"Don't Go to Church..."

“Don’t Go to Church….”

 

A church Karen and I attended in South Carolina had tee shirts made up which proclaimed in bold letters, “Don’t Go to Church….” This raised a few eyebrows until the wearers turned around so the observers could see the completed statement on the back: “Be the Church.” In this way the leaders were emphasizing that attending church was only part of the members’ responsibility. But what does it mean to “Be the Church”? Let me try to answer with two stories.

When Karen and I were moving from New Hampshire to South Carolina she and our son Dave were in one car and I followed in our second vehicle. About an hour into the trip my car’s transmission died, never to be resurrected. I called Karen and told her and Dave to continue their trip and I’d figure out what to do. She phoned some friends and asked them to pray for me. About five minutes later I got a call from one of her friends’ husband who was a car dealer (half the vehicles in our church parking lot had his name on them). He asked where I was then said, “I’ll be there in an hour or so. We’ll bring you and the car back to Manchester, you’ll stay at our house tonight, and tomorrow pick out a car and pay me when you can.” I’m still driving that Nissan five years and 80,000 miles later. Denis was being the church to Karen and me as he put God’s Word into practice (“…As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”—Galatians 6:10).

Recently the pastor of our Florida church shared that he’d heard about an area church of another denomination that was threatened with closure because, despite the sacrificial giving of the congregation, they didn’t have the funds to pay an insurance premium. Our pastor went to the other church’s pastor (whom he’d never met) and told him the bill would be paid by our church so its ministry could continue. Pastor Wayne was being the church to those brothers and sisters in Christ (“Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is within your power to act.”—Proverbs 3:27).

Do you and I go to church? Most reading this would say we do. But are we being the church (whatever form that may take)? Listen to our Lord’s friend and disciple: “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:17-18). Are we ready to move beyond goers to be-ers when it comes to Christ’s church?

Blessings!

Jim McMillan