Going to Church

More than 30 years ago I worked with a guy in the Air Force who was a fellow believer. I found out he and his family attended the Methodist church near his home. "How long have you been Methodists?" I asked. "Oh, we're not," he answered. It turned out that he had an unusual approach to church. Being in the Air Force, we all knew that we were ultimately transients. The longer we were in, the more we would move. And those of us who were Christians would have to find new churches wherever we went. Well, this guy had his own method. He would, by choice, attend the church nearest his home that he could attend. He figured his aim in going to church was to minister rather than be ministered to. He figured that more neighbors would be in that church than one farther away. He figured it would be easier to invite an unchurched neighbor to that church than one farther away. Church, to him, was ministry.

Sure, there are nuances. I specified, for instance, the nearest church "that he could attend." The closest church to one place I moved to was the Church of Light and Love which touted itself as a "Christian church" but operated on the premise that "if God is love, then love is God and we'll love ... in the modern, secular, 'let's have a lot of sex together' way." Not one to attend. Not a Christian church. That is, some are too far out to attend. So there were some additional concerns, but the principle remains. We like to attend where we are comfortable and fed, but that's not the purpose of the church. It's not even the aim of the Christian life. The Christian life is a crucified life (Gal 2:20) and the aim of the church is the building up of the body of Christ (Eph 4:12). There is an interesting verse in the passage in Ephesians where Paul is speaking to this directly. While explaining the purpose of the church, he says, "Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ" (Eph 4:15). Notice the direction. We are to grow up into Christ how? Not "Others speaking to us in love," but us speaking truth in love. As we speak the truth, with love as our aim (1 Tim 1:5), we grow up into Him. That is to be our purpose, of course, and it is accomplished by speaking, rather than being spoken to, by ministering rather than being ministered to.

My friend way back then did not see this as a command, a divine instruction for all believers. He didn't think that all godly people ought to attend the nearest church. He did it because he thought he ought to. I came away considering the principle. Are we in it to minister or to be ministered to? Are we part of a church so we can be fed, or so we can feed others? Which is more biblical? I have retained the unshakeable notion that we are to be ministers more than "the ministered to" whether it's by attending the closest or by ministering wherever we attend. I'm pretty sure our American "consumer church" lifestyle is not what the Savior had in mind.