Missing Church
For most Americans, the phrase “missing church” probably means “missing Sunday worship service.”
I think this is a really crucial slip in our way of thinking. What is a church? I think most of us would define it in terms of a collective group of Christians.
Let’s look at it another way. A lot of churches have small groups or classes of some kind (many might call these “fellowship opportunities”). Suppose I participate in a small group, but don’t attend the Sunday service. Have I “missed church?”
I Corinthians (and many other epistles) expounds on the Spirit’s gifting of every member of Christ’s Body. We are each uniquely gifted to minister to each other through teaching, prophecy, pastoring, tongues and interpretation, wonders, and other gifts.
Unfortunately, a worship service (emphasis on service, as in by a professional minister to a lay audience) denies this reality in practice, by restricting the audience to receive from and, at best, support the preacher. I believe we’re actually “missing church” each Sunday when we don’t get to share the Spirit’s gifts with each other.
That’s not to say lecture-style teaching or group-led worship are un-Christian – the apostles used these methods regularly – but they cannot dominate a church’s life. These methods are used exclusively in the bible for preaching the Good News to unbelievers, and for equipping the saints to function. Both are temporary measures, usually used no more than a few months.
How would your church react if Sunday worship weren’t weekly? How could your church be equipped to function collectively rather than under another’s leadership?
