You are the church.
Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
Hebrews 10:23-25
This verse was used heavily during the COVID-19 pandemic to argue whether we should or should not close or adjust the churches and church services we were used to in an effort to protect the immunocompromised and stop the spread of the deadly virus. While I’m not here to argue what steps needed to be taken in local church contexts, I can tell you that this verse has nothing to do with closing what many of us would consider church. When Jesus and the apostles said “church”, they were not thinking of what we typically think about. Jesus would not walk into our modern churches and recognize them as the church He established. The early church members didn’t see it as a weekly show. The early church was more like an afternoon brunch at a friend's house. When they thought of church, the early apostles would have thought about a community, a people, or a family, not a building, organizational body, or theater-like liturgical exercise. When we are told not to forsake the assembly, we are being told not to neglect our community.
I'm not telling you that you should not go to church. Many of us are missing out on what God wants to do in our lives because we are not active and consistent in our local churches. Church as we often see it has many benefits and blessings. Yet, while Jesus and the apostles regularly went to and participated in the main worship service in the local synagogue on the weekends, the church Jesus described was deeper than that. The Bible describes the church as a people that lived their lives together. They didn't just show up to a building once a week to listen to one person talk. The Bible says that they ate together every day. Yes, every day. They were like college friends hitting the cafeteria together after class. They were an intimate community.
The Bible says that they pooled their resources and shared their possessions so that no one among them had any lack. It's like if we all put our money together and used the interest so that all of our kids could go to college without loans. The power of the community was tied to their willingness to sacrifice. The church Jesus spoke about was a people who cried when their brothers cried and laughed when their brothers laughed. They shared each other's burdens. They confessed their sins and sought the face of God with each other. They were more than friends, they were family.
This sense of intimacy and community is what we were designed for. This is what God was describing when He said it is not good for man to be alone. Adam was with just his Creator, but one-on-one walks with Jesus were not enough. He needed an equal. He needed community. Like the Godhead needs each other, we need each other. The church is a body of people who have joined their lives together for the purpose of Christ. The church was a group of people you could respect and trust. Though they were imperfect, they were reliable when it came to their commitment to Christ and each other. There was an immense sense of intimacy and mission. It wouldn't be uncommon for someone to go to the group and ask for prayer or advice concerning their marriage which was on the brink of divorce. It was normal for someone to cry out for freedom and seek support as they fought addiction, affair, or abuse. People didn't allow feelings of judgment or disrespect to stop them from being honest and coming as they were, brokenness and all. It wouldn't be out of the norm for people to share their deepest pains, worries, traumas, and fears as they sought God together. They trusted each other.
For some, the church was like your group chat with your best friends. For others, it’s like the friends you met at the gym or on a soccer team. For others, it’s a Discord chat or the new friends you met in college. My point is that the meeting or assembly that we are told not to neglect isn’t a church service on the weekend, it’s the real relationships we’ve cultivated with the people we may happen to go to church services with on the weekend. It's a place where you can be fully known and fully loved. It's a place where you are believed in and called to better. This is what God has said we should not abandon. We need community.
It's not just that we need community, community should be one of the church's biggest exports. The world needs community and the church was designed to provide it. We have the tools and design to offer the intimacy, belonging, and safety that everyone is craving. I think it's crazy how negative some Christians are towards the LGBTQ+ community. A group like the church, which is designed to foster safe places for real people to be loved as they question their identity should be the first place queer people should be drawn to. It's almost comical how hateful and judgmental some Christians are. You may not like club culture, gangs, or other forms of community that may foster ideas you don't agree with, but I want you to realize that people would not need those groups if the church did what it was created for and made safe places for people to be loved and nurtured as they find the identity, belonging and family they're longing for. Everyone is searching for the community God created the church to offer. When the church fails to do its job, people are drawn to find community in areas that may be destructive. If the church was better at making it clear that they were a safe place for people who don't have it figured out to find belonging and identity, it would be packed.
So why are we missing out on this deep intimacy we were created for? This really could be an entire book series and life long study in itself but in these few moments, I can share a few things we can ask the Spirit of God to aid us in.
First, I believe we need to abandon the idea that community is synonymous with comfort. While it's great to have people to cry with who love you unconditionally, God isn't as focused on your comfort as He is on your character. Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” The way iron sharpens iron is by friction. This verse does not say that trials, tribulations, and attacks from the devil make us stronger, while that may be true. The verse says that friends will cause friction and that will sharpen us. Many of us are missing out on the growth God wants to offer in the community because we are afraid of friction caused by friends. We are afraid of uncomfortable conversations and disagreements. However, those differences are what God has allowed to grow us, teach us, and expand our worldview. Instead of running from the imperfections in church, lean towards them. The friction is often tied to the growth God is trying to offer. I just had a conversation with someone who told me about how they don't come to church because of the broken people but then they had the audacity to ask me to teach them how to have a better life. I wanted to tell them that their biggest problem wasn't the church people but that they desired growth without workouts. God gave you the tools to accomplish what you desire. We are asking to be stronger but avoiding the weights God has given us. Growth doesn't happen in isolation. Growth doesn't happen without resistance and challenge. You will never grow if you are not ok with some friction. God put Matthew, a tax collector who who would have been seen as someone who sold out his brothers to work for the oppressor with a zealot, someone who radical abolitionist trying to overthrow the oppressive government. One person is working with the oppressive system and the other is working to destroy it and those people were placed in community together. Do you not think Jesus expected fights and disagreements? The most annoying people in your life were often placed there by God to teach you, expand your viewpoint, strengthen your arguments, and power your sympathizes. Friction causing people aren’t all enemies, some are sent to be friends. We are missing out on what God wants to do because we are running from people's differences. God said not to avoid fostering community with imperfect people for a reason.
