We had been doing a lot of thinking about the whole concept of 'church' for a number of years, and when we were invited to join a new church-plant, which seemed to be ready to venture into new and radical areas of 'church', we looked forward to the challenge of something new.

This new venture, which we worked in for a year very quickly moved from the radical to the conventional, and once again we knew we were in the wrong place.

Again it was a struggle to reach the decision to leave, but once we had done so we really did feel a weight lift from us.

We are faced, therefore, at the start of the 3rd millennium, with the question:

"what is church?"

The word, 'church', derives from the greek word, 'ekklesia', which literally means, "calling out" and is used in the Holy Bible (New Testament) when reference is made to those who are believers in, and followers of, Jesus Christ; those who are the "called out" ones.  It never refers to a building or place of worship.  However, the common usage of the word, 'church', meaning, a building, has so infiltrated our thought patterns that we don't question it; but we should.

Because those who are followers of Christ are the real 'church', then we can never again say, "we are going to church", nor, "what church do you attend".  Once we stop thinking of 'church' as being a place, rather than a people, we can begin to view the physical infrastructure of 'church'; the meetings, the endless 'activities', the politics, as being what they really are - a deception and a diversion from the true calling of the church.  That calling? To go into all the world and spread the good news of the Gospel of Christ.

Jesus didn't die on a cross so we could sit in buildings staring at the back of the person in front, nor to give us endless, and often meaningless 'meetings', nor to create a christian (using the term loosely) commercial sub-cultural ghetto where we idle our lives away amusing each other, preaching to the converted, and encouraging each other to "be blessed" or to "have faith and be rich and healthy".  We are not called to be busking by the queue for hell. Rather we are called to be pulling people out of the queue.

Bold words you might say.  Yes they are, and, talking personally, we lamentably fail to do it.

But we want to clear our vision.   We want to re-discover (or perhaps discover for the first time) what the Church is really all about, new ways of being salt and light to a dark and dying world, new ways of worshipping and serving God.  We are tired of having our minds moulded by dead orthodoxy, and false religion.  We want to free our minds through being living sacrifices, which is our real worship (The Bible-Romans chap. 12).

We are strangers in a strange land; passing through on a journey to that celestial city. We should stop living as though our calling is to be 'something' in this world, to put down roots and take up permanent residence.  Let's regain our focus, re-commit our lives to following Christ and spreading the word.  Jesus died to set us free.

"So, what now?"