Since I was raised in the church , the word “church” looked pretty much the same to me all my life. Growing up, when I heard that word I would think of the place that my family and I went to on Sunday mornings, youth groups, bible studies, eating lunch with other families, events, church camps, and the list goes on. All of those things are really great things, don’t get me wrong. But I don’t think they are the only things that make up church.
You may have a very different story then mine growing up, and therefore you might have some other words come to mind when you hear the word “church”, and that’s okay. Or, you may have a very similar story to mine and therefore similar words to mine. And that’s okay too.
There are a lot of things, people, traditions, and “not traditions” that make up church. This month I have experienced church in a lot of different ways.
I have experienced “church” in the back seat of a truck, in milking goats, in having coffee with a woman that was rescued from sex trafficking, in water fights, in weeding pineapples, in meetings with volunteers who stand for justice. I have experienced church in the conversations I have just walking down the street, in the laughter that is cultivated when women gather in the name of the Lord and in the name of justice. I have experienced church in dinners with other foreigners who are staying here in Thailand. And yes, occasionally this month I have experienced church on a Sunday morning.
I guess the point that I am getting at is that “church” goes far beyond walls, far beyond differences, far beyond traditions, far beyond languages, and definitely far beyond continents.
People are the church. I am the church. We are the church.
Church happens when we are living our lives ready to be interruptible for the name of Jesus, ready to love those who may not even understand what love is. It happens when we get to be the redeemed version to people who have been hurt by “the church”. It happens when we gather and stand for what is right. When we gather because we love Jesus a whole lot and have a hope and confidence that is unshaken and therefore we can’t help but do something about it, and we find others that can’t help themselves either.
God’s not calling you to go to church. He is calling you to be the church.
Man, if you don’t know Jesus. Today is a great day to start. And when you do, I can’t wait to join you in church.
