I'm concerned that we are trying to re-structure church instead of re-learning what it is to live the Christian life.

House churches, simple churches, organic churches can easily become just the "new way" to do church, the next-wave model of churchianity. It's easy for us, if we have been doing church for years, to want to simply come up with a "better way to do church." But that really misses the whole point.

Instead, we need to be talking about the way to live our Christian life. We are privileged to have been given a whole new life: a lifestyle. We have the privilege of living passionately for God. We have the privilege and calling of living Kingdom lives: we journey with God, walk with Him, experience Him, know Him and express Him wherever we go. We have the joy of having a purpose and mission that comes out of the heart of the eternal Father. We get to live in His love, surrounded by His love, empowered by His love, and motivated by His love. Our life lived with a wondrous God is awesome!

This is vital because the Christian life becomes somehow confused with the concepts of "going to church" and "being involved in church." While those may be very wonderful things to do, they are not, in and of themselves, the equivalent of living life in Christ. Yes, when we live the Christian life full on, we do gather with others. But that's a result, an outcome of living all out for God. The "gathering with Christians" is not "the life"-- it's just a part of it. It's one piece of what we do while we are living all out for God.

Let me suggest an analogy.

I love to ski. I am passionate about skiing. I enjoy skiing anywhere there is a slope and some snow. I may be involved in a ski club, I may go to a ski school, I may have skied at many different places. But none of this replaces what it's all about: just skiing. If I tell people that I ski here or there, or that I'm part of this or that club, it's not because I'm enamored with the club, the school, or even the ski resort. These are all peripherals to the real experience that I love, what it's all about: skiing.

In the same way, none of our churches, nor "how we do church", should be equated to living the Christian life. They are peripherals to the Christian life. Church gatherings support us in living the Christian life. But they are not "the life" itself. It's great to gather and be part of, but let's get skiing! It's living for and with God that we are excited about, that we are talking to others about, that grips us with passion and excitement, that we are focused on. Just living full on for God. Just doing it. Going after it. Faithing it. Loving it. Losing ourselves in it and Him.

Aren't churches and gatherings important? Yes, but let me be repetitive, they are peripherals to the Christian life. The church will always gather in a variety of ways. But imagine when the church gatherings are made up of a group of Christians whose primary focus is living full on for God. Imagine what church is like, whether we gather in a home or in a stadium, when all the full-on-passionate-alive-people-for-God gather together. Yeah, that's church!

I admit, I like to gather in a house. I like it simple. I like it participatory. I like house church. It helps me remember that life with God is life with God and not an institution or event. But that's just me. Where we gather is really very, very secondary. The central issue is, let's live the Christian life... full on... with all that we have. Then when we gather... it will be good!

Roger Thoman

http://www.simplechurchjournal.com/2004/02/a_way_to_do_lif.html

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