There are as many views of what the church is today as there are people. For some, the church is a historical building. For others, it’s a place the community gathers for weddings, funerals and potlucks. For others, it’s a hub of volunteer activity. Some people see it as a religious service provider where they can get their spiritual boost for the week – a little bit like a movie theatre highlighting Christians topics. But how did Jesus think about the church? You may be surprised to learn that the word, “church,” only appears three times in the gospels. But what it teaches about Jesus’ vision for the church is profound and is at odds with how we typically understand it.
Paul’s metaphor of the body of Christ is inspiring, but does it mean anything if we stay disconnected from a local church? This post explores why the picture of unity, connection, and belonging pushes us to reconsider our understanding of church membership.
While the Bible does use the word “marry” and “marriage,” rather than add an eleventh commandment, “Thou shalt have a wedding,” there is a commandment not to commit adultery. And you begin to realize that if it’s a sin to sleep with someone who’s not your husband or wife, then there must be some formal process to identify where a marriage begins and when it ends. In a world without weddings or marriage, you’d never have adultery. Because the lines were never formally drawn, it would be impossible to nail down when you’d actually crossed them. I think church membership is a little bit like marriage.