If we want to reap the benefits of community, we have to stop running from broken people. But you are like “Pace, you don't understand how terrible they are. They said this and did that..” And I get it. I'm not telling you to not have boundaries or to passively sit by for abuse. But I am telling you to stop avoiding the growth situations that God places in front of you as an answer to your prayers.
This takes a personal responsibility that I believe is strongly lacking in our world. You cannot play the victim forever. You cannot use the mistakes of others to give you an excuse to be mediocre forever. You can’t justify your brokenness because others are broken. At some point, you have to stand up and be an adult. You have to take responsibility. You have to be the change you want in the world.
That segues into the next point we can consider and that is that you are the church. That may sound simple at first but if you don’t like the church, it’s because you haven’t done your part to influence it. I need us to have a greater personal responsibility. You cannot be mad about everyone not speaking to new people if you don’t go out of your way to speak to people. If we increase our level of personal responsibility, our church at large will elevate too.
Here is the question, if everyone you are in a relationship with acted like you, how would those relationships be? If you were the church everyone is talking about, would your complaints still be true? If the church was full of clones of you, would it still be full of gossipers? If the church was full of clones of you, would it still be full of unreliable people? Are you helping or adding to the issues you see in your church? Are you just as hypocritical and misunderstanding as the people you say are your reason for not coming? If the church was full of clones of you, would it be honest? Would it be kind? Would it be nice to people like you? If everyone in church had a personal responsibility and self-awareness, a lot of our complaints may go away.
Some parents will complain about how children act and critique the churches, schools, coaches, teachers, and pastors they untrusted their time with, when their kids act up because they as parents act up. While outside sources of mentorship and influence are important, your children’s worldview and mindset will largely be shaped by you as a parent and what they see in you more than what anyone else tells them. If you aren’t kind, they will not see a need for kindness. If you aren’t full of integrity, they will see nothing wrong with cutting corners. They will mirror their romantic relationships to be like yours. They will respond to heartbreak, challenges, emotions, and fears like you do. If you don’t come to church, why would they ever think they should? If you don’t choose God openly and explain the reasoning behind your actions, your kids won’t magically achieve it for themselves without a lot of work. Your household will shape how your children design theirs. In the same way, the way you act individually will influence how your church acts corporately.
The community church was designed to be starts with you. You have to allow God to work through you to create the community and intimacy that is meant to be experienced. Don’t expect to receive intimacy without giving intimacy. It doesn’t make sense to expect others to be vulnerable without you being vulnerable. Oftentimes, you will have to step out on vulnerable faith first so that others around you feel comfortable doing the same thing. That means that we must learn to be a safe place for others. We must learn how to listen more than we speak and be patient and slow to anger or judgment. The better we are at being church members, the better our church at large will be.
This is a hard call. It’s hard to be the type of people we wish others would be. It’s hard to create the intimacy we wish was in our churches. It’s hard to be the front lines and get involved when everyone else seems to be going in the wrong direction. It’s hard to be honest about the fact that we don’t get it all and aren’t perfect. I get that it’s hard but it’s not impossible.
This call to not forsake the assembly is softened when we read the rest of the book of Hebrews. The entire first half of the book is a compare-and-contrast work explaining what the past was and how much greater the future with Jesus will be. It says Moses was good, but Jesus is better. The system of old was good, but God's new system of worship is so much better. In chapter ten we get a hinge. We have been gifted a new life and opportunity because of Jesus, therefore, it's possible to walk boldly in this call. You are called to love the imperfect people around you because you can. Jesus gave you a new life and that new life gives you the power to do what He did. It gives you the power to shut up when people talk about you. It gives you the power to sacrifice for the very people who don't respect you. It gives you the power to not just apologize but learn how to speak the specific apology language of the person you’re apologizing to. It gives you the ability to serve the very people who want to see you fail. God calls us not to forsake the assembly not just because we need community, but because this new life offered by Jesus makes it possible to love broken people.
Stop complaining and start using your energy and influence to live a life that is diametrically opposed to the life you are against. If the church is gossiping, be intentional about speaking life. If the church isn't loving, pour out love to the unlovable. We fix the church not by sole critique, but by action.
We are not just called to build loving communities because we need it or because we can. The text goes on to say that we should cleave to community “especially because Jesus is coming soon.” As we prove that it is possible to love imperfect people, we prove that Jesus’ claim of love is possible. We we really love, others will believe that Jesus can really love. Our church and the way we look after broken, unhealed, and traumatized people will be a beacon of hope and light into a world that is looking for that for themselves. Jesus’ kindness led you to repentance and your kindness will lead someone else to repentance. Jesus is trying to introduce Himself to as many people as possible through your love. Jesus said they will know we are His disciples by the way we love. The world should be drawn to Jesus because they are drawn to us. We should be so attractive in the way we offer intimacy, identity, and belonging that the world can't help but want more of the God powering us. Do you get me?
It starts with you allowing God to revolutionize your life. As you heal, you still stop bleeding on others and begin being able to offer love. As you realize how loved you are, you will be able to love others. As you trust God enough to find community with Him and His body, you will be mature enough to offer it to the world around you. Everyone craves community, and you may be the answer to it in someone else's life.
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I am trying to build community here at Shiloh in Cincinnati and around the world through ROAR. I’m asking that you partner with me so that we can accomplish the visions God has placed on our hearts. Please consider a consistent donation through this websites donation tab or through Cash App $ThoughtsByPace. Your donations free up the opportunity to push the freedom, belonging and love offered by Jesus around the world.
You can also give to ROAR Ministries local work in Cincinnati through Adventist Giving. We are coming to Shiloh again in a few weeks and we need funds in order to make it happen. Link below.
