Why I Don't Go To Church

Periodically, people will ask me where I “go to church.”  I’m always tempted to say to them, “I don’t go to church – I am the church.”  Culturally, we tend to identify “church” with organizations, buildings, and names, like, The First Church of What’s Happening Now – or - my favorite from Garrison Keillor - Lake Wobegon’s Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility.  But biblically, you can’t go to church, because you are the church.  Let me explain.

First, to be more accurate, the word “you” should be plural.  I would be better explaining this if I lived in the South, because then I could say, “You’all are the church.”  The church is not a building.  Or, I should say, a building is not a church. A church is a group of people who have Jesus living in them by means of his Spirit.  Whenever two or more of such folks get together to worship, there you will find the church.  I’m not quite theologically correct in my initial statement that “I am the church.”  But, I would be accurate in saying I am part of the church.  I think this truth has some big implications that are often lost in the Westernization and enculturation of the church in America and Europe.

Biblically speaking, there is only one church.  Theologians use the term “the church universal” when referring to this truth.  Jesus said, “I will build my church (the singular form of the noun), and the gates of Hell will not overcome it,” (Matthew 16:18.)  He wasn’t talking about building an edifice, but of building an organism made of men and women.  Often, the image of a body is used to illustrate the nature of what the church is meant to be.  Paul says “there is one body,” in his instructions to the church (a group of people) in the city of Ephesus.  Which brings me to another thought.

Although there is one universal church, it finds its expression in smaller parts of that one transcendent entity.  In the New Testament, reference is made to “the church in Corinth,” or “the church in Ephesus.”  Phrases like this are used in relationship to at least eight different cities in the New Testament.  Since I live in Denver, Colorado, I'm going to assume that from God’s perspective, there is a “church” in Denver.  It is true that in some of the larger cities, like Rome and Colossae, there were sub-groups of the larger city church that were also referred to as “churches,” but always as groups of people, and not as organizations.  When writing to the Colossians, Paul says, “Give my greetings to…Nympha, and the church in her house.”  In his letter to the followers of Jesus in Rome, Paul sends greetings to his old friends Priscilla and Aquilla (from the book of Acts) and says to “Greet also the church that meets at their house.”

You might be wondering, “So, what’s the point?”  I’ve been thinking about this lately because I’m involved with two parts of the church in Denver that have big challenges and small resources.  It seems to me if we had a little better sense that we are all part of one church, instead of “members” of individual organizations that we identify as “my church,” there wouldn’t be so much inequality in the use of the combined resources of “the church” in the city.  I’ll give you two examples.

Church in the City is a part of the “church in Denver” that is located – you guessed it – “in the City.”  By that, I mean it is a church (a group of people) that meets in the heart of the urban area of Denver.  For over fifteen years it has been meeting in a converted Safeway store.  The pastor is a friend of mine by the name of Michael Walker.  Michael is a Messianic (Jewish) believer from New York City – and a great guy.  If I were writing to Michael, I could write, “Greetings to you, Michael, and the church that meets in the Safeway store.”  The store is not the church.  The people are the church. 

The particular group of people who meet at the Safeway store with Michael are part of the same “church in Denver” that also has many people who follow Jesus living in the distant suburban areas of Denver.  They are all part of the same church – biblically speaking – even though they are broken down into smaller groups that meet in different locations.  Many of the groups in the suburbs are not meeting in converted Safeway stores, but in architectural marvels.   Recently,  Michael, and the group of people that meet at the Safeway, were told that the old Safeway had been sold, and by the end of the year they would have to find another building for the part of the church in Denver that is called “Church in the City” to meet in.  Over forty inner city ministries and service organizations helping the poor in Denver are intimately connected to “Church in the City.”  Miraculously, a block away from the Safeway store, there is an abandoned synagogue.  It is a perfect building to become the new meeting place for Michael and his friends, and to facilitate the work of the forty ministries that have been working with these followers of Jesus.  The challenge Micheal and his friends face is that most of them are much less financially blessed than many of the other members of the body of believers who are also parts of the church in Denver, but live in the suburbs.  Micheal could use a little help.  Wouldn’t it be great if some of the parts of the church in Denver that live in the suburbs ran a “building campaign,” but instead of running it to build another newer building for their little part of the church in Denver, they did it to help restore the old synagogue that Michael and his friends are fixing up as a place for their little part of the church in Denver to meet in? Incidentally, the building will still be a synagogue, but the people who meet there will be a church – and part of the church.  It will be a church inside a synagogue!

“Scum of the Earth” is the name of another group that is made up of people who are part of the church in Denver.  (The name is taken from a statement Paul makes in I Corinthians 4:13.)  This is a group of Christ followers who tend to be young, poor, and “alternative.”  The motto of the group is that this is a “church” for the “right brained, and left out.”  Since they also meet in the same Safeway building Church in the City meets in, they likewise went looking for a new place to gather this part of the body of Christ in Denver.  They found an old building that someone inaccurately called a “church” (remember – a building isn’t a church – the people in the building are the church – are you beginning to get this?) that was in a perfect location for this unique bunch – and all things considered - pretty cheap.  That is unless you happen to be a part of the church in Denver  that calls themselves Scum of the Earth.  This group does not have the financial resources to pull this off on their own.  They could use a little help from some of the other parts of the church in Denver that might have more resources to make this happen.  Some have helped a little, but not in any way that would indicate they understand the truth that they are all part of the one church in the city of Denver.

I could give multiple other examples.  A number of my friends give leadership to parts of the church in Denver where most of the group – that is the church – are poor.  Periodically, they are “thrown the scraps that fall from the table” of the parts of the church in Denver that could help them much more significantly.  They always receive the "scraps" with humility.  But, rarely do you see action taken that reflects the fact that we are one body.

The same is true on a global level.  I have heard that 90% of all the resources available for use by the church (note the singular noun) in the world today are used by less than 10% of the church (again note the singular.)  Most parts of the church in the West (that we call “churches”) spend as much money watering the grass at the building where that part of the church meets (that we erroneously call “churches”) than the entire annual economic needs of other parts of the church in the poorer places on the planet.

I’m not sure how to solve this problem.  And I’ve certainly been guilty of thinking this way, myself.  But that is what I’ve been thinking about. 

So the next time someone asks you where you go to church.  Maybe you could crack a smile and tell them you don’t go to church: you are the church.