What Is Church?

What is church to you? Is it an ornate building with lots of stained glass windows, a pipe organ, and a choir? Or is it a contemporary service, with a full band, meeting in a building that looks nothing like a church building. Or does it fall somewhere in between?

It was pointed out to me this morning that I didn't grow up in church the way so many of the people I'm surrounded with did. I did go to an Episcopal church until I was about 9. After that, it was pretty much hit and miss until I was in my 20's. There were the occasional Christmas and Easter services, but they were few and far between. And of course since it was a "traditional" church, it was the stone building, with the stained glass windows, the steeple, the bells, the hard pews, kneelers, and so on. This is pretty much what I associated with church and God.

It wasn't until someone took the time to explain the personal, loving, relational aspect of Christianity, that my skewed idea of what church was changed. And my idea of who God was, well lets just say that was even more skewed. Once I finally met that person and listened to what they had to say, then I thought I finally understood what church and God was really all about. That was almost 19 years ago.

This past Wednesday night we had our leaders small group at our pastor's home and it really showed me what the church really is supposed to be. It's not about the building, or the seats, or the illustrations, or any of the other trappings. Church is the people. The people that God has placed you with in life. It is about the real, authentic, honest relationships. Accepting and loving people where they are at right at that moment. Not forcing rules and restrictions and doctrine down their throats. But simply shining the love of God and letting Him work in their lives. That's what church is all about.