Church, what does it consist of? Is it a building, band, or a pastor? In my mind, when I think of the church I picture a building or service; however, in reading the Bible, you realize this is NOT what Jesus was referring to. As Francis Chan states, “If Jesus was on the earth right now, and you asked him, “Hey, where is the church?” He is not going to give you an address or point to a building.” In pondering the question, I realized the church is deeper and more profound than we think. It is not a building or structure, but the collective followers or believers who fear God, follow Him, and are filled with his Spirit.
This collective group is called into fellowship by Jesus who calls us out of individualism and into community to form true relationships with one another. This is achieved by sharing basic human needs such as housing, money, food, transportation and material goods. It is also accomplished by sharing our time, heart, joys, fears, companionship, friendship, love and more. So many times I have treated fellowship as an after thought. It has never occurred to me how important it is to be a part of God’s family and body.
Did you ever have or remember the fellowship hall at your church? This was usually the gathering place for a potluck after the Sunday morning service or a place for sharing family fun, sporting activities and more. In Acts 4:32 it says, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.” This is what Jesus defined as fellowship. Isn’t this different from a potluck or a church softball game?
Francis Chan tells a story about a gang member who after repeated visits to his church and hearing the Word surrendered to Jesus. He was baptized, but after some time stopped attending. He later ran into a church member who asked where he had been. To this, he responded, “When I was baptized, I thought it was going to be like what happened when I got jumped into the gang. Suddenly when I was a part of the gang everyone had my back. We became family 24/7. So when I got baptized, I thought it was going to happen the same way with the Christians. But what I didn’t know was that it was just for Sunday mornings, and Wednesday nights. I thought we were going to be family. But I think I was wrong.”
The problem with this scenario and for the church is that he was right. It hurts to hear that a gang member who was lost and came to the knowledge of Christ was ultimately lost because he realized the church was far from true fellowship. This brother felt he was not brought into what was supposed to be his new family. It’s a scary realization that in this case the gang portrayed a better family unit than God’s church!
Yet, unity isn’t normal these days. We live in a time when people are so quick to ditch each other and walk out on relationships. God is calling us to be above our culture, to be in fellowship and in community. Though we are imperfect, at the end of the day it is about forgiving one another and showing the power of grace that keeps the body strong. This demonstration should show the power of fellowship to those who are not a part of God’s church body and community.
There is something about our unity that makes the message believable, yet many would rather do it on their own because they feel it is easier than having to put up with different personalities or arguments. It is easier to think, “let me just have my own relationship with God”, but that is not what Jesus created us for. Our mission to the world is to show Jesus by living as one, so the body may move together in unison. We weren’t created to do God’s mission on our own. I need you and you need me, so anyone saying, “I have a relationship with God; I don’t need the church, or these little gatherings.” is not only missing out on fellowship, but I dare to say may be lost. After all Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell won’t stand against it.” He calls us to congregate, so we don’t have to go at it alone. So the question is, do you want to be apart of this community, family, and unity or do you want to continue to live in insolation?
I challenge you to help strengthen your church, your community, and to pursue unity. We are the church and we need each other to function properly as the body of Christ moving as one in mission and in purpose. Potlucks and sporting events are great ways to become closer to forming a tight community, but it has nothing to do with the way Jesus intended fellowship to strengthen and mature His church in love, service and relationship to one another. Only this way will the church take its spiritual place and leadership, so that hell itself cannot stand against it.
Russell Gaither
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Listening To God In The Desert
Alison Haupt challenges us to continue to pursue Jesus in the late stages of the summer even though we are away from our community.
I know that the summer is often one of the hardest times of the year for so many of us as we are away from our campus community and thrown back into our home environments which for some are great and amazing and for others are challenging and difficult. I know for me, whenever I am away from the community in which I experience God with the most, it feels hard to hear him, it feels hard to know he is there, to feel his presence and to believe that he can still speak to me.
I think that hearing God is something I have always had to work at in my life. I think when I first became a believer, I felt like I would begin to hear God with a megaphone and that everything would suddenly become extra clear to me, but unfortunately that has not been my experience. I have heard from God and do hear from him, but it is always something that I need to work at and it is not because God is not speaking, but that I am having a hard time listening.
I have come to realize that the reason it becomes hard for me to hear God when I am not around community, is not only because I hear God through them at times, but the truth is that the community helps me strip away all the unnecessary sound waves that get in the way of hearing God’s voice in the midst of all the noise in my life and helps me to focus on Jesus and allows me to hear him most clearly. This is one reason of many why a community of believers has become so important to me and why I have given my life to see that very thing created on college campuses because I want so badly for people to hear God the way I have been able to hear him and know that having a community around us spurring us on towards him is a crucial element of that. My life would be so different without this.
I am sure some of us have felt a little strained this summer to hear God, to know he is there because our community on campus that we are used to experiencing God together in has been fragmented and I hope that some of you have been able to find a community back home to connect with and to connect with God through, but I know that can be much easier said than done.
