I am sure the title has grabbed your attention.  My intentions exactly.

If you asked people to define “church”, the majority would describe some sort of building.  Maybe a temple, a mosque, stained-glass windows, crosses, stars, pews, and hymn books.  All of those things are inanimate objects.  Small buildings, grandiose cathedrals, traditional, steeple-bearing buildings, and non-traditional, seeker-friendly buildings.

Brick and mortar, statues, crosses, big screens, and comfy pews do NOT make a church.  Not a one of those buildings is a church.  Church is simply the name we give to them.

How does the Bible describe a church?  The word “church comes from the Greek work ekklesia and is defined as, “an assembly” or “called-out ones”.  The root meaning of church is therefore not that of a building or denomination, but of people.

Eph. 1: 22-23 ^“And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”  Him referring to Christ.

1 Cor. 12:12-13, 27 ^“The 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. ¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink… ²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

With those two scriptures in mind, we should not “go” to church, we should bring the church (Christ) with us everywhere we go.  church is the relationships we build, it’s helping each other.  You can have “church” at Walmart, mowing your neighbors yard, at work, at a a restaurant and everywhere else.

Christ is the church and those of us in Christ should be bringing “the church” to the world.  We should never reserve our “church” time for Sunday morning.  We should be taking what we learn on Sunday morning and sharing it with the world.  Church time is not something we need to be checking off of our “to do” list, but a lifestyle of serving others, building up the body of Christ, and spreading the Good News.  If we are not the church, then who is?  Think of the person that brought you into a personal relationship with Christ.  Where would you be had that person not been the church to you?

According to several independent studies, 80-93% of un-churched people said they would go if invited.  Yet, roughly only 2% of Christ-followers invite un–churched friends and family.  Why are we not sharing?  Why are we not giving away what was so freely given to us?  Why are we not taking the church to the world?

If someone were handing out free $100.00 bills, wouldn’t you tell all of your friends and family to get theirs?  Of course you would, so would I. You would tell total strangers.  Christ, the church, is giving eternal salvation for free.  Freedom for eternity of hell and anguish.  Freedom from fear, worry, hate, bitterness.  Why do we keep this amazing fee gift to ourselves?  Why do we reserve it for Sunday mornings?

Stop going to a building and start being the church.  Invite your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, the cashier where you buy your coffee, and everyone you meet.  And I do not mean just invite them to a building with you.  Invite them into your life.  Invite them to explore the living Word of God.  Invite them into a freedom and a lifestyle of worship that they will never experience in the world.  Be the church to them.  You may be the only example of Christ they ever see.

Earthquakes, tornadoes, mudslides, and hurricanes can destroy buildings in the blink of an eye.  What God places in your heart and soul, the covenant that you enter into with Him, this world can not destroy.

Psalm 16:8 “I have set the LORD always before me.  Because he is at my right hand,  I will not be shaken.”  Be the church, not just because we are commanded to by God, but because you truly desire that others know Him.  Christ, and Christ alone, is the true church.