Christ’s Vision for the Church (1)
“…I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16.18
Whatever you want
These days it’s possible to find just about whatever you might want in a church.
Whether your style is traditional or contemporary, your interest fellowship or outreach, your preference for the young and hip or the older and more sedate, big steeple or no steeple, liturgical or more spontaneous, preaching or story-telling—just about whatever you want in a church, you can find.
Church leaders today feel at liberty to shape and position their churches according to the interests and needs of their target communities, or the preferences in style or structure of church leaders. Never have there been so many kinds of churches to engage the visions of church leaders or the fancies of prospective church members.
In some ways this is a wholesome and welcome development, a fresh change from the days when just about any church you might enter seemed as cold, stodgy, and irrelevant as the next.
However, the danger is that, in seeking to distance ourselves from traditional church forms and formats, churches may all be drifting toward a point where, once again, they’re all starting to look and feel the same, only contemporary, at least, for now. We all sing the same song from the current worship top ten list. We’re all casual in dress. We have a band rather than a choir. And so on.
Not ours to shape as we like
Changing, updating, repositioning, and reshaping our churches can be very healthy, but only if we keep within parameters of change and reformation which acknowledge that there are some basic components of shape, form, elements, mission, and so forth which must characterize any church in order for it to be a church, the kinds of foundational matters we looked at previously.
For, at the end of the day, the church is not ours to build and shape as we like. The Church and all local churches as expressions of the universal Church belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. In His ascended glory He has taken on the task of building His Church. It is the top item on His agenda because the Church is both the sign and outpost of the Kingdom of God.
Moreover, Christ has provided the tools, resources, and designs by which local church leaders must build their congregations. If we would enjoy the blessing of the Church’s Chief Architect and Builder on our facilities, ministries, and people, we should pay special attention to what Jesus intends for His Church. We should study to gain the mind of Christ about His Church and how He intends to build it.
We are the Lord’s Church
The Church belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ; He alone articulates the vision church leaders must follow if they would fulfill His purpose in having raised them up to build a church. Jesus Christ intends for His Church to be an agent of transformation—salt, light, and leaven—wherever it puts down roots and puts up walls. If churches are not having the kind of transforming effects Jesus envisioned, it may be that we have been building according to the wrong set of drawings.
Today, when the Church in America is more marginal and meaningless than it has ever been, we do well to re-examine the vision of the Church which guides our local efforts at worship and ministry. We may build impressive facilities, attract large numbers of people, and fill everybody’s week with plenty of things to do, but we will not be the Church unless we are following the plans and building according to the designs of the One Who, at the end of the day, must build our churches Himself if they are to be what He intends.
The Church belongs to the Lord. He calls it into being by His Word and Spirit. He indwells it. He appoints our mission. He provides the resources, power, and support we require to fulfill that mission. He defines our operations and our ends.
And He alone knows what He’s looking for—and what we should be looking for—in local churches all over the world. The Church is the Body of Christ, the top item on His agenda as He rides forth each day, conquering and to conquer. His vision for the Church is not a mystery; He has revealed it clearly in His Word.
So unless we and our churches are on the same page as the Lord, we cannot expect to know the fullness of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Spirit which comes with being the Kingdom people of the Lord.
To this end, we turn now to consider various aspects of Christ’s vision for His Church.
For reflection or discussion
1. How would you explain the vision of your church to someone who was thinking about coming to worship with you?
2. Meditate on 2 Timothy 3.15-17. Would you say that building a church is a “good work”? Do you think the Scriptures are sufficient to guide us in this work? Why or why not?
3. With respect to your own church, what about it do you find most helpful for your walk with and work for the Lord? Why?
Next steps—Preparation: Pray for church leaders, that their vision for your church will be the same as that of our Lord Jesus.
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Haven’t been to The Ailbe Bookstore lately? There’s a surprise waiting for you.
This week: Our Read Moore podcast begins an extensive look at the Kingdom of God in our book, The Kingdom Turn. In our Crosfigell teaching letter, we are looking at the state of pastors and churches during the period of the Celtic Revival, using contemporary witnesses. And in our Scriptorium column we are studying the sermon on the mount. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.
Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
