Church

Quick. What comes to mind when you see C-H-U-R-C-H? Stain glass? Gothic cathedral? Modern building with multimedia? Guitar? Coffee hour? Sunday School? Too hard pews?

 

I see people. Church happens whenever the people of God get together. Mostly, church happens outside the building, off campus. Church happens where we are.

 

Console a friend. That's church. Teach the mysteries of trigonometry? That's church. Stay up all night with a two year old or a not-yet-sobered up friend? That's church. Work a soup kitchen. That's church. Pray with a sick person when you cannot find the words? That's church. Defend the powerless? That's church. Forgive someone who truly mistreated you? That's church.

 

Church is everywhere we, the baptized, are. The real question is, "How faithful are we as church?" Faithfulness depends on two things. Asking God to enter into our corporate endeavors and then letting God work. There is a temptation to go it alone and push results. When we do, the power is absent. Without God, we have very little lasting power. "Church" is the broker of unlimited power.

 

God is mad about you (not mad at you.) He has cast you as a catalyst for the renewal of a broken world. He has placed you within a community of like-minded catalysts. Go be the church. Be bold. Do-over's are God's business. Tell me how I can encourage, equip and deploy you.