Lessons From Desert Man
The Small Church #2
How Big is Big Enough?
|
How Big is Big Enough? How big should a church be,
before we call it "a church?" Furthermore, at what
point does a fellowship of Christians become an effective
ministry? To answer these questions, we need to determine
what God calls "church." After all, church is His
idea, so, only His definition matters.
To begin with, there are many things which church
is not. Church is not a building, in which Christians
congregate, to relate to God on a weekly basis. Church
is not an event, to showcase the talent of a few individuals.
Nor is church a time, when Christians get together
for social interaction.
Church is people: people who love Jesus, and have
been bound together by the Holy Spirit, Who dwells
within them, and by their commitment to live for Him.
According to Ephesians 2:21 we are being "fitly framed
together" to make a dwelling place for God. That is
the definition of the church.
Along with this universal definition for the church,
there are also local expressions of God's Church.
Some people have attempted to define a "local church"
by statistical information. For example, there are
some who feel that a fellowship should not be called
a church, until it reaches about 80 people. Up until
that time it is either a "pioneer work," an outreach,
or just a Bible study. But, the biblical definition
of church defies such logic.
Since the church is people, Jesus gave us the best
definition of the local church when He said, "For
where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them." (Mt.18:20)
This is a greatly comforting passage, for those who
pastor (and those who attend!) small churches. We
can rejoice in the fact, that Jesus is just as aware
of our Sunday morning experience, as He is of the
mega-church we passed on the way to service. We can
also be assured that our experience of His presence
will not increase or diminish on the basis of numbers.
God doesn't have a quota to meet, before He shows
up. Less people does not mean less God, in some cases,
it may mean more.
Since "two or three" meets the criteria for the local
church, we see that church can also be a spontaneous
occurrence. At home with your family, you can experience
church. When you meet another Christian in the grocery
store, you can have church. Church is what you are,
not what you do, or where you go.
If you will choose to embrace this simple truth, the
following things will happen to you: 1) You will not
evaluate the success of a given meeting on the basis
of numbers solely, 2) You will learn that every member
should be a participant in local church life, rather
than an audience, and 3) You will start training people
to live like "churchgoers" should live, 24 hours a
day.
This truth does not grant people the freedom to avoid
"organized religion," rather it makes their church-life
a way of life, not just a Sunday morning event, and
if your Sunday morning is smaller than "average,"
it gives you the comfort of knowing that you are experiencing
just as much Jesus anyone else - maybe more! Remember,
church is people, and two or three is big enough.
|
|
|
|
