Where is your Church?

“Where is your church?” This is a frequent question I am asked. When people find out I am a pastor, they ask me where my church is at.

Because words matter, I am tempted to say, “right now they are scattered in the L.A. area, but on Sunday mornings we meet in Eagle Rock.”

What most people think about when they ask this question is location of our facilities. What this thinking has done is transfer an organic view of “church” into a static view.

From the Apostle Paul’s perspective (and the rest of the New Testament writers), the church of Jesus Christ are bodies of people meeting intentionally in community to carry out the mission of the Gospel.

These communities can meet anywhere and be the church. We happen to meet in a very traditional and culturally accepted place for “church”. I like our facilities! But our facilities are not a church!

The church are the people that meet in the building. We could meet in a garage or a park (smile) and still be the church. When we fall into the wrong thinking about what is the church, we also get into wrong values and behavior.

The temptation is to focus on the edifice and not the edification of the people. I am all into beautifying our edifice, but I really am into beautifying God’s people with healthy worship, teaching, fellowship, breaking bread and prayer.

Words do matter! The best definition of the church that I have discovered comes from Howard Snyder’s book, the Community of the King. He says the church is, “the community of God’s kingdom”. Where is your church?

Pastor Fred