I can’t tell you off the top of my head the number of books I have read in the past three years on starting and growing churches. With each book it seems that every author has his own definition on what church is. Some argue there are certain things that need to be in place, such as elders, doctrinal statements, sacraments, etc. Others hold the view that “wherever two or more are gathered” then church is happening.
As I read the New Testament it strikes me that the church is never spoken of or addressed in these terms. It seems that decades of change in culture and religion has altered the view most of us have on the church. In our context the church is different than that of the first century. For starters, we face the challenge of a thousand different denominational differences and traditions. There weren’t seven different churches in a single town in the first century. Imagine if Paul were to write a letter today to the church in
Columbus, Ohio. It would take three weeks just to get the letter around to all the different church gatherings in and around our city! We’ve come a long way since
Jerusalem.
The Greek word “ecclesia” is the term that we translate into church in the English language. This term is a compound that literally means to “call out”. The church is the “called out” ones. This Greek term was also used interchangeably with the term “synagogue”, which means assembly. Synagogue infers a certain level of hospitality. Neither one of these terms seems to denote today’s concept of church.
In the first century every believer had a sense of calling on their life. To confess Christ was to sacrifice something. The earliest believers were imprisoned, killed and isolated from the local community. Everyone understood, from the Apostles to the guys serving food to widows, that they were called out of the world and into an eternal Kingdom.
They also demonstrated the proper response of blessing others just as God had blessed them. None of the church members had need because they all shared in God’s blessings. They sold property and gave financially in order to meet the needs of the widows and orphans. While it is encouraging to see in the American church culture a sense of love for the lowly, a majority of our support for others goes directly to those outside the church. We tend to project a belief that those who have received God’s grace should never find themselves in a situation of need. This couldn’t be farther from the New Testament model. These believers took care of each others needs first. You can imagine why people would want to join a group like this!
Is it possible to regain this concept of church? Can we reclaim the forgotten ways of our spiritual fathers? Could we return as the church united, to the heart of Jesus? Can we experience love at an unconditional level?
Agree completely. Infact that is one of the things i think we miss out on. the pooling of resources and distributing them among the people who need. Everyone tithe so that the ones in our church who need can take what they need and the left over go toward outside missions and taking care of the ones around us. That will also help bring a closer level of community to everyone cause they know that they aren’t paying someone for their services but they are helping someone else during a rough time. Maybe that is why people wanted to sell a house and give all of the money to the church. they understood that the people around them were suffering and there needed to be something done about it. Awesome Ethan
Interesting cultural drift, from “how can I best take responsibility for the group?” to “what’s in it for me?”
– baz