People Need the Church

Jesus was a man with a message and a man with a mission. His message is repeatedly summarized in the gospels: "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." This message was declared to all who would listen. His mission, on the other hand, was communicated to his disciples in private, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

Jesus' message and mission overlap. The reality of God's kingdom is greater than the church, but the church is God's greatest kingdom agent. The church is the one place on earth where a group of people intentionally desire to embody God's kingdom on earth - a place where heaven most clearly intersects with earth. This passion for God's kingdom is clearly stated in the prayer Christ taught his disciples: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is on heaven."

Jesus came to build his church - his legacy to the world. The mission of the church is not primarily to reform the government - although governments are transformed when they allow the gospel to influence their structure and polity. The mission of the church is not the creation of a social agency - although people who take Christ's message and mission seriously will be involved in social justice. These are good things, but they are not Jesus' primary mission.

Jesus' primary mission was to create a community that shared Jesus' mission. In other words, a people who intentionally desire to live  as Christ's kingdom community in the world.

In the words of missiologist Leslie Newbegin, the church is the "sign, instrument, and foretaste" of God's kingdom. As a sign, we point to the reality of God's invading kingdom. As an instrument, we serve God's kingdom for the world's sake. As a foretaste, we provide "a taste of the powers of the age to come" (Hebrews 6:5). We are called to live a kingdom life in a fallen world (Matthew 5 - 7). We embrace kingdom values - values that confront and challenge the world's values.

The church, Christ's kingdom community, is a visible manifestation of God's kingdom. As such, we are called to embody God's mission. The gospel of the kingdom does not come as a disembodied message. It is given flesh - incarnated - in God's kingdom community, the church.

For this reason, preaching is not enough to sustain a church. People may initially be attracted to our church because of preaching, but they remain because of the cultural climate of the church - a climate that reflects God's kingdom. The question then is: As a kingdom community, what should our climate be?

The Body of Christ

The world is currently hungering for spirituality. Many even include Jesus in their pursuit of spiritual meaning. But most want Jesus without his body, without his mission. We should not be naïve about the downsides to our culture's current craze over spirituality, for there are many.

Gnosticism plagues our culture's pursuit of spirituality. A great part of contemporary spirituality reflects "a kind of Gnostic longing to escape the limits of embodied existence and to find a salvation unencumbered by time, place, or the constraining ties of circumstance."[1]

Currently the craze is to blame the ego, personality, and embodiment for all our ills - just another example of a Gnostic pursuit of a disembodied spirituality free from the constraints of place, time, and matter. This craze reflects the view that spirituality involves an escape from the world of history, particularities, and events - from embodiment itself.

But the heart of the gospel is that "the Word became flesh" (John 1:14) - that "in Christ dwells all the fullness of God bodily" (Colossians 2:9). The spiritual is not set over against the material. Rather the material - including our common humanity - becomes a sacrament of God's presence. Our personality is redeemed and transformed, not removed and extinguished. Our ego is not the problem; egocentrism is.

In a world sanctified by Christ, people, places, and things become means of grace. The world is sacramental (matter with meaning) and not merely spiritual (matter that has no meaning, but is perceived as an obstacle to true spirituality). The difference between an authentic Christian spirituality and our culture's current craze could not be greater.

Contemporary spirituality is generally perceived as something that exists without community. But the biblical model in Israel and the Church assumes that true spiritual formation takes place within the stories, traditions, and practices of a faith community.

One thing that clearly distinguishes a biblical spirituality from a generic cultural spirituality is the presence and activity of the Spirit of God. And the Spirit of God clearly binds us to the church. The gift of the Spirit at Pentecost creates the church. Those who place faith in Christ are baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ.

"The body of Christ always has an address. Ministry begins with place."[2] The Spirit is experienced in an embodied community of sacred time and sacred place. This rootedness in space, time, and matter is the difference between a secular spirituality and a truly sacramental spirituality. Following the lead of the incarnation, the Christian tradition proclaims that God manifests Godself through stuff - through humanity, and also through material such as bread, wine, and water.

The Spirit's manifestation in space, time, and matter is the basis for a deeply incarnational ministry - a ministry that embodies kingdom life in a kingdom community rooted in a specific space and time.

The chief problem with the contemporary craze for spirituality is easy to pinpoint: Many want Jesus without his body - without his mission. This fact is behind the popular cliché, "I'm spiritual, but not religious." Thomas Currie warns that "[i]t is a recurring temptation for American Protestants, especially, to want a nonecclesial relationship with God, to have a Jesus without his body."[3] Stanley Hauerwas is even more pointed in his critique, "modernity and its bastard offspring postmodernity are but reflections of the Christian attempt to make God a god available without the mediation of the church."[4] If we wish to embody a truly countercultural spirituality rooted in the scriptures we will seek to live and grow together in community, with all the privileges and problems this presents.