I remember being home at my parents house for the summer after having such strong encounters with God during the school year and feeling empty, feeling like I don’t know how to follow Jesus here, feeling like I was slipping back into old patterns and struggles, feeling like I couldn’t hear God and I had gone from being in a rich rainforest with so much life and was transported to a desert. I do remember though having some deep encounters with God even in those desert moments. I remember some mornings devoting time to spend with God before going to work and praying for my family and getting to see God use me in special ways, I remember God using me to have spiritual conversations with co-workers at my summer job. I remember visiting different churches in my hometown just to get a taste of how others worshiped and to try to find a community. Most of all, I just remember when I would take time to be silent and still before Jesus him speaking to me in subtle and simple, yet profound ways. I had poor discipline in my walk with Jesus and the times with him were so sporadic, but they were still rich and powerful and it was Jesus who sustained me through the time I had to live separate from my core spiritual community.
Although I believe with everything in me, that Jesus calls us to be in community with one another and worship him and do mission out of that community. There are times when we are away from community for a season and I still believe that God wants to speak to us in those times and show us more of himself and use us in the lives of others as well. I know that Jesus is everywhere because I have been in some dark places, but I know that even in that Jesus was there so I trust that regardless of how desert like our life feels, that he is still there wanting to speak to us if we are willing to listen.
I encourage you as the summer comes to a close to find places of silence to be before Jesus, to read his word and simply to listen to whatever he may want to say to you. I encourage you to look for ways to pursue Jesus in the environment you find yourself at home, at work, traveling, or wherever you may be. And I encourage you to stay connected to each other in our community in any way that you can. We need each other to push us towards Jesus and his ways so let’s be there for each other however we can in the last part of this season.
Alison Haupt
Alison's heart for the college campus has produced tons of students to follow Jesus and experience true christian community in an environment where its hard to find family away from family. she also is the Intervarsity area corrdinator for the tampa area.
I know that the summer is often one of the hardest times of the year for so many of us as we are away from our campus community and thrown back into our home environments which for some are great and amazing and for others are challenging and difficult. I know for me, whenever I am away from the community in which I experience God with the most, it feels hard to hear him, it feels hard to know he is there, to feel his presence and to believe that he can still speak to me.
I think that hearing God is something I have always had to work at in my life. I think when I first became a believer, I felt like I would begin to hear God with a megaphone and that everything would suddenly become extra clear to me, but unfortunately that has not been my experience. I have heard from God and do hear from him, but it is always something that I need to work at and it is not because God is not speaking, but that I am having a hard time listening.
I have come to realize that the reason it becomes hard for me to hear God when I am not around community, is not only because I hear God through them at times, but the truth is that the community helps me strip away all the unnecessary sound waves that get in the way of hearing God’s voice in the midst of all the noise in my life and helps me to focus on Jesus and allows me to hear him most clearly. This is one reason of many why a community of believers has become so important to me and why I have given my life to see that very thing created on college campuses because I want so badly for people to hear God the way I have been able to hear him and know that having a community around us spurring us on towards him is a crucial element of that. My life would be so different without this.
I am sure some of us have felt a little strained this summer to hear God, to know he is there because our community on campus that we are used to experiencing God together in has been fragmented and I hope that some of you have been able to find a community back home to connect with and to connect with God through, but I know that can be much easier said than done.
I remember being home at my parents house for the summer after having such strong encounters with God during the school year and feeling empty, feeling like I don’t know how to follow Jesus here, feeling like I was slipping back into old patterns and struggles, feeling like I couldn’t hear God and I had gone from being in a rich rainforest with so much life and was transported to a desert. I do remember though having some deep encounters with God even in those desert moments. I remember some mornings devoting time to spend with God before going to work and praying for my family and getting to see God use me in special ways, I remember God using me to have spiritual conversations with co-workers at my summer job. I remember visiting different churches in my hometown just to get a taste of how others worshiped and to try to find a community. Most of all, I just remember when I would take time to be silent and still before Jesus him speaking to me in subtle and simple, yet profound ways. I had poor discipline in my walk with Jesus and the times with him were so sporadic, but they were still rich and powerful and it was Jesus who sustained me through the time I had to live separate from my core spiritual community.
Although I believe with everything in me, that Jesus calls us to be in community with one another and worship him and do mission out of that community. There are times when we are away from community for a season and I still believe that God wants to speak to us in those times and show us more of himself and use us in the lives of others as well. I know that Jesus is everywhere because I have been in some dark places, but I know that even in that Jesus was there so I trust that regardless of how desert like our life feels, that he is still there wanting to speak to us if we are willing to listen.
I encourage you as the summer comes to a close to find places of silence to be before Jesus, to read his word and simply to listen to whatever he may want to say to you. I encourage you to look for ways to pursue Jesus in the environment you find yourself at home, at work, traveling, or wherever you may be. And I encourage you to stay connected to each other in our community in any way that you can. We need each other to push us towards Jesus and his ways so let’s be there for each other however we can in the last part of this season.
Alison Haupt
Alison's heart for the college campus has produced tons of students to follow Jesus and experience true christian community in an environment where its hard to find family away from family. she also is the Intervarsity area corrdinator for the tampa area.
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