People are accustomed to talking about “being the church,” but what does that mean? In the 21st century, life is anything but black and white; and in a world that operates in screaming Technicolor, how can a church do more for the world it’s hoping to reach?
The Bible teaches one to be all things to all men, that some might be saved. This means the church has to be more than just a building suitable to house a couple hundred or thousand individuals inside a sanctuary to listen to a message and sing a few songs.
A church has to be a living, breathing, and active organism that aims to serve the world actively in the same capacity that Jesus served the world. What the church does by preaching a message of hope on Sunday is beautiful, and people need this, but what is needed more than that is a facility that operates like the Gospel present in the New Testament.
The Gospel is active. It’s a lifestyle. It means walking out and reenacting what Jesus did during His time on earth. The modern church has lost sight of this. It sits in its pews and padded chairs, rarely lifts its hands to do anything other than fit in with the crowd in a moment of “passionate” worship, and too often it does little or nothing to help, love, and support others.
If a church is sitting on tithes and offerings, but doing nothing with the facility in which its members meet, nothing to help the very people that Jesus died to love and save, then what is its true purpose?
Church is as much a noun as it is a verb. It’s a place, it’s a person, it’s a thing, it’s an idea … but it’s also an action. The church moves. The church jumps. The church sins and is in need of the very Jesus it strives to present to others.
In the entirety of its definition, a church needs to step up and function for more than just a Sunday service.
What Does Church Look Like?
In addition to a Sunday message and worship service, a church building and the people within the organization need to put their time and heart into behaving like Jesus. He didn’t spend his time shut up in the place where only the righteous were allowed and study scripture, only to tell everybody who came to his door that the scripture wasn’t accessible to them.
Jesus spent time with everybody. He talked with the Pharisees. He acknowledged the children. He picked the least of society to be his disciples. He bestowed love on the poor, the hurting, the lame, the insane, the criminals, the diseased, the wealthy, and the wicked.
Jesus was a carpenter who didn’t have the worldly means to make his mission known. He simply loved people and guided them to a place where they could be made whole.
The Church Feeds People
Your church might not have a lot of money, but if you have a desire to be a pastor, why should money be among your goals? Certainly, a church needs to operate like a business in a certain sense, but if you make it all business and no Gospel, where are you using the faith given to you to believe that your God is all-powerful, omnipotent, omnipresent, and will make a way in the wilderness?
Your church building is more than a sanctuary. It’s a place where people are fed. If you’re building a church, think about arranging a space that allows you to feed the hungry. That’s what Jesus did.
The Church Gives People a Home
The world is filled with people who are hurting and lack a place to call home. This is true for many individuals in the physical sense as well as in the spiritual and emotional sense.
Churches can become home to people just as a city does, just as a home does, and just as a person does. If you have the means to offer up the rooms in your church as a place for those who have no physical home to be able to rest their heads for the night, you’re walking out an active gospel.
Yes, it’s hard and complicated, and even a little frightening sometimes, but nowhere in the Bible does it say that following Jesus and loving people will be easy.
The Church Welcomes the Hurting
The Bible doesn’t preach a message of exclusion. Jesus went into every situation with the same heart to love the people He encountered. It didn’t matter what their color, wealth, or orientation might be.
A church that is centered on the Gospel should do all it can to replicate the lifestyle that Jesus chose to live. That means whoever is hurting must be welcomed at the door, no matter their state of dress, their track record, or how annoying they are to listen to.
If we’re honest, we all fall short of the glory of God. But a church that is doing all that it can is a church that is actively pursuing to be all things to all people. If your church is looking to expand ministries and needs a bigger building with more capabilities, or simply needs to remodel some rooms to better suit the needs of the community, don’t hesitate to call Churches by Daniels to help.
Call Churches by Daniels
Churches by Daniels is a construction management company that specializes in making sure your needs as a church are met by your building. We help with all stages of design and construction across the United States.
If you have an idea of what you need in a building but don’t know how to bring your vision to reality, set up a consultation today. A building that suits your needs as well as the needs of the community around you is a priority when you’re preaching the Gospel to a world in need of hope.
