The church is what?

At First Assembly, we are not trying to draw a crowd; we are trying to minister to people.

We are trying to BE the church.

What is the church? The church is people. The church is not an activities list. The church is not coming to a big building and worshipping God together. The church is people reaching out to others in a way that deepens relationships, draws us closer to God and helps us live and grow in our walk with Him.

Dr. Richard Halverson, who was the pastor of a large Presbyterian church in Washington, D.C. was asked one time, “Dr. Halverson, where is your church?”

This seemed like a perfectly reasonable question, but Dr. Halverson looked quite perplexed and hesitated to answer.

Then he glanced at his watch.

“Well, it’s three o’clock in Washington, D.C. The church I pastor is all over the city. It’s driving buses, serving meals in restaurants, sitting in board meetings, having discussions in the Pentagon, deliberating in the Congress.”

He knew exactly where his church was, and he went on and on with his lengthy listing.

Then he added, “Periodically, we get together at a building on Fourth Street, but we don’t spend much time there. We’re mostly in the city.”

I like that.

Paul writes in Ephesians 1:22, 23, “The church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”

The church – the fullness of Jesus.

That verse has an incredible implication for those of us who make up the body of Christ.

The church is simply me sharing the Jesus “in me,” with the “Jesus in you,” and reaching out to those who don’t know Him.

The church is not an organization or a set of religious programs. The church is so much more than meetings on Sunday and programs and board meetings and even small groups. Those are the things that the church does, but they are not the church.

The church is people.

People who have a relationship with God.

People in whom the Holy Spirit has come to live.

People through whom the Spirit is ministering.

As Ephesians makes clear, the CHURCH IS NOT JUST PEOPLE EXPERINCING JESUS; THE CHURCH IS PEOPLE EXPRESSING JESUS.

We don’t have a product to push; we have a person to reveal.

That’s why small groups are so important to our church identity. They give us a biblical, practical way of expressing Christ to one another.

Small groups are not there to get a crowd, to see “how many” will come. But to express the life of Jesus in me to the life of Jesus in you.