citizens and endure everything as foreigners...
They love all men, and by all men are persecuted. They are unknown, and still are condemned; they are put to death, and yet they are brought to life. They are poor, yet they make many rich; they are completely destitute  and yet they enjoy complete abundance. They are dishonored, and in their dishonor are glorified; they are defamed, and are vindicated. They are reviled, and yet they bless; when they are affronted, they still pay due respect. When they do good, they are punished as evil doers; undergoing punishment, they rejoice because they are brought to life. 

To put it simply: What the soul is to the body, the Christians are in the world. The soul dispersed through all the members of the body, the Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body but does not belong to the body, and Christians dwell in the world, but do not belong to the world."
(A letter written by a tutor of emperor Marcus Aurelius Antonius A.D. around 140 A.D)

We the Church Are the Hands and Feet of out Savior- so let us embrace this broken world with His loving arms. We have to do this together. For by our love people will know we are Christ's disciples.

What to do when you aren't Thankful or Hopeful

I haven't blogged  in a while and here's why:
 In the last two months I left my church and friends and home in Vancouver, Canada and moved to the small city of Wenatchee, Washington to get married and begin a new job and a new life. There are two ways of looking at this scenario: one involves noting all of the loss involved with so many life changes; a church, a job, friends, a home, a beloved city. Another perspective involves noting all that one is gaining; A husband, a family, a new church, a new job, a new city...

Well I have viewed the transition through both lenses. Initially, in anticipation of all the change I was thinking only of what I would gain. I was of course incredibly excited to get married, to move, and to start a new job in ministry. However, this tunnel vision enthusiasm kept me from even considering all that I would be leaving behind. This kind of denial-laden enthusiasm breeds disappointment. Although the things I have gained are very good things, even good things God gives us can be ridden with trial and difficulty so if you're expecting cloudless sunny skies it can be quite a shock when you get thunderstorms. Needless to say, the last couple of months have been somewhat painful and I've ended up drenched by the storm.

After Jordan and I got married I woke up and realized I lost a lot when I thought only that I was gaining much.
 I realized I lost dear friends who have journeyed with me through tears and laughter. 
I realized I lost a city filled with memories of home - a place that was more of a home to me than anywhere I had ever lived.
 I realized I lost a Church where I had gone deeper with God than ever before in my walk with him.
 I realized I lost a job with kids I cared very much about and co-workers I loved.
And these realizations devastated me...and I completely forgot what I had gained...

This devastation completely crippled me - making me unable to see all that the Lord was giving me even as he had just taken from me. My pursuit of finding joy in precious moments of gratitude and looking for the light in every shade of darkness began to fade quickly. I stopped even looking - seeing every hue and color as darkness without a spark. It's remarkable how much of a discipline gratitude is. Without it, it is so easy to just follow the currents of my heart. And those currents are always flowing downward. Spiraling towards compromise, towards despair, towards unbelief, towards selfishness. A life of faith and gratitude is all about swimming upstream, and so when discouragement overshadows trust in a Sovereign God, it's easy to forget one of two things: that He is in Control or that He is good. When I cease to cling to these truths hand in hand I cease to trust God because I am not seeing Him for who He is - I am rather seeing through the lenses of my circumstance and thus am trying to trust a god of my own making rather than the God of scripture. When I do this I have stopped swimming altogether and am letting myself be swept away by the undercurrents of a broken world and a heart etched with sin.

"But He gives us more Grace"... (James 4:6)

So in this place of doubting God, trusting in myself, and living blind to the manifold blessings God has given me... He showed up. As always.
 He showed up in the form of some incredible friends who love the Lord and who came alongside as and loved us.
He showed up through nights stayed up late with friends in passionate discussion about leaving everything  for Christ and following Him
He showed up giving us people with whom we have unity in prayer.
He showed up by giving me such dissatisfaction in my pursuit of selfish things that I could do nothing less than run to Him and His Word.
 He showed up in the Power and Conviction that Scripture speaks in - cutting through bone and marrow right to my wayward heart.
He showed up in the revelation that  He is always good and He is always Sovereign, and I am always His.

Once again I am humbled by the truth of Scripture... that He Loved us first. I never earn or figure my way out of sinful mindsets and selfish choices. I never open my own eyes to see the light of His Truth. I never suddenly want to trust in Him when I have chosen to doubt. He is the one who rescues me. That was true when he saved me and it is true of today. And it will be true of tomorrow. In my desperation I simply have to turn my face toward Him and by His grace, He will come.

 The prodigal son didn't come home because he suddenly wanted to be righteous. He came home because he was starving, filthy, desperate and willing to go work as a slave for his father just to survive. The Father didn't receive Him home for his pure motives - He received Him with joy because of Who He is. When we choose to return to God - and it is a daily return of the repentant life we must remember He is overjoyed simply in the returning. He will do the rest. He will change your heart. He will do the redeeming. And He will do it all in Love.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." (Luke 15:20)

So as I go empowered by His promises, by His rescue, by His Spirit I will see the world through the eyes of grace. For though we are by no means promised everything will be easy - in fact we are promised things will be very hard - We are promised He will always be with us and will empower us to be faithful because He is always Faithful. I don't suddenly not miss everything I have lost, but as much as gratitude is a choice I must choose to live thankfully for what God has given me here and now. If I focus only on the things I have lost I will forget to love the husband, friends, church, and town God has entrusted me with. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder than I pray that regardless of circumstance, I would behold everything around me through the eyes of God.

My prayer for you is that you would...

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thess 5:16-18)