Study 2. What’s the point of church?

The Christian church today is diverse and there are loads of different stylistic variants on how services run, and the traditions that are implemented. As I have travelled around the world, it has been amazing to see these changes in ‘church.’ Such as the clothes people wear, to the times of services, and the traditions of worship and preaching.

There are, of course, contradictions. This is a sad fact and we can’t ignore it. Some churches have been divided and split over the most trivial differences, and we have seen that church communities can be places were people hide sinister motivations, and abuse power. The basic point here is that whilst the church exists for certain purposes and functions, it is made up of people, human beings who are far from perfect, and this in turn means that church communities need to continually operate with integrity and pursuing holiness.

So, having said that, it is also important to say that the church has and is still having a tremendous impact in the world for good. For example, pioneering social action across the globe to rescue those in poverty, breaking cycles of crime, and encouraging holiness. History is full of people who have been part of this wider Christian church that have stood against the most horrendous abuses of power and because of their faith in Jesus, have seen the culture shift around them.

Imagine the church is like a pair of scissors, one blade is about action, social action, or the engagement with the world around us, and the other blade is about sharing the good news in words.

If we think about it this way, the church exists to ultimately make Jesus known, to share the truth about who He is, what He has done, and the free gift of eternal life that is offered. This message of hope and Good News is then shared and seen in how the church lives and operates. It is demonstrated in word and action, the scissor blades working together.

The Bible has interestingly described the church as a body made up of many parts, and the head of the church, the body, is Jesus. Another example is that the church is described as the bride of Christ. The church is also described as being built with ‘living stones.’

In this way, the Church, those who follow Jesus and gather together, is tasked with some purposes and functions that basically means that the church is Jesus’ body here on Earth. The church is meant to reach out to the entire world with love, compassion, forgiveness, healing, restoration, transformation, life, generosity, mercy, grace — the list goes on. The cool thing is, that the church also receives from Jesus, when the Holy Spirit meets us, inspires us from the Bible, as we pray and worship (not just singing, but thanking God) together as a community.