The "Church": Social Club or Social Change?

I know this is called “The Elledge Family Blog”. Usually, that’s exactly what it is … an Elledge news post of all things, well, Elledge. However, as of late, it seems God has placed a few things on my heart that need to be flushed out and given black and white status. It seems logical that the place to do this is … The Elledge Family Blog. So, with this in mind, please know the following is NOT a family report, contains no humorous reports of children’s antics, no heart-warming tales of love between me and my Chris. This is simply a reflection of the inner heart workings of me, a writer with an outlet called … The Elledge Family Blog.

The Church. I’ve heard so many definitions of this term I’m quite frankly … done. Years ago, when I heard this term, I thought of my cozy, religious bubble, the place I said out loud that I came to worship God but reality was I just came to fill up a social need that disguised itself in the form of a “church” building.

Then, somewhere along my journey, I began to look more closely at my motivation for going to this place I called “church”. What I discovered was this place was a place I thought others needed to come … others who were not religious. This slowly transformed into a deeper motivation for bringing these lost souls to this building … I wanted them to know Jesus … and come to this building called “church”.

Later, the term “church” began to transform into a word that possibly meant a place that was safe for those outsiders to come to … a place that didn’t speak quite so different, look quite so strange, or do things quite so bizarre to the casual observer. This was my “seeker church” stage that I piously felt was far above and beyond my previous “church” experiences. This “church” was friendly and inviting and allowed others to experience a non-threatening look at a religion and way of life.

Then, somewhere along the journey, God showed up. Please, please, please don’t close your brain or make a judgment against me. Yes, I do believe that in my previous steps God was involved. He, however, was not the focus or the author of my definition.

So, here I am … with possibly no definition of “church” … or possibly the best definition of “church” thus far. I don’t know … I just know there is a stirring that demands me to pay close attention. And, at the risk of sounding like a modern day prophet or freak … or both … believe the rest of those who follow Jesus need to pay attention to as well.

Acts 2:42-47 gives us a great picture of what a community of Believers in Jesus do/live/are at the core. There was that element of “church” being a place to hear the message of Jesus when Peter proclaims … “Hey … each of you must get right before Holy God and repent … and be baptized.” (OK, this was totally the C.A.E. version of the Bible … Christina Ann Elledge). But, what I keep coming to is this concept of focusing on Believers … Believers coming together to do certain things … out of their devotion to and love for God. “Church” was a community. “Church” took the form of gathering to worship. “Church” spread the message of Jesus Christ. “Church” meant that other Believers shared and cared and loved and gave.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the following phrase. I’ve said it. If you’ve said it, let’s form a club and get t-shirts. The phrase is:

“I’m just not being fed at my church.”

My take is that you are not part of “church” as a community of Believers but you are going to a place to get needs filled and check of a holy box to make yourself feel good. Been there, done that.

What if we who say we have accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior stopped looking to the “church” to make us holy and good and feed us and started being the “church”? What if we looked to scripture as our model of what that looks like … say for instance the parable of the seeds in Matthew? I love the GSS (good soil seed). The GSS truly hears the message of Jesus Christ and understands God’s Word. The GSS produces a harvest of 30, 60, 100 times that of what had been planted. Hmmm. Makes me stop and wonder …

I wonder what would happen in my life if I acted like the GSS? What if I stopped looking around at the “church” … and started hearing and understanding God’s Word … and asking God to allow me to bear fruit? I wonder if that little GSS worshipped (either on Sunday morning in a little white church building or on Tuesday night in a warehouse basement) with other GSS who loved Jesus? I wonder if their enthusiasm and hope in what Jesus had done in their lives and was capable of doing in lives of others was the primary factor that allowed them to bear fruit? Was the fruit the GSS bore just other people … the outsiders … who saw such an amazing love for other GSS and other outsiders … and wanted the same thing? Hmmmm.

Are you speculating my religiousness”? Me, too. I think the “church” has been religious way too long. As I look to my America, I see numbers dropping of those who say and act like the “church”. You do a Google search. Shoot, you look in your neighborhood. But, those outsiders aren’t to blame.

Don’t send me nasty messages about a friend coming to Bunko night and hearing about Jesus. That’s great! That’s being a GSS! However, I don’t think that is the rule but rather the exception. We’ve settled for social clubs instead of social change.

In China, the “church” is persecuted. Yet, it grows … daily. For further reading and testimony about how God is using GSS in China, read The Heavenly Man or Living Water by Brother Yun.

In Acts, the “church” was new and young. Yet, it grew … daily. Acts 2 tells us that in one day, 3,000 were added.

In most countries, the “church” is dying. In my country, less than 1% has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Yet, there are plenty of religious people and … plenty of churches.

What is going to happen to the American “church”? Where are the GSS? I fear we have become RSS (rocky soil seeds). They hear and immediately recieve the news with joy yet they don't have deep roots. They don't last long, either ... falling away as soon as they have problems ... or they are persecuted for believing God's Word.

We need the “church”. We need to live alongside others who know Jesus, read God’s Word and listen to what it tells us. We need to praise together, pray together, eat together and cry together. That’s what will draw the outsiders to a real and living God.

I’m praying that I will be a GSS. I am afraid to ask God to make me one … yet more afraid of what will happen if I don’t.