Defining Church

 "This is the church of God! Attend here every Sunday, listen to our music and teaching, and be on time! The world is a place full of heretics, and the very salvation of your souls, yes even that ability to be saved from the depths of hell are hinged on you being here in church! Furthermore, this is where you are used in the great kingdom of God, this is where you tithe. You have a job, and that job has a meaning, it's so you tithe! In this tithe, you enable the church of God to continue to be this great life raft in the sea of debauched worldliness around you!" Thus bellowed Styrning Kraft that morning in the Great Church of "Rightness" in the corner of Random St. and Somewhere Ave. He was a pastor of this church, and he had spent years in seminary and worked countless hours building up this great empire to save souls from that awful place he read about. He would get them in with whatever means needed, shame, fear, manipulation, whatever. Never mind that the more tithes he got, the more millions he had. This was the "Lord's work." Now, there was a dangerous smooth talking heretic running around spreading the idea that going to a building for church wasn't a great idea, and so he had to lay it out for the people this morning....

 "What you have been told about the church, about that need for tithing, and to go to church, is all wrong. You see, the early church met in homes. This kept the groups small, and easier to control. Also, the money given is not wasted on some elaborate building. Furthermore, I am not a paid pastor, so you don't pay me. Finally, there are more of us, 1 out of every 5-10 men is ordained to church leadership, this means better priesthood of all believers." Thus spoke the "smooth talking heretic" (so called) at some house south of "Rightness".  Gorm Stampa was passionate in his cause, and he didn't have any desire to be a heretic, or even divisive, but, it was high time for a better priesthood of all believers to be practiced. Also, it was high time that the church was less wasteful with their generosity instead of shaming people into a tithe, why not have the church actually be efficent with what they got? Gorm mused on these things and other things, and wondered how he was gonna address the new heresy in town. A wild-eyed kid out there had some dangerous ideas that threatened everything Gorm had built, for the Lord of course....

 "I am still young and have a lot to learn I know, but, it seems to me, that when you see a big church like Styrning's, or a house church like Gorm's, they both have 1 thing in common. That 1 thing is, the stifling of the Holy Spirit. It's kind of like this, they carefully plan a church schedule, known as a liturgy to conduct the meeting with. So, they hope the Holy Spirit shows up, but they have the liturgy so they don't "need" Him to show up. To my way of thinking, this is a big problem. Gorm did a good thing by activating more people, but, his services are still so dead, that's why I left." So spoke the "wide-eyed kid" so called, to his living room full of friends. Gratis Anda was sincere in all this, in fact he spoke in defense of Styrning now, "If Styrning would just shred his liturgy and let the Holy Spirit run, I'd go there. See, the group size isn't the issue, the building vs house question isn't the issue either. It's about the Spirit." Gratis was sincere, and he lived it, his church experience looked like a sequence of free flowing Spirit led conversations and occasional attendance of concerts, he never started anything, but he siphoned a lot of Gorm's people away from organized house churching and into free flowing church life with the ideas he spread, and with the way he detested all things having to do with liturgy....

 So, here we are back in the real world again. Who was right? Why? Who was wrong? Why? You want my opinon? Ok, keep reading. You don't? Ok stop here. :P First, let's define the word "church." 

 Church according to this world as of 2021: 1. a building used for public Christian worship 2. a particular Christian organization, typically one with its own clergy, buildings, and distinctive doctrines. 3. the hierarchy of clergy of a Christian organization, especially the Roman Catholic Church or the Church of England. 4. institutionalized religion as a political or social force. 

 Church according to the New Testament: The greek word, Ekklesia, which in the Christian context means: A Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both. 

 So, based on these definitions, my opinion is this, all 3 men were partially right, and yet so so wrong. I used to agree with all 3 in various phases of my journey by the way. Where they were right was this, they saw the fellow christians who they were gathered with as the church. Where they were wrong, was, they saw their church as The church, or the correct way to Do church. Church is not something you Do. It's something you have, when people gather in the name of Christ. I am no longer interested in conversations that have to do with the right way to do church. I am more interested in the nature and wonder of Christ, and the church life we have as we explore that together. If you have a favorite way to experience church, that's fine, so do I. However, please don't think your way is The way. That's not supported by scripture. If it is, please show me. The idea that church is a tangible thing, a building, an organization, or a not for profit charity, is a world creation. The church is not a thing to be pinned down, labeled, and categorized, it is a flowing life, a bride of Christ that forms around and through people who meet in His name. It is "Christian Community." It is only tangible in the way that the people in it are tangible. It is not a tangible thing on it's own without the people. It's ok to give your specific Christian community a name, the one I like to go to is called, Living Hope Fellowship. However, Living Hope is not a business, it meets in a building, but the building isn't Living Hope either. I alone am not Living Hope, but when I meet with others in the community, Living Hope forms. So, I am striving to live by church as defined by Ekklesia. So far as the world's definitions of church? The world can go fly a kite...