What do you think of Church?
Start here: what does Scripture call “the Church”?
Ask ten Christians that question and you will get ten different answers. One will tell you Church is the building. Another will say it is the Sunday service. Someone else will tell you it is the worship, the music, the coffee, the community, the programmes, the pastor's preaching. A few will shrug their shoulders and admit they have not been in a long time. And a small number will pause, look you in the eye, and say what Scripture says — "the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" [1 Timothy 3:15 KJV].
We have got a problem. And the problem is not that the world has stopped coming to church. The problem is that the church has stopped looking like the Church.
The Church is not a building
The first thing we need to get clear is this — the Church is not bricks, glass, carpet, or stained-glass windows. The Church is people. The Church is the body of Christ — born-again believers, bought with His blood, joined to Him by His Spirit. "For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones" [Ephesians 5:30 KJV].
You do not go to church on a Sunday. You are the Church on a Monday, on a Tuesday, in the supermarket, at your workplace, around your kitchen table. The building is just where the body gathers. If the building burned down tomorrow, the Church would still be standing — because the Church is alive in every believer who walks out of those doors and lives the Word the rest of the week.
The Church has a Head — and it is not us
Here is what the modern church has forgotten. Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church. Not the pastor. Not the elders. Not the leadership team. Not the latest book, the latest conference, the latest celebrity preacher. "And he is the head of the body, the church" [Colossians 1:18 KJV].
When the Head goes missing from a body, the body starts to twitch and stumble and do strange things. That is what we are watching happen across the Western church. Programmes replace prayer. Performances replace preaching. Personality replaces Christ. The lights go up, the smoke goes on, the band plays — and somewhere along the way the Lord Jesus Christ has been quietly left at the door.
A church without Christ at the centre is not a church. It is a religious club with good lighting.
The Church has a purpose — and it is not entertainment
What did Jesus build His Church for? He told us plainly. "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" [Matthew 16:18 KJV].
The Church is an assault force, not an audience. It was never meant to sit politely while the world goes to hell. It was never meant to be a soft cushion for sleepy Christians. It was meant to march on the gates of hell — to preach the gospel, to make disciples, to build people up in the Word, and to send them out as doers of it.
Look at the New Testament Church. They turned the world upside down [Acts 17:6 KJV]. They prayed. They gave. They suffered. They obeyed. They went house to house teaching the Word. They worshipped with reverence and joy. They cared for one another. They loved the Lord more than their own lives. That is the Church Jesus is coming back for. That is the Church we are called to be part of — not a watered-down version that fits comfortably between brunch and the football.
The Church has a foundation — and it is the Word
You cannot have a strong Church if you do not have a strong Word. "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" [1 Corinthians 3:11 KJV] — and the Christ we know is the Christ revealed in the Scriptures. Take away the Word, you take away the Saviour. Take away the Saviour, you take away the Church.
That is why every healthy church must be a Bible-believing church. Not a Bible-quoting church. A Bible-believing church. One that opens the Word, teaches the Word, defends the Word, lives the Word, and refuses to bend it to suit the spirit of the age.
When you next walk into a church, do not first ask, "Did I enjoy it?" Ask, "Did I hear the Word? Was Christ lifted up? Did I leave knowing what to do?"
Walk it out — what now?
So what do you think of Church? More importantly — what does the Lord think of your church?
Here is your step of obedience this week.
- Stop measuring church by how it makes you feel.
- Start measuring it by what the Word says it should be — Christ-centred, Word-rooted, prayer-soaked, obedience-driven.
- Pray for your local church. Pray for your pastor. Pray that the Head of the Church would be honoured in His house again.
- And then live the Word the rest of the week — because the Church is not just where you go on Sunday. It is who you are every other day.
"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves" [James 1:22 KJV].
It is time to come back to basics. It is time for the Church to look like the Church again...
Key Takeaways:
- The Church is people, not a building — [Ephesians 5:30 KJV]
- Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church — not man, not method — [Colossians 1:18 KJV]
- The Church is built to advance, not to entertain — [Matthew 16:18 KJV]
- The Word of God is our only foundation — [1 Corinthians 3:11 KJV]
- A hearer is not enough — be a doer — [James 1:22 KJV]
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