The Church | a 4-Day Skate Church Movement Devotionalಮಾದರಿ

What is the Church?

“Christ is also the head of the church, which is His body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So He is first in everything.” Colossians 1:18

I grew up skating the rough concrete in a coastal town in the South West of England. It was cold, often wet, and it definitely hurt a lot when slamming. There wasn’t a local skatepark until about five years into skateboarding for me. This helped me understand that skateboarding is not the skatepark.

It didn’t take long to grasp that skateboarding is the people; the skaters, the artists, the creatives, the stoked, the slammers, the filmers, and the committed. Yeah, it was cool when they built a local skatepark, but in my first years of skating, not having one didn’t stop me from skating regardless. In fact, it gave me more space to skate creatively instead of restricting myself to a park, and it taught me what the real foundation of skateboarding is: the people.

Paul, the apostle of Jesus who wrote a lot of letters in the New Testament, never describes the Church as a building. Paul tells us that the Church is the people of God–the followers, the determined, the saved, the made-new, the chosen, and the sinners redeemed and forgiven by Jesus. If this is true, then it means that the Church is nowhere near perfect because the church is precisely this: a group of sinners who recognize Jesus’ death in their place. Because of this, we don’t have to confine our faith to a certain schedule or specific place. Just like we can skate without a skatepark, we can worship God and share the Good News wherever and whenever! Radical!

Imagine seeing your favorite board company put out a full-length film, and by the end of the video, you realize that all of it–every trick, every clip–was filmed in a skatepark. You’d be disappointed, right? We want to see skateboarding! We want to see stair sets, handrails, grass gaps, and natural quarters! In the same way, imagine the Church, the people of God, doing everything–mission, outreach, serving, fellowship, music, and sermons–in a physical Church building. We are called as the Church to get out there and live for Him in everything–and we can!

Just like skateboarding is more than the physical park, the Church is more than the building. The whole community of skateboarding is founded on its people; it’s the same for the Church. We have Him with us wherever we go. God is not confined to a building made by human hands, but He is the head of the body of Christ, the Church.

Pushing further

1. Do you currently go to church? If not, how come?
2. What is your perception of church?
3. What would it look like for you to be involved in the church like you’re active at the skatepark?

Want more content like this? We adapted this Plan from a 52-week Skate Church Movement Devotional Book. Get your book at skatechurchmovement.com.