Gathering & Committing

Today I am going to conclude our discussion on "church." It's been a long, much interrupted, series of posts but I hope you have benefited from them. I know I have.

When it comes right down to it, church is all about getting together and committing to something. We've talked about the meaning of the word church. The basic meaning of church is an assembly or a gathering. In its secular context a church (secular def'n of ekklesia) is a decision making assembly. When we look at the OT church (see LXX) we see a similar pattern. Whenever the people of Israel gather together in corporate worship and it is described as an ekklesia there is also a call to respond: they are covenant gatherings (ie. a call to renew the covenant). When the people leave the church (assembly) they have committed themselves to fulfilling their part of the covenant with God.

I think this is what church needs to be. When we assemble for corporate worship it is church. However, for it to truly be church there needs to be a response; we cannot leave church without having in some way committed ourselves anew to the cause of Christ & the Kingdom.

Now, some of you might balk when I use the phrase "leave church" but I use that phrase intentionally. I think there has been a fair bit of confusion over the years over what is the church and what is the body. [I acknowledge that what follows is probably an overly simplistic explanation but I think it holds true. If you take exception to it we can discuss it in the comments.]

The church is an assembly. Hence, once the assembly disperses you are no longer part of the assembly. The assembly is only an assembly when it has assembled... duh. So, when we are talking about the church as the local gathering of the Body of Christ then it is very simply what we have already described: a decision making gathering of the people of Christ.

However, regardless of whether we are assembling or not, we are all members of the Body of Christ; the Universal Church. I think the term universal church is a bit of a misnomer because it really isn't a church... or at least not yet. The entire Body of Christ has never assembled, nor will it until Recreation. That's something to look forward to!

So anyway, this conclusion is hardly revolutionary but I always think the journey's worth the work. Maybe we already knew when we started what the destination was but the hike is worth the work-out.

We may all be a part of the Body of Christ, but God has called us all to be a part of the local expression of the Body: the church.

I think as we gather for church, whatever that might look like, we need to keep in mind the OT Worship/Covenant gatherings. If we walk away from a gathering not having committed ourselves again to the grand purposes of God then we have missed the point.

Also, I find it compelling that Jesus said that "... the gates of hades will not prevail against..." the church (Mt. 16:18). When we assemble and these assemblies are times of worship and commitment the very gates of hades tremble.

That says something about church.

So, what do you think?

What else would you add to the discussion?

Is this the same or different than you've thought of church?

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And if you only visit my blog for amazing YouTube clips, here's another DC*B video from last year's Dove Awards. The sound might bite, but it's a great song and I like the idea of what they did with the set. Enjoy.