In my 40+ years of ordained
ministry, I’ve lost count of how often I’ve heard the likes of this:
“We can’t make it to church today,
so we’ll just do church at home as a family.”
“I can just do church on a hike this
morning in God’s creation.”
“The church is really the people, so
we can do church wherever … for God is everywhere.”
It’s becoming increasingly popular
to fashion new ways to “do church.” But
how do we discern what does and does not constitute going to church?
God’s Word has plenty of wisdom on
the issue. Here are a few reasons why
doing church away from church isn’t church:
1. We wouldn’t approach other areas
of life like that.
To assert that we can do church away
from church is an unparalleled way to approach life events. Does the “church-away-from-church-still-counts”
parallel other things in life, like missing your child’s game or performance or
a movie we wanted to see together? Would
you say, “I’m going to forsake my son’s hockey game, but remember his practice
last week at the ice rink” or “I’m going to miss my daughter’s musical
performance, but I’ll remember her practice in the living room last week” or “I
won’t make it to the theater, but I’ll do the movie by watching the preview
again on my phone”? Of course not! Nor does doing church at home, in the car, or
on a hike constitute going to church.
2. Since we are not God, we cannot
redefine things that are God’s.
If you are the founder of a company,
you can define your company’s goals. You
can define standards for your employees, because you are over the thing. Well, Christ is the head of the Church (Ephesians
1:22-23); He bought the Church with His life (Acts 20:28); He birthed the
Church into being, therefore, it’s His Church (Matthew 16:18). So, the Lord gets to say how things go. When He lays out things for His Church, that’s
how things need to be. So, when it comes
to doing church we must do it God’s way.
3. Worship of God is not a
self-determined endeavor.
Much of the Bible lays out what it
means, and does not mean, to worship God. That’s because one of the great problems with
humanity is that depravity renders us unable and unwilling to worship Him
correctly. Not once in the history of
humanity has a person or people devised the correct way to worship the One true
God. That’s why we need the Bible. Whenever man takes the self-determined
approach to worshiping God, he makes an idol. In His grace, God prescribes worship to sinful
man for good reason. God has not left it
up to us to decide what defines obediently gathering as the church for
corporate worship.
4. Church means something specific in the New Testament.
Not once in the New Testament does
God refer to an individual or parents and their kids as the/a church. Individuals are called by their name and families
are called by their households; but they are not called ‘church’ or said to be
doing church. During the earlier days of
the book of Acts, the Church was in its infancy (foundational stages). God matured it towards the end of the first
century. The church means the corporate
body gathered for edification in an orderly manner according to commands
prescribed to church leaders. Thus, it will
not do to consider myself ‘doing church’ away from the local church.
5. Gathering corporately observes
that God has saved us into the body of Christ.
Let’s be clear: The New Testament
does not support this argument – “The church isn’t a building, it is the people;
therefore, if I am with other Christians, then it’s technically church.” Hanging out with my family or a few Christian
friends might be practicing the one anothers or studying the Bible or praying;
but it is not the church gathered in obedience for corporate worship. The Lord does not say, “Oh, right, the church
is not the building, so go ahead and forsake corporate worship.” No, He says, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one
another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews
10:25-26). Paul writes, “The body is not one member, but many”
(1 Corinthians 12:14-18). The local church
is made up of many members who need one another. We belong to the body of Christ; we gather to
show that we embrace God’s desire to immerse eagerly into His visible, living
church in faithful obedience to the Head of the body – Christ Jesus. Doing church away from church isn’t church … because
doing church without the church isn’t church.
6. Church constitutes, in part, a
group of believers under the committed care of qualified leadership present to
bless the local body.
God’s Word calls for qualified and
affirmed leadership in the church (1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 2:2; Titus 1:5-9).
Paul did not consider things as
faithfully complete in a church without such leaders. At the close of the first century, the
apostles delegated elders/pastors to take the baton in the shepherding-care of
the churches (1 Timothy 3:1-7; 1 Peter 5:1-4).
Tested leaders (physically present) were necessary in every church. We need to honor God and the way that He has
decided to care for His churches. Prescribed
corporate worship involves the preaching of God’s Word, administering the sacraments,
and disciplining as necessary by these leaders (Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Timothy
3:2, 4:13; 2 Timothy 4:2). Even if the
New Testament was written in our virtual age, the ideal would be a church who
is physically, and not virtually, gathered together. [I say this as a pastor of a church that
provides Livestream as an intermediate or temporary means of worship; not in
lieu of corporate worship.] We cannot
consider an arbitrary group of people gathered on a Sunday as a church if it
does not include a regenerate body of individuals committed to one another, under
biblically qualified and affirmed leaders, preaching of the Word, administering
the sacraments, and conducting biblical church discipline as necessary. We cannot consider such a group as doing
church.
I’m sure much more could be said on
what church is and is not, but Pastor Eric Davis of Cornerstone Church in
Jackson Hole, Wyoming, has hereby captured the essence.
In summary: Christians should scrap the
feeble attempts to justify church-away-from-church as the church. We don’t approach other areas of life like
that. We are not God, and so have no
authority to redefine the ins-and-outs of His church. The truths about church and worship are not
arbitrarily defined, but mean something specific in the New Testament. Gathering with the body under the shepherding
of biblically qualified leaders demonstrates the privilege we have of belonging
to something larger than us – the greatest organization in the universe. We ought to consider it a privilege and joy
to gather weekly with God’s people. The
body needs us and we need the body. We
need what God desires to give us through qualified, affirmed leadership. We need to see and be seen. If we are missing church with the family, and
attempting to supplement it, just tell the truth – “We are going to study the
Bible, sing some songs, and pray as a family; but this isn’t church, kids.”
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling
Memorial Chapel
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