The Church Must Leave The Building

 

THE CHURCH MUST LEAVE THE BUILDING!

Covid 19 has forced us out of our church buildings. Now we must force the building out of the Church! God often displays in the physical what He expects us to follow through in the spiritual.

The lockdown has scared us into smaller social units and the local community.

It reminds me of the Book of Acts. Pentecost happened, and a massive revival broke out; the kind that we dream of having in all our churches. Thousands were being added to them daily. WOW!!! This is what the pastor's dreams are made of! Who would not want this to continue? Where one keeps on growing and signs and wonders and are daily phenomenon? No one wanted this to stop. It seemed like this was God's will. All growth must be from God and is this his way of saying you are on the right track?

Then Acts 8 happens. Scattering! Shaking! Shocking! Had we been there, we would have rebuked, and shook our fists at Satan saying 'this is the work of the devil'. Surely, he wants the Church to crumble and fall. We must hold prayer meetings against this diabolic act.

Ahem!! It looks like they had forgotten something Jesus said as they got caught up in the heady success of Pentecost. Jesus said, 'to the ends of the earth!' Why they had not even left Jerusalem. The Lord of History decided to shake and stir the pot a little. They needed a nudge to go into all the world. God used historical circumstances to fulfil His mission.

Does this sound familiar? In the last few decades, the mantra in Christendom has been 'bigger is better'. There has been so much pressure to grow big. If your Church gathering was not over 100 people, you are not even considered a legitimate church. We have forgotten a lot of the New Testament was written to the Church that meets in so and so's home!! We have forgotten the power of "where two or three are gathered" is the 'ekklesia'.

The heady success of the big stage, big band, music albums, published books,  international conferences that gathered the 1000s, millions of social media following has all become a massive industry. I  know this sounds harsh!! We have created a doctrine and used scripture to justify this. Every pastor worth his salt must have a building project or he is a man of little faith. Show me a budding pastor who dreams of a small church but with significant impact. Everyone wants the 1000s.

I think we are in another Acts 8 moment in history. God is pulling at every structure. Shaking everything that can be shaken so that the only foundation left standing is the on the cornerstone of Jesus Christ. He wants a bride without spot, wrinkle or blemish and He will make that happen.

We have gotten comfortable with our programs: the ladies meet, the men's meet, the kid's club, the senior's meet, etc. etc. We have disengaged from the community and pronounce judgement on everything and everyone that does not talk and walk like us.

The lockdown has scattered us into our neighbourhoods: our Judea and Samaria. What will we do about it?

'The Church is not a building !' we charismatics (that met in school halls) would proudly say. Now we are being challenged because we have made our meetings and our multi-million dollar church building projects sacred and perhaps more sacred than His presence. The Church, through history, has morphed in how she has met. The Church moved from the courtyard of homes to catacombs during the persecution, to cathedrals, when Christianity got state patronage, to cell groups or cottage meetings at the advent of the Charismatic movement in the late 1960s, to conference centres when bigger became better.

God has taken us back into our homes. This is where it begins and must first thrive. They will know we are Christians by our love one for another. It is the secret sauce. Salt if not scattered in the community, is just a lump of salt in a sack. Light all gathered in one place is useless. It needs to spread out to dispel darkness.

In Acts 8, what the devil thought would finish the Church helped her flourish. The scattering resulted in the gospel reaching the shores of our land, and you and I get to encounter this glorious gospel and know Jesus. The Church grew like wildfire from home to home without the aid of modern-day technology. They did not even have the Bible as we now have it. So how much more we? We can use the internet etc. to reach places where we physically can't go. We will impact, but it may not reflect on your local site. Does it matter? At the end of the day, His glory will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. That is what matters. The 'small' is manageable, sustainable and deploys everyone. Everyone reaching out to someone will reach everyone!

In the new era, there are no well-worn paths. We will have to do things in ways we have never done before.  The big church model has played its part, but I think the writing is on the wall. The religious spirit that wants to hold onto structures will criticize and condemn. We have to have the courage once again to listen to what is the Holy Spirit saying. What is this 'new thing". We need spiritual eyes to perceive it and the courage to move in its direction.

There is a clarion call once again. The Church MUST leave the building to be salt and light in the community.

Navaz D'Cruz