What is church?  More importantly, why church?  If your church closed its doors today and never opened them again, what would be lost?  What does it mean for a church to be successful?

There are many ways to measure a church; new members, total membership, giving totals, number of programs, number of attendees per service, number of services, etc. The list can go on.  These are ways that church health and church success can be measured. 

And they can be helpful. 

But, I am certain that the Bible uses other methods of measuring how well churches were doing. 

If you look at the letters of Paul you see honest criticism and praise for the churches Paul pastored. If you read Revelation you will see Jesus condemn churches through the words of John. When the church is being judged, it is not the pastoral staff or the church board that are being condemned.

At least not just the leaders.

Churches are being condemned as the Body of Christ in a particular city; the whole of the believers. And while there are specific issues being identified in each case, they all can be summarized by saying that the Christians were not being obedient to the teaching of Jesus. The judgment was not a decision made by God as to who can get into heaven after death; rather it was an evaluation of whether Christians had made the decision to participate in the Kingdom of God in this life.

I’m not going to do a survey of the bible here and read every verse that I can find on the subject. Rather I summarized Christian life into 5 activities and provided a command from Jesus from the book of Matthew for each one.

• Fellowship: “Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (28:19).
• Discipleship: “Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (28:20).
• Ministry: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (22:39).
• Evangelism: “Go and make disciples of all nations” (28:19).
• Worship: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (22:37).
  

And while I’m not going to list every verse in the Bible to support each of these aspects of church life, I’m going to ask you to agree that these are five components are critical to Christian living.  Followers of Christ, individually and collectively, should be involved in all five of these activities.  If you disagree, I’m more than willing to discuss that with you at some point. But I didn’t want this to be an apology for commonly held beliefs. Rather, I wanted to acknowledge these five elements of church life for the sake of the following question:

“How many of these five things happen during a typical Sunday morning service?”  And not how many do pastors or leaders do, but how many are you, as a Christian, involved in during the service you typically attend?

Worship? Probably the easiest to acknowledge and identify.  I sing songs and worship God.  I think worship goes far beyond that, but I would definitely agree that basic worship occurs during a typical church service.

Fellowship?  Does “shake hands of 6 people you don’t know” count as fellowship? How about the time before or after a service where I talk with people over a cup of coffee? Is biblical fellowship more than socializing with Christians?

Ministry?  Pastoral staff and ministry leaders definitely are involved in ministry as we typically identify it. And there are quite a few volunteer ministry positions. But in churches of various sizes that have many talented full-time, part-time, and volunteer leaders, it is really easy to see ministry as something someone else does for me.  Church becomes about being served instead of serving.

Evangelism?  “I hope the pastor has a good message and an altar call.” But does the church attendee participate in sharing the gospel at all?

Discipleship?  A good message can educate, inform, instruct, encourage, comfort, amongst some other things, but is that discipleship?  Is that what you think of when you hear the words of Jesus when he says to go and make disciples?  Isn’t discipleship more personal?

The point that I’m chasing is that even on the best Sunday, in the best service, with the best pastors and best musicians, a majority of these critical elements to church life are not present.  The verses that I shared above are all commands of Jesus. And if we think obedience to Jesus is important then we must also think that these commands need to be taken seriously.  How do Christians obey these commands???

For literally thousands of years Christians have found obedience through community life.  They didn’t have a discipleship program and a worship program and an evangelism program and so on.  They lived together and in that community, worshiped together, ministered to each other’s needs, discipled each other, and in the process, fellowshipped with each other and with God.  The Christian life was lived every day and Sunday was a special gathering time.  Paul praised the churches who did this well and sharply criticized the churches who did these poorly.

So if to be a member in the Body of Christ means to participate in the five areas of Christian life mentioned earlier, shouldn’t this be a primary concern of the church?  Please don’t interpret my usage of the word “church” to mean the pastors or church board, or the other various leaders.  These five areas should be a primary concern to all of us.  We should read our bible and be uneasy by the obvious disconnect of the biblical calls for obedience in these areas and the patterns and routines of the average Christian lifestyle.

