Several Years ago I read a book entitled Becoming Orthodox by Peter E. Gillquist.
I was left asking myself 2 questions after reading the book.
1. What does it mean to be the church?
2. What does it mean to gather as the church in worship?
I keep getting drawn back to these 2 questions. I believe they have short simple answers. I also believe that living out the short simple answers is the most challenging thing we can do with life.
If you would be so kind, take a moment and share your thoughts on these 2 questions.
Bless God
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Bless God.
John Pearson
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The Church - the Body of Christ, the kingdom in which God alone rules, the flesh of God, the Bride of Christ
To gather as the church in worship - one Body focused on one God, completely united as Jesus prayed in John 17 bringing glory and honor to God
note: this is a quick response subject to change if I pondered these questions for any length of time. :)
ponder away
John
To me, to be the church means to be plugged into Christ yet with a cord long enough to allow me to reach anyone in the world with His good news.
To gather as the church in worship means to be "reeled" back in on a regular basis so Christ can re-energize me along with my brothers and sisters for another week of service to Him.
The church is the body of Christ united with the purpose to lead others to Him and to serve the community and each other.
Corporate worship is a gathering of a body of believers to celebrate Him. The worshiper must be completely focused on God and actively participating in heart, body, mind, and soul.
* To be church...is a place of worship that helps build the faith of the people. So often people go to a building (called church) for religious reasons and forget that church is the people. Church is a place we can come together to worship and praise the Savior. It is a place that can bring the community and family together. It should be the source of social welfare. It is the church that should serve the community, feed the poor, and prey for the sick since this is what Jesus did.
We all are a temple and should not only worship in what we call "church" church but also bring what we do in the four walls out to the world.
* Gathering in worship...is to help build up each others faith. It should be a display of God's glory and his miraculous powers through demonstration and testimony. Jesus and John the Baptist had gatherings in the open fields. Jesus used these gatherings to teach and demonstrate his love. We tend to gather on the basis of religions beliefs but as Christians we follow Jesus Christ so we should all be able to gather and worship together for the uplifting of His name.
I agree with all of the posts before me, so I feel I am left with the challenge of saying something new or summarizing in one sentence for each question. I think my answer is a summary with new words: To be the church means to do the things the New Testament tells us to do and to do it with other followers of Jesus, so as to be encouraging each other toward love and good deeds(Hebrews 10:24-25). To gather as the church in worship means to meet with other believers (anywhere) to adore God through the sacraments of worship (Acts 2: 42-47). In conclusion, people who say their faith is a private matter, who think church can be done online or at the tv, or otherwise desire to be rugged individualists, are not connected to the church, the body of Christ!
I think to be the church is taking what God has taught us, either in the church building, in our Bible reading, in prayer, etc. and actually applying it in life with the people God puts in our paths. Letting the love that he has given us flow through us and into others.
To gather as the church in worship is when 2 or more Christ followers come together with the intention of glorifying God whether it be in prayer, conversation, providing help for others, attending a church service, etc.
"...to be the church..." to me means that those that He calls out to Himself for a glorious life of freedom and yet total minute by minute dependence upon Him for life and friendship, allow that overflow of life and love to spill out to all those he leads us to. Once we are totally saturated with Him, it becomes easy to respond to Him and become Him to all those around us. When 2 or more of us talk about Him , He is actually formed in our midst.As we all respond to Him from the deep desires that He has placed in each one of us, we literally become the salt of the earth.
"to gather in worship " means that we purposefully gather to share His life in us with others. We all contribute a piece of the puzzel or we bring an instrument to play in the orchestra. The result is absolutely heavenly when Holy Spirit gently leads and guides us. No one is there to exhalt themselves or further their careers--they are there to share life and all it entails with each other.
Worship is very important for our walk, but so is the revival that can occur within broken/lost hearts.
So for me, worship is a time to show God my adoration, but also a time to be completely open to the countless miracles that can occur in the hearts of those attending.
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