The "body of Christ" is not a metaphor - it is a description of reality. It is in and through the church that God's Spirit is encountered and through which the Spirit transforms us. We grow together in christlikeness as we live and grow together in the community of faith, the church. Christ acts through Christ's body, assembled in the Spirit, embodying the character of God's kingdom.

One of the beauties--as well as the prickly points--of Christian faith is that it is never intended to be lived in theory. Faith is fleshed out among particular people, in particular places. Some of the most important elements of our spiritual pilgrimage will be names--names of friends we've had and places we've lived. There will be people we couldn't get enough of and people who hung around way too much. There will be places that felt like home, places that felt like hell, and places that had bits of both.[5]

In his classic work, The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis describes the promise and pitfalls of the church. The archdemon Wormwood counsels Screwtape to make the most of this situation. He urges him to influence his subject to dwell on the ordinariness and shortcomings of the people surrounding him in worship. Wormwood writes,

Make his mind flit to and from between an expression like 'the body of Christ' and the actual faces in the next pew... Provided that any of those neighbors sing out of tune, or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous.[6]

Clearly, the church is so unimpressive at times, and in some cases, so small and marginalized in influence (more so now than at any time in human history). This small struggling community certainly does not appear to possess the power necessary to impact the world. This was true in Jesus and Paul's day - and it is true in our own time.

Our greatest temptation is to fall prey to thinking that the ordinariness and shortcomings of the church prove that it is not the work of God's Spirit. And yet, it is primarily through the weak, broken, and marginalized that God chooses to work. Currie writes,

The church has always been tempted to disbelieve its own glory, indeed, to take its own brokenness or miserable failures more seriously than the glory of its life in the crucified and risen Lord. That is why the church has always found the Gnostic option so appealing. The fleshliness of the church so often appears contemptible, and the prospect of a cleaner, more "spiritual" or intellectual existence is so compelling that we soon come to despise the smallness and ineffectual nature of congregational life, preaching, study, service, prayer.[7]

Growing Together in God's Church

Ministry is not a one-man or one-woman effort. It is the collective contribution of all God's people working together, sharing their gifts for the common good. Like a football team, success is not achieved through the actions of one person, but through the corporate effort of the entire team.

Only a casual fan of the game believes that when the quarterback is sacked it is his fault alone, or when a pass is successfully completed the quarterback alone is responsible for the success of the play. In both cases, whether the play was a success or a failure, blockers had to block, decoys had to decoy, throwers had to throw, and catchers had to catch. In addition, coaches and assistants had to design plays and counterplays. For an individual play to be successful, that is, the pass caught or the quarterback sacked, it is necessary for hundreds of events to influence each other.[8]

Other illustrations of the church at work are found in the combined efforts of an orchestra or the beauty of a garden:

A community is like an orchestra: each instrument is beautiful when it plays alone, but when they all play together, each given its own weight in turn, the result is even more beautiful. A community is like a garden full of flowers, shrubs and trees. Each helps to give life to the other. Together, they bear witness to the beauty of God, creater and gardener-extraordinary.[9]

All of us must strive together as a community of the Spirit in order to fulfill Jesus' mission and embody Jesus' message. Every gift of each member is needed for the church to achieve its God-given purpose:

Community brings together people of very different temperaments. Some are organised, quick, precise and efficient; they tend to be defensive and legalistic. Others are open flexible and love personal contact; they are less efficient - to say the least! Others are shy and tend to become depressed and pessimistic. Others again are extrovert, optimistic, and even a bit exalted. God calls all these opposites together to create the wealth of the community. It may not be very easy at first. But gradually we discover what a richness it is to live with such a diversity of people, and such diversity of gifts. We discover the difference is not a threat but a treasure, or that "variety is evidence of life: cold conformity presages death."[10]

The unity of the Spirit is realized when all the members of Christ's body work together toward the goal of corporate christlikeness. This is pictured in Ephesians 4. Eugene Peterson's The Message does a remarkable job of paraphrasing this familiar text:

You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.

But that doesn't mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift. ... He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ's followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church, until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.

No prolonged infancies among us, please. We'll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love--like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.

The church exists because Jesus has chosen and called us to share his mission of declaring and demonstrating God's kingdom to the world. God is a missional God. God sent Jesus to accomplish the divine mission. In the same way, Jesus now sends us to further his mission: "As the Father has sent Me, I also send you" (John 20:21). Thus, Jesus prays to the Father, "As You have sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world" (John 17:18).

God has entrusted Jesus' mission to the church. The kingdom community is Jesus' legacy to the world. Jesus did not leave us with a book - he did not write anything during his lifetime. Instead, Jesus left the world with the church. The records we have in the gospels have been given to us by Jesus' followers inspired by the Spirit in order to shape a kingdom community that would carry on Jesus' mission by embodying Jesus' message.

The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations

We often define the church solely by beliefs. Our creedal affirmations bind us together in faith. Shared beliefs are important to unity. But more is involved than beliefs. Our beliefs must be embodied in community.

