Friday, June 15, 2007

"Going to Church" VS. "Being the Church-Scott Hodge

This is from Scott Hodge's blog. Scott is the Pastor of The Orchard.




I can't seem to get enough of this conversation...
Is church supposed to be a place that you GO TO or BELONG TO? Or...............is it more about BEING something or someone?


It seems to me that the early church was more about people than it was about buildings and programs. (Not that I’m anti-building, we have a pretty nice one that has proven to be a tremendous TOOL – but that’s all it really is - a "tool.")


Think about this - if you take away the people, what do you have? A building! Some sound equipment. Perhaps a nice place to have a piano recital. That's it!


We discussed this in our staff meeting last week and about how we need to intentionally build this kind of thinking into our church community - all the way from the little kids to the adults - because the more I see church as something "I AM", the less I will see it as "all about me and my needs." And the less I see it as being all about ME - the less consumeristic I will be in my thinking and the more I will be able to contribute towards making it about those who don't know God.


My dad used to always say - "When you realize that it's not all about you, you will find that your needs will be taken care of." Simple, yet so true. Yet, this thinking slaps the living daylights out of the consumeristic mentality that so many American churches are full of. It's the mentality that says, "Feed me, give me this program, give me this, give me, me, me, me, me..."
I'm really praying that God would help us to be the kind of church community that realizes that we are not here for ourselves - but for others. The kind of church community that realizes that church isn't something we "go to" - but something we ARE on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc...


That means that I need to be focused on BEING the church - loving and accepting people, reaching out in care to others within our church community, focused on being the hands and feet of Jesus right here in our local community and then even further out in our global community.
So let me throw this one out there... What do you see as the purpose of church? How do we help people stay focused on BEING the church VS. seeing church as something you ATTEND or GO TO?

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