What the Church Does

What does the Church Do?

In the three-part series on the mission of the church, I indicated that the purpose of the church is bigger than we often describe in our church mission statements and grander than we realize in practice. Some churches have a broader focus, but may not necessarily achieve what they hope for their congregation. Candidly, my experience has been limited to one local church for the past forty years, although that church changed significantly over time. That church became a standard for many other churches around the country and the world. After an epiphany (see Our Identity in Christ Part 2 My Identity Crisis), I began to realize that there were significant issues in my church and, likely, other churches as well.

Here is a one-sentence description of what I perceive is problematic about the evangelical church:

The church is more concerned about what Christians do rather than who they are.

I realize this statement is a blatant generalization, and it is my perspective. Nevertheless, I have examined this perspective as I experienced other churches and the teaching of many Christian pastors and authors. Some Christian teachers diverge from this statement, but they are the exception, not the norm. What does this have to do with the purpose of the church? Well, in my previous post, I suggested that the purpose of the church is to glorify God in all we do and build each other up to maturity in Christ.

If you’ve read my other blogs, you will know that I was a participating member of Willow Creek Community Church (WCCC) from 1980 through 2019. In 2007 the leaders of WCCC admitted that the way the church was operating was not helping people mature in Christ (see Willow Creek Repents, Christianity Today, October 18, 2007). Using the REVEAL Spiritual Life Survey (REVEAL), leadership discovered that programs and participation aren’t the way to help Christians mature.

After the survey at WCCC, leaders implemented the study at more than a thousand other churches. The results are published in a book titled MOVE: What 1,000 Churches Reveal About Spiritual Growth (MOVE). While the MOVE book provides some good information, I believe there are numerous flaws in the study. However, the purpose of this post is not to critique the REVEAL study, but to use a couple examples to support the premise of my one-sentence description above of what is problematic about the church.

One of the reported outcomes in MOVE is that the more people perform certain activities doesn’t just demonstrate our closeness with Christ, it causes our closeness. Also, the study defines four levels of Christian maturity: Exploring Christ, Growing in Christ, Close to Christ, and Christ-Centered. The biggest problem in this categorization of spiritual growth is it is based on a flawed premise. A Christian, even a new believer, by definition, is Christ-Centered. Christ-Centered means being joined to Jesus, it does not mean being mature as determined by some arbitrary level of activity. Basing our closeness to Christ on what we do diminishes what Christ did for us and in us on the day of our salvation.

I am not against Christians doing things, and I know what we do matters. I also realize the categories listed above intend to indicate how Christians live their lives as they mature. But words are important, and the words saying we get closer to Christ as we grow are not true.

Of course, we do things, we think, we act, we move. The issue is not whether we do or not, the question is what motivates our doing. Do we expect our actions to get us closer to God, or are we close to God, and we act out of that truth? When we are joined to God through Christ, we cannot get any closer. We are in Him, and He is in us. So, what we do does not bring us closer; instead, it produces in us an ever-growing awareness of all that God has for us in Christ, and it affects how we live.

This is why I object to the idea of mission for the church. We are not called to mission, we are called to life. We have a new life because of Christ. When we walk in the Spirit, everything we do is for the Lord, and we have opportunities to learn and grow. One thing I found missing in MOVE is that when people move from Exploring Christ to Growing in Christ, there is no mention of the real change that occurs in them. There is no mention of new life.

What the Church Must Do

As discussed in my previous post, the Apostle Paul says the church is, in part, for:

building up the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:12b-13, NASB®)

This purpose given by Paul is about the use of spiritual gifts by members of the body. There are many gifts and many ways we help each other in the church. But before Paul got to the point of what the church does, he spent the first half of the letter explaining what God accomplished through Christ and who we are as the church.

As the church helps Christians mature, we must start with who we are, and what maturity in Christ really means. The truth of our new identity is so important we must continue to stress it as we help each other grow. We also realize that the things we do don’t cause growth, God causes growth. Our activities are focused on communing with God and other Christians from a solid foundation, the foundation of the New Covenant. The Apostle Paul says of his ministry:

Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:4-6, NASB®)

Our behavior doesn’t lead to Christ-Centeredness, being Christ-Centered affects our behavior. In my experience, and from what MOVE demonstrates, the church doesn’t seem to recognize that being Christ-Centered is the definition of being Christian. When we believe in Jesus, and the Father gives us new life, we receive the Holy Spirit in our heart, we cannot be more Christ-Centered than that. Our growth comes out of the reality of our new nature in Christ. We grow in understanding and in faith.

I don’t remember the last time I heard a message in a gathering of the church that focused on how Christians are new creatures or creations. I can’t remember the last time I heard about what it means to be “born again,” how that actually changes me. I don’t think I ever listened to a pastor or teacher explain what it means to be “one spirit with God.” How about you? When was the last time you heard teaching about your identity? If asked, could you explain each of these descriptions of Christians?

My website has the title “Exploring our relationship with God, the church, and the world.” I tend to jump between each of these relationships, but I suppose that is the way the Christian life works. Our relationships are interwoven and interdependent. One of the best things about our life in Christ is that it is a story. What we read in the Bible are the individual, and often very personal accounts of many people over many years. Ultimately, the Bible is God’s story, but it is ours too. I hope I can use story to convey the truth of who we are in Christ and how we are changed. Please join me.