“My” Church
Jesus told Peter in Matthew 16:18, “Upon this rock, I will build my church.” Ephesians 5:24 says the church is subject to Christ, and in the following verse that Christ gave Himself for the church. Colossians 1:24 refers to the body of Christ as the church. Such verses refer to what we sometimes call the “universal” church, the body of believers who have been “called out” from the world to God, by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The church consists of all the souls who believe in Jesus Christ, on earth and in heaven (Ephesians 3:14,15). Acts 11:2 refers to the church which was at Jerusalem, and Acts 13:1 refers to the church at Antioch; such verses specify members of the universal body of Christ who assemble in a specified location. The church that Christ established, His body, was in Antioch, Jerusalem, and anywhere else where there are believers.
This brings us to another sense in which the word church can be used. Acts 14:23 says elders were ordained in “every church.” In I Corinthians 4:17, Paul speaks of teaching the same doctrine everywhere, in every church. These kinds of verses refer to those “local” churches, believers who assemble in some specified geographic location. Church can refer to the universal body of Christ, as well as to a localized body of believers.
In I Corinthians chapter 14, Paul instructs the Corinthian church on how to have an orderly and edifying assembly. Notice that when
Likewise, in the same chapter, when Paul talks about edifying the church (vv.4,5,12) he is referring to edifying the members, the people, not the place or the activities. In verse 23, he talks about “the whole church [coming] together in one place.” This is what we would refer to as an assembly. The church exists even when it is not assembled. The church was still in Corinth even when the individual members were in their respective homes, at work, or somewhere in the city involved in their day-to-day affairs. When he says the church came together, the members assembled for worship and mutual edification. In verse 28, he talks about keeping silent in the church, that is, keeping silent in the presence of the members during the assembly, not keeping silent in the building.
So, what do we mean when we say, “I am going to church”? Is it like, when we say we are going to fish, we are going fishing? Are we going church-ing? Perhaps statements such as, “I am going to worship” or “we are assembling” would be less ambiguous. Or what do I mean if I extend an invitation and say, “you should come to my church”? Surely, I don’t mean that the church belongs to me, personally. Sometimes, when we invite someone, they say something like, “I already have a church.”
Without presuming we know what everyone means when they use any kind of expression involving church, let us keep in mind to what church ought to refer. There is a universal body of believers in Christ that is His church. But we can also talk about the local church, the body of believers in our area with whom we personally work and assemble. When talking about “your” church, whatever you have in mind, remember that you are talking about the people with whom you associate. When you invite someone “to church” or to “your” church, make sure it is with the understanding that the church (local and universal) belongs to the Lord. When we talk about “our” church doing this or that, we are referring to what we, the people, do and believe in.
When you invite people to “your” church, you are not inviting them to the building or to the service. You are inviting them to meet, assemble, study, worship, to engage with the people. When people visit us at “our” local church, our objective is not to impress them with the building, or anything superficial, but with the people who are the body of Christ. When visitors are among us, we must make every effort to demonstrate the love of Christ, the sincerity of our belief, our desire for the truth of God, and our compassion for the souls of men.
How do you feel about “your” church? Do you associate with a group of people you want others to meet and have a spiritual relationship with? Are you the kind of person who attracts or repulses visitors? We ought to be proud of our local family, and desire to be the kind of people who are sincerely characterized by the love of Christ (John 13:35). We should be able to invite others in saying, “let me show where to contact the love of God and true disciples of Christ. Let me introduce you to these people…”
“These things I write to you, hoping to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, that you may know how to behave yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” - I Timothy 3:14,15
Jeremy Koontz
