I bet you would find it weird if I said “Hey, do you want to come to church with me on Saturday night?” and then I took you to my friends house where there were five of us in the basement just hanging out, singing, talking about the goodness of Jesus. That would be strange for most of us.
But that’s church. If there is one thing I’ve learned this year, one extremely important lesson that every single country has taught me, is that church is NOT a building. It never has been. Church is about community. About having a group of believers who love the Lord, love each other, and come together to glorify God. This can happen anywhere. It can look like so many different things.
In Romania kids church happened right on the dusty street. We would walk through the village, collect the kids, and then sit under a tree together.
In Transnistria church looked like a rave- in a community center where there were strobe lights and loud music. We sat around round tables like we were going out to eat.
In Ireland ‘church’ could take place in the big, beautiful building or in a coffee shop in the middle of the town square.
In India ‘church’ happened in the middle of the street, in the rain, while water buffalos grazed so close to me I could have reached out and smacked them.
In Nepal it looked like a family of 7, sitting in their living room together reading scripture and singing songs.
In Swaziland it happened in a building on top of a mountain, with dancing kids and beautiful booming voices singing soul-filled songs.
In Thailand ‘church’ happened outside, under the stars, where I sat in the grass and listened to people share what God was doing in their life. How he has saved them.
In Cambodia it was riding 30 minutes into a tiny village where church takes place barefoot and people show up in full blown pajama sets.
In Malaysia it is the most loving group of people I have ever met coming together all over the city to laugh, support each other, and continue the work for God’s kingdom.
So often in America we get stuck in the mindset that church is a building. A place you go on Sunday morning for an hour or so and then don’t return to until the next Sunday. I thought like that for 23 years. But this year has changed that for me. It doesn’t matter if what you call your church is the most beautiful building in the city or if your church is an old, worn down building in a ‘bad’ part of town. Because without you, and me, and the others who enter those buildings, that’s all they are. Buildings.
WE are the church. All of us who love Jesus, who want to live for him. The group we are working with in Malaysia is an amazing group of people. The most loving, open-minded and open-hearted people I have ever met. They welcome us and everyone with open arms. They welcome people who are trapped in sin. That doesn’t mean they condone what that sin is, but they love the person all the same. Just as Jesus did. Their ‘church’ is so different from others I’ve seen because they realize that the church lives in them; and they live their lives accordingly. They never leave church when the service is over, because they know that they are the church and they carry that with them wherever they go. I am in no way saying that the act of going to a building on Sundays and doing church together is wrong. It is a beautiful way of coming together with other believers and encouraging one another. Just don’t forget to take the church with you when you leave the building.
Christ is the church and he has granted us the blessing of also being the church because he lives within us. He turned no one away; the church shouldn’t either. Jesus gave us the gift of community, of each other. We cannot turn someone away from something we do not own. The church belongs to the Lord. So many churches make a big deal about having gay people in their church, or people who do drugs, or whatever the reason they make up in their own minds to justify their judgmental behavior. But the church is supposed to be a place of love and of grace. A safe place for people to encounter Jesus and a community who truly cares about them; no matter who they are.
I feel like I’m rambling on, so I will end with this simple note:
I’ve had to re-evaluate what church means to me in the last year. All I know is that I want to be a living, breathing, walking church. A safe place that welcomes those who need love, who need grace. Because that’s what we’ve been called to be all along.
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