Who would have thought they would see the day before ‘the Rapture’ when our buildings for public gatherings stand empty, even on Sunday mornings. Such has been the effect of the Social distancing restrictions because of the coronavirus.
Before this pandemic was declared I was reading of a study that formed the basis of a new book entitled, “Why Nobody Wants to Go to Church Anymore,” which showed that less than 20% of Americans attend worship services every week. The four main reasons given are:
1. They don’t want to be lectured.
2. They see the church as judgmental.
3. They see the church as hypocritical.
4. They see the church as irrelevant.
Not saying that everyone questioned was a believer, but the reasons betray the underlying problem and that is that few people have a real understanding of what “church” is. The concept of “church” has become so obscured and warped that people don’t even know what it is anymore.
In these days I want to shout load and clear “We are Church; the family or body of all Christians all over these nations of the world that are shut down – we are Church!”. For a Christian to say, “The church is judgmental, hypocritical, and irrelevant,” is for that Christian to call himself judgmental, hypocritical, and irrelevant because he is the church. When Christians don’t understand they are the church, and when they see the church as an institution which they can either choose to support or not, they lose the entire concept of Christianity. Jesus did not come to redeem individuals, but a people. One simply cannot be a Christian outside of the body of Christ (Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12). To be a Christian is to be a part of the church. When someone is in need and Christians say things like, “You should call the church and they will help you,” it reveals that these Christians probably see the church as an institution which exists separate from themselves. As a Christian, when you say, “The church should do this or that,” what you are really saying is, “I (or we) should be doing this or that.” The church is not “they,” the church is “us.” How often have we heard or said ourselves “there is no church this week”. Again this is a wrong concept! Church is not something Christians attend and if no one attends there is…… no church this week. The church is who Christians are…every day of the week. You might say, I’m just being pedantic and that I know what is mean when someone says “there is no church this week.” Yes, I know what is meant and I also know that in the current world situation people need to know there is church this week, alive and well on planet earth. When people see the church as either an institution to support or an event to attend, it leaves them with the option of seeing church as relevant or irrelevant to them. When we realize that we are Church – church is relevant and we are in the body and need to live as Church and Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glory God the day he visits us.” 1 Peter 2:12.
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