Why We Keep Talking About The Church

Why talk so much about the church?

Each week, before we launch into our time of worship and the word we have a little pastoral talk that we’ve dubbed the “family chat”. The intention of this chat is to help our church body gain a fuller understanding of who are and what we are about. For the year ahead, I’ve laid out all the topics I’d like to address. Each will deal with what the church is about or at least what we aspire to be about.

Why is that worth doing?

To clear up confusion: When it comes to the church, we live in a time like that of the Judges when every man was doing whatever was right in his own eyes. That has led to a lot of confusion about church? What is church? What are we accomplishing? What is the purpose?

To push back against unbiblical ideas: Frankly, there are some deeply unbiblical views of the church that exist today. The best way to spot a counterfeit is by studying the real thing.

To educate our people: Using our time together for a few minutes each week is a way to saturate our minds, slowly but surely, with this critically important information.

To encourage us where we are faithful as a church: As we think through what it means to be a biblical church, we have the chance to be encouraged. We may feel discouraged at times when we compare ourselves to the wrong standards. But, if we see a biblical definition and find that we’re aligned well with it, then it will strengthen our hearts and convictions.

To correct us if we are astray: By looking at the biblical idea of the church, we may find that we need to tweak something. I’m not thinking of anything specific. But to be more faithful to God’s word is always a good thing.

To clarify for newcomers what we are about: By taking time to explain our thoughts on church, newcomers can better determine if this is the church for them. We want to be transparent. This is who we are. This is what we are about.

To help focus us in unity: We have probably all done the science experiment of using a magnifying glass to start a fire using the sun’s light. When we see God’s truth together about the church it helps us focus on being about the things he’s called us to.