To Be Least

      I have been thinking about the church a lot recently. Obviously there are many different denominations of Christian churches and there is the emergent church movement (which I found of through other blogs). If you have surfed the Christian blogs for a while you have realized that many of the blogs are run by people active in the "emergent church."
      From what I have read, it appears that these Christians want to redefine what "church" exactly is. Recently, tallskinnykiwi linked to Reinhold's Journey where there was a post talking about "churchless Christians." This post caught my attention and I began to read it. I came across a definition of Reinhold's (if that is indeed his name). The definition was of the church and read "the ever changing form of God`s mission into the world." He goes on to talk about how "church is - and has to be - a reflection of the way people live and relate to each other." So, obviously, he is talking about the physical building, the physical congregation as being the church.
      While their is nothing wrong with that, the church can be much more simply put. It does not have to be formed, and it does not have to be changed. It has existed since the follower's of Christ in Jerusalem received the Holy Spirit.
      So what exactly is the church? The church is the bride of Christ. "For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior." (Ephesians 5:23) Thus, the church is not just a congregation of people, it is a congregation of Christians. If a group of people call themselves a church, but do not have the Holy Spirit within them they are not a church.
      Further more, a church can not operate with it's members scattered and "churchless." We are told that the church is a body. Each person has gifts given by the Holy Spirit, which are meant to function together. What good is the gift of speaking in tongues, if there is no one who has the gift of interpretation of tongues.

¹²The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. ¹³For we were all baptized by^[3] one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

¹⁴Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. ¹⁵If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" ²²On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

²⁷Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (1 Corinthians 12)

      The church is a body. Although the church is not a building, it is necessary for there to be congregating of some sort. The place is of no importance, whether it be in a cathedral or a basement. The church needs to be in unity as a body, and it can not do so with Christians who are wandering around without being a part of the body.
      I got to go to bed now, but if you have anything to add please do so. I have not had the time to complete my thought. May the grace of the Lord be with God's people.