Breaking down the walls

If people think that a church is ‘full of holy and righteous people’ then if they attended, I’m sure they would be mightily disappointed!

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Unintentionally, somebody may say something in general conversation that will really challenge us. I’ve found over the years that God can use people in this way in order to get our attention where He wants to show us or teach us something. My wife recently came back from walking our dog and explained that during the walk she had bumped into a couple who live just down the road from us. She explained that after the usual pleasantries the conversation had ended with her extending an invitation for the couple to visit the Fellowship that we attend each Sunday. What really caught my attention was the response she received from the lady. Her response to the invitation went something along the lines of (I cannot remember it word for word), ‘we could never go there, it is full of holy people’. This has stuck with me ever since and it really made me think about how people who do not know Jesus, actually see the Church.

We see a lot of publicity about how the amount of people attending Church is continually declining (on average) and there does seem to be a lot of empty seats/pews in many churches to back this up. Of course, the life of a Christian is not defined by attendance at a church service, but declining numbers are not surprising if the response that my wife received is typical of what people really think of the church. If people think that a church is ‘full of holy and righteous people’ then if they attended, I’m sure they would be mightily disappointed, but significantly the decline in church attendance suggests a detachment between those who know Jesus and are saved and those who are not.  So, why is this the case?

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A common misconception is that church is a building, it is not. Buildings can be wonderful places to worship and fellowship and excellent for keeping warm and dry however, it is the body of Christ that is the church. In the Bible, church is always a reference to people, not a place. The church is a body of believers that live out the Gospel by their words and actions. The church is at its best when people inside the building take Jesus’s message outside the building and serve those they meet. The bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 3:16 that we are the temple that allows God to dwell in us, notice that it does not refer to a physical building; ‘Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?’ For me, Sunday Service is about coming to God with thanks and reverence through praise and worship for the blessings He continually bestows on me. It is an opportunity to say thank you to Jesus and to come into His Presence with fellow believers. It is an opportunity to fellowship and interact with people at different stages of their journey and to provide and receive love, comfort and support when needed. I love Sunday Service but the reality is that it lasts for two to three hours each week. There are 168 hours in a week which means we spend approximately 3% of each week in Sunday service. Therefore, the vast majority of the time available to a Christian is outside the walls of building, which is exactly where it is needed and exactly where it should be.

Many Christian Fellowships seem to be pre-occupied with obtaining or constructing new buildings or adding extensions to create more space. But why? What about the current buildings that are being used for Church services and meetings? If there are so many half full or nearly empty buildings around then why are we creating even more? It does not make any sense. If it is God’s will for a fellowship to grow and the leadership team are confident that through prayer and petition that it is God’s Will for them to have a new building or create more space then let God’s will be done. However, I often wonder what God is thinking when He sees so many struggling fellowships and empty buildings, particularly as we do not need a building to be a church and given that we only spend such a small percentage of our time using a building for church activities anyway.

As you have read through my thoughts you may be thinking that there will be an amazing solution waiting for you at the end of the article. Sadly, this is something I cannot offer, suffice to say that the way in which we allow the Holy Spirit to use us is the only way for others to see Jesus for themselves and to be able to become part of the Body of Christ. This could well happen during a Sunday Service however, we really need to look for ways to break down the walls and to be church more and more, outside of buildings. If God has planted a fellowship in a certain location then He has a specific reason for doing it! I’m sure that purpose is not just for the fellowship to isolate itself away, inside a building for a few hours each week (while the lost pass by), to have a wonderful service and to repeat the same process every week. We need to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our communities and through the Power of the Holy Spirit, to bring Jesus to the people. This then might start to change attitudes and misconceptions and make people realize that Christians are just as prone to sin as they are, but the crucial difference is that we are purified and saved by the Grace of God’s love for us through accepting Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. May we be used a vessels to sound the trumpets and to stir people’s hearts so that the barriers and walls in their lives will fall, quicker that the walls of Jericho; Joshua 6:20 ‘When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city’. 

May people see church for what is really is, not bricks and mortar, but a body of believers who demonstrate and share the love of Jesus wherever they are. May the walls of church buildings all around the world come tumbling down so that the body of the church can be built up to help bring Jesus to those who are lost.

Be blessed.

Author: Anonymous

May God bless and enrich your life

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