We embody our beliefs through shared practices. In his marvelous book, The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, United Methodist Bishop Robert Schnase summarizes the five practices that create a healthy church environment. The five practices are: (1) radical hospitality, (2) passionate worship, (3) intentional faith development, (4) risk-taking mission and service, and (5) extravagant generosity.

Schase shows how these five practices fit together:

These words capture the core process by which God uses congregations to make disciples--congregations offer the gracious invitation, welcome, and hospitality of Christ so that people experience a sense of belonging; God shapes souls and changes minds through worship, creating a desire to grow closer to Christ; God's Spirit nurtures people and matures faith through learning in community; with increased spiritual maturity, people discern God's call to help others through mission and service; and God inspires people to give generously of themselves so that others can receive the grace they have known.[11]

Our task is to repeat, deepen, extend, teach, and improve these practices. The adjectives "intensify them toward the unexpected and the exemplary."[12] For example, we do not just extend friendly hospitality, but radical hospitality - a consistent welcome that seeks to include all: "Welcome one another as God in Christ has welcomed you." We do not simply perform helpful service and mission, but we commit to take risks in our outreach to others. We do not simply practice prudent generosity, but extravagant generosity - going above and beyond our means through faith in God's abundant providence.

People Need the Church

In order to recapture the urgency of these practices, we must continually remind ourselves that the church offers something that no other organization can. We need to be "clear about the answers to the questions, 'Why do people need Christ? Why do people need the church? And why do people need this particular congregation?'"[13]

Schnase offers an answer to these questions:

People need to know God loves them, that they are of supreme value, and that their life has significance. People need to know that they are not alone; that when they face life's difficulties, they are surrounded by a community of grace; and that they do not have to figure out entirely for themselves how to cope with family tensions, self-doubts, periods of despair, economic reversal, and the temptations that hurt themselves or others. People need to know the peace that runs deeper than an absence of conflict, the hope that sustains them even through the most painful periods of grief, the sense of belonging that blesses them and stretches them and lifts them out of their own preoccupations. People need to learn how to offer and accept forgiveness and how to serve and be served. As a school for love, the church becomes a congregation where people learn from one another how to love. People need to know that life is not having something to live on but something to live for, that life comes not from taking for oneself but by giving of oneself. People need a sustaining sense of purpose.[14]

Many of us who have grown up in the church do not recognize that many people simply don't have a place like this:

A majority of our neighbors on the streets where we live do not know the name of a pastor to call when they face an unexpected grief. Most of our co-workers have a few close friends and a circle of acquaintances but do not know the sustaining grace that a church offers. Most of the families with whom we travel to our children's soccer tournaments and band concerts, most of the fine students we meet from the university and most of the people who repair our cars and serve us in restaurants do not have a forum where they learn about the essentials of peace, justice, genuine repentance, forgiveness, love, and unmerited grace. Most of those who crowd the malls where we shop, attend the ballgames we enjoy and sit behind us at movies and concerts do not know what it's like to join their voices with others in song and how this lifts the spirit in ways beyond words. Most of those who share our benches at bus stops, who sit across from us in waiting rooms, who take their children to the school down the block from us do not have a community that prompts them to service, to take risks for others, and to practice generosity.[15]

Conclusion

In order to share Christ's message we must share Christ's mission - "I will build my church." For this task, we need the heart of Christ. Jesus not only "loved me and gave himself for me." Jesus also "loved the church and gave himself for her." And the church Jesus loves is not an ideal, perfect community, but a blemished, broken bride.

The church is not a perfect community, but it is a unique community. By recognizing our imperfections, we admit that we have plenty of room to continue to grow together in Christ. By sharing life together, we build Christ's church and share in Christ's mission.

If we lose a sense of Christ's mission - the "Why?" of our community - we lose the very heart of our reason to be. Without a sense of mission, dangers abound. We may...

• Express minimal commitment to church-life. Church becomes a low priority in the grand scheme of things.
• Burnout. People burn out, not from exhaustion, but from lack of meaning and purpose.
• Give up. When we forget the purpose of an activity, we lose any reason to continue it.
• Expend all our efforts in misguided activity. We may spend a lot of time doing good things, but not kingdom things. This is the worst problem of all. It would be better to experience the previous three responses which do little positive damage, than to possess this problem, which can have serious negative consequences.

It is vitally important that we have a handle on our corporate identity in order to possess a reason for regularly meeting together. "Jesus is Lord" is not a private claim, but a public claim, and it is lived out most fully not by an individual but by a community - a kingdom community empowered by the Spirit to embody God's kingdom.

Over the coming weeks we will consider how to embody the five faithful practices of fruitful congregations. Without these practices, our church will fail to embody God's kingdom and manifest God's presence. This is important: "If the church doesn't reach out to the community, people won't come. But if people come into our churches and don't sense the presence of God, they're not going to return."[16]

© Richard J. Vincent, 2008