If the church is not a building, where do we go on Sunday mornings?
You see, the church is not a building and it is not a
program. It is a group of people who have acknowledged Jesus as their Savior. In
Acts 8, Saul the persecutor began rounding up the church and sending her to
prison.Did Saul put a building in prison?
Did Saul put Awana and women’s ministry in prison?
Nope and nope. He put believers (aka the church) in
prison.
Why is this important? How we think impacts how we act.
If the church is a building, then the next logical step
in the progression is that the building is sacred; it is a place to find God.
Really? The only building that ever helped a person find the Lord was the
Temple King Solomon erected, for God’s presence was there directly. God through
the Holy Spirit is now embedded in believers. Not buildings. Plus if a building
was sacred, then as soon as I get in my car to go home on Sunday, I leave the
presence of God.
Other by-products of this thinking lead to competition
betweem churches and the mentality that if I can only bring a person to a building I’ve done my
job. Nope. Does God still work that way? Yep. But there is something that is
activated in the church when she realizes her identity and potential. She is
released to accomplish her mission thus fulfilling her purpose. It is like a
cheetah that no longer feeds with the hyenas on carrion but eats still-warm dik-dik.
So please don’t go to church this Sunday. If you are a believer,
you are the church. Go gather with the church and worship the Lord on Sunday in
order to be propelled out into the world being fully activated as the church.
