Locating the Church

 

 

(Pictured: Conversion of St. Paul, Nicolas Lepicie, 1767)

 

When people find out that I am a Christian, they typically will ask me where I go to church. And when people ask me where I go to church, they typically are expecting to hear something like: "Oh, I'm a member at First Baptist, the one over on Main Street where Pastor Jones preaches." In other words "church" is commonly understood to be a certain building, in a certain location, led by a certain individual, meeting at a certain time according to a certain schedule.

 

My actual answer to the question is inspired initially by Matt. 18:20. There in the context of addressing the problem of offenses in "the church" (v. 17), Jesus says: "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." From that statement about the church we can deduce:

 

1. Church is a gathering of two or more people.

2. Church is people gathering not just for any purpose, but in Christ's name.

 

Those being the conditions, I am actually involved in church in all sorts of places: my house, a friend's house, a park outdoors, sometimes even my workplace – and yes, occasionally the big building down the street that holds meetings on Sundays and Wednesdays. I cannot pinpoint the church's location, because the church – the body of Christ – is a living entity; and Christ, being its head, decides what that body does and where it goes. 

 

In other words the church is not something we can or should control. Its movements are led by Jesus and its flow is directed by the Holy Spirit. The outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost was not on anyone's church calendar. No one voted in Paul as an apostle to the Gentiles. When an angel told Philip to preach to the Ethiopian at Gaza, he obeyed God rather than try to convince his pastor that he was not imagining things (and chances are good that he "missed church" while enjoying fellowship with his new friend out in the desert). 

 

So are we against church buildings, schedules, budgets, pastors and programs? No. God has clearly used and doubtless will continue to use all those things for his glory. But Christians ultimately must obey God rather than men. We submit to the structures and programs of men only as God directs, because those men must answer to God just like the rest of us. "And," said Jesus, "If the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch" (Matt. 15:14).