So let’s take a few minutes and be honest with ourselves. Let’s ask some questions for the purpose of, not only self-assessment, but also organizational assessment:

• How do I worship throughout the week? Do I have a consistent means of honoring God and responding to his personal revelation?  Do I have a context in my life in which I can acknowledge God’s call upon my life and the sacrifice that obedience requires?
• How do I engage in fellowship during the week?  Do I have a relationships with other believers that define my day to day activities?  Do I rely on the support of others in my efforts to be obedient to the calls upon my life? Am I engaged deeply enough with other believers to have prayer concerns for others as if they were my own concerns?  Have I confessed my sins and testified to the grace of God in my life to others for the purpose of being accountable and challenged in my own of sanctification and obedience? Is my need and desire for spiritual growth a secret and my encouragement and support entirely an internal construct?
• How do I engage in ministry during the week? How do I serve? Have I found opportunities in my local church to provide ministry to others?  Do I serve in my community?  Do I even know how to if I wanted?  Am I challenged consistently to define my responsibility for ministry as more than putting money in the offering and bringing people to church activities?
• How do I evangelize during the week? Are the people I encounter during the week receiving the grace and good news of Jesus through my actions, words, and attitude?
• Am I being discipled during the week?  Am I discipling during the week?  What methods do I currently employ to submit to the wisdom and experience of a more mature Christian?  What methods do currently employ to share my experience and encouragement with less mature Christians?

I challenge you to be honest and let these questions challenge you.  These five areas have been what the Christian life is about for the past 2000 years.  How many of these areas can you say that you are doing well in?  In how many would you like to see growth?  How will you go about growing?  Are you on your own in this or does your local church have a way of supporting you in this?  Do you have defined pathways in your church that enable and encourage you to step out in faith and obedience?

What if you had a group of 10 or so other believers that would encourage you to make the difficult decisions of selfless obedience? Would it make a difference if you had relationships that helped keep all the events in your life in the context of the Kingdom of God instead of your desires and wants?  What if you had objective, yet caring people speaking into your situations as you seek to acknowledge and serve God in daily life?

What if, on a weekly basis, you had people who were deeply invested in your life? Carrying your burdens in their prayers and actions?  Would it change your routine if someone was there to call out unchristian behavior and celebrate faithful obedience? What if you had the opportunity to do that for others?

What if you could coordinate and cooperate efforts to serve in your church with others who have been sharing your faith journey with you?  Would serving in a new area of ministry be less intimidating and more meaningful if you had a group that stepped out with you?  Would you be more willing to greet, serve in a cafe, serve in a children’s classroom, prepare materials, stack chairs, prepare a meal, or anything else that might happen in the life of the church if you were doing those things with people that have been sharing a faith journey with you? How about venturing outside the walls of the church?  Would you be more willing to pick up a hammer, deliver a meal, work in a kitchen, visit the sick, or any other of the needs of your community, if you were part of a coordinated group effort with those that you have already been sharing your life?

Would you be more able and willing to share the good news of Jesus if you have been part of a community that constantly and consistently understands all elements of their life in the context of the call for obedience? Would it make a difference if you saw people that you cared about receiving grace and blessing through your acts of obedience?  Would you be more likely to break past tendencies to stay in your personal comfort zone if your perspective of Christianity was communal rather than individualistic?

Would you be more likely to mentor and disciple others if you have been mentored by someone else?  If real people were challenging and instructing you, would you then feel more empowered to challenge and instruct others?

The church is an amazing organism in the sense that it should never need to borrow or beg support from outside of itself.  The very things that the church is called to be are the very things that it is equipped to do within the Body of Christ.  I want to challenge you with this: quit thinking about the Christian Life as going to church on Sundays and going to Heaven when you die.  You are limiting yourself. Expect more; from yourself and from your church.

Some people may not understand why I get so passionate about small groups.  Honestly, I am not passionate about small groups as a program or an organizational model. What excites me about small groups is that, when a group is mindful of its purpose, transformation occurs. Community happens.  Faith is born and nurtured.  Calls for obedience are answered. It is more than a bible study. It is letting the Word of God shape you.

I want to challenge you that whether you are in a small group or not, find a way to participate in these five areas of the Christian Life.  Partner with others that have the same desires and goals.  Step out in obedience and faith into unknown areas.  Don’t try to do it alone. The Christian life was not meant to be lived in isolation. Even the monks who are defined by their isolated lifestyles organized themselves into communities.  If you need help, talk to a pastor or another church leader.  They should be able to help you connect in meaningful ways.  And if those opportunities aren’t clearly defined yet, it may start needed conversations.

Worship, fellowship, ministry, evangelism, and discipleship; none of these are optional for the Body of Christ.  I pray that as you approach these challenging questions that you honestly begin to desire these things in your life and that desire is so powerful that it forces you out of the routines that lead to being a passive Christian. Then, when someone asks why you go to church you are prepared to answer why you are part the church.

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