A Healthy Church

I would say, we need to see the body of Christ healthy. I believe that we need to—I’ll talk about—we can talk about outreaches, we can talk about missions, we can talk about going out, we can talk about reaching out, but we need to see local churches healthy, representing Jesus in terms of their gift, in terms of people functioning in their giftings, but also in terms of people displaying the fruit and the character of Jesus and of Christians.

Because ultimately, that’s what is going to set the church apart as something that the world can look at. It’s not going to be a great display on a Sunday, a great worship service, or whatever it’s going to be. It’s going to be the Christian that they meet at work that is full of the character of Jesus, that is full of the joy, that is full of the love, that is full of the peace, that is full of the presence of God, ultimately. And they’re going to be attracted to God through that and through that life.

The Church as a Covenant Community

We don’t believe that the church is a place where we attend on a Sunday in order to watch, in order to spectate, in order to just receive a blessing or some sort of impartation that’s going to carry us through the week, which is so often what people believe. But rather, that we are a community of believers, that we are God’s people, that He is our God and we are His people, as stated in the New Covenant. And that we are a covenant people, a covenant community of people that are committed to God, yes, that are committed to the gospel, yes, but are committed to living out the gospel in our lives of love one for another.

And because that’s what Jesus said, ultimately. He said, “What’s going to separate us? What’s going to make us look different? It’s going to be our love for one another. It’s going to be how we love each other on an ongoing, consistent, daily basis.” And not just a theory of love, where, “I’ll pray for you, brother,” but a real, practical love, where I’m involved in your life and you’re involved in mine. And whatever it looks like, it’s about a community of people that actually see each other on an ongoing basis.

Practicing Daily Christian Fellowship

And as referred to earlier, that Scripture in Acts 2:42, and after that it says that they continued to meet together daily, and they would break bread together daily. And for so few Christians, that’s the reality—that they’re actually coming together often, that they’re coming together daily, that they’re committing their time. And in busy lifestyles, especially what you see in the West, where our time is taken by so much, where we’re actually saying, “We want to give our time to one another in real, genuine love, commitment, devotion.”