Being church vs. Doing church

"…to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."
- Ephesians 4:12-13 

The challenges many of us have faced during this time of isolation is how do we DO church. 

This has seen us being very creative and dynamic in utilising technology and the resources we have. I commend everyone for DOING church in the best way possible for the context you’re in. I’m sure there’s many of us who now know we have a face for radio!

Although this has been a challenging time, I believe the greater challenge is to reflect on how we are BEING the Church. 

The DOING has changed, the BEING hasn’t

The Church is still the worshipping people of God, not the building we worship in. 

The Church is still the relational discipleship we engage in, not the programmes we run. 

The Church is still a body of believers who each have place and purpose, not the majority receiving from the minority. 

The Church is to be equipped for Kingdom growth, not just feed for spiritual comfort. 

The Church, no matter the circumstances, is still called to BE the Church. 

Are we driven by how we DO Church, or by how we are BEING the Church? 

I have been encouraged by the way many of our churches have sought to engage the multiple bubbles in their church family to continue to grow in BEING the Church in difficult circumstances. 

It has been great to hear about churches who are making it a priority to:

• Have their people leading their people; the range of church family voices and faces regularly shared. 
• Feeding with truth that challenges – continuing to invest in the equipping of the Church family in the diversity of gift, passion and opportunity that God puts before us. 
• Providing opportunities to serve. Seeing everyone having a place and a purpose. 
• Being gospel intentional; taking up opportunities to continue to speak and show the gospel in the lives of those God has put around us. 

My prayer is that as we continue to journey through and out of the lockdown period, we would take the time to reflect on what this period of difference has highlighted about the deficits in our ability to BE the Church.  

Who do we need to invest more in order to BE the Church? 

How are we going to invest in these people more in order to BE the Church? 

Imagine what God has planned as we join him in BEING his Church!