Life Encounters

“Christ loved the church, and gave himself up for her” 
- Ephesians 5:25

Recently I’ve been spending some time walking around our local community and talking to God (otherwise known as prayer-walking).
As I’ve been doing this, there’s been one recurring prayer that has been arising from my heart over and over again, and it’s this: “Lord, make us the church we need to be to reach these people who don’t know you.”

Life is a journey of discovery for me. Consquently, there are not many beliefs I have which I am not open to being moved on (given the right persuasion and biblical evidence). However one thing I have come to believe, and from which I cannot be shaken, is this: The church is the hope for the world. Jesus came to bring freedom, hope, and abundant life to a fallen world. After making a way for us to be able to receive this awesome gift, he left the job of spreading the word to a group of imperfect and unqualified people: The church.

God doesn’t have a plan B. What does it take for people to hear the good news of Jesus Christ, for light to be brought into a dark world, for healing is to be brought to a broken, disillusioned, and hurting generation? It requires the church to grow into all that God intends for her to be, so that she can do all that He has purposed her to do. The church is God’s plan for the world, and he doesn’t have a backup.

So, what is the church? If you ask the typical person off the street you will probably get many answers to this question. Unfortunately most of them will be very different to the church the Bible describes, and what God desires to see. Typical answers might be ”A building”, “an outdated organization”, “a religious institution”, or “the Christian Granny brigade”. After much reading and much thought here’s my simple definition of the church:

The church is an authentic community of believers who, together, are on a mission to share God’s love with the world.

If we take this as our foundation, rather than just our traditions and preconceptions, then we should see a church which is:

• More organism than organization 

• More about people than procedure

• More about community than committee

• More about the priesthood than about the pastor

• More about every believer fulfilling the calling of God for their lives than about achieving one ‘corporate’ vision.

I praise God for all the great local churches here in London. My prayer is that each of them will be fruitful and grow into all that God intends them to be. And if you’re in London and are not part of a local church you are welcome to come along and join us anytime and become part of a community that, while far from perfect, is passionate about becoming a church that reaches the world in London.