What is Church?
Ed. These are my unfinished thoughts. I would gladly enjoy comments to correct or help me think more thoroughly about this.
“I went to church because of my friends”. It’s a common reason why kids in youth group go to church. But is this all wrong? Is there some truth in this? Church is about God but it’s not JUST about God. The emergent church says it’s about God so it’s okay to sit at home, listen to an online sermon and join a chatroom and call that church. We know that this idea of church is wrong or at the very least, incomplete. There is something about the local church, a group of gathering believers committed to one another that makes it church. If it’s just me and God, it’s a quiet time. Church involves people.
Church involves friends. If I go to a church and I have no friends in that church, that would not be my church. I would be a new-comer. The church involves people knowing one another and speaking the Word of God into each others’ lives. It is friendship centered around God.
What is a home church? If my pastor leaves, and is replaced with a pastor who does not know me, is it still my church? If my friends leave, is it still my church? If there is 100% turn-around such that I do not know anyone, is it still my church? At that point, it’s just a building with a name filled with nostalgia. We know church is more than just a building. If my pastor and my friends move to a new church, does that become my church? If my friends switch churches, does that become my church? If I have no ties to any teaching or ministry is it wrong to go where my friends go?
My concept of a home church is one where I grew up in. I know the people and they know me. I know the pastor and he knows me. When that construct slowly starts falling apart, when does it become not my church and I become just a visitor? Many questions without many answers.