God placed all things under [Christ’s] feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
EPHESIANS 1:22 – 23
The word church comes from the Greek word ecclesia, which is defined as “an assembly” or “called out ones.” The root meaning of “church” doesn’t pertain to a building but rather to a people. That’s you and me! The apostle Paul called it the body of Christ. This would suggest life and activity.
This concept came alive to me when Nick and I were visiting a two-hundred-year-old European cathedral, one of the most majestic ever constructed. A sign erected for tourists told us that it had once been the center of community life. It had served not only as a house of worship but also as the major social justice agency, the main relief organization, and the primary center for medical and aged care. This church had not been limited to the four walls of a cathedral. Her influence had reached far beyond the confines of the bricks and mortar that constituted her physical structure.
Back then, the congregants had been living from the inside out — not only loving God with all their hearts, souls, and minds but also loving their neighbors as themselves. But where had all those believers gone? There was no sign of that living, active body of Christ. How does something that starts out as a dynamic, living organism end up as a dead monument, nothing more than a tourist attraction? And if this church was no longer a living church, who was actually loving the people who lived in this neighborhood?
I have discovered that a church loses its life and effectiveness at the point it stops being the church that God created her to be and starts going through the motions of doing church. What is true for the individual Christian remains true for the corporate body of Christ. As long as a local church is actively involved in the lives of those who live in the community, it remains alive, dynamic, vibrant, and healthy. This kind of church — the kind the cathedral once was — is, at its core, what God created it to be.
MOMENT OF REFLECTION
What comes to your mind when you hear the word “church”?
As you explore your own sense of being called to heal the world, how will you do that with other Christians?