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This is  a somewhat controversial question.    It does mean different things to different people of different faiths.   I adhere to a Christian faith which for those reading who are non-christian may disqualify me from the discussion.

I am currently reading a book by Hugh Halter and  Matt Smay called The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community.  It is the story of Hugh Halter’s journey to attempting to discover how scripture describes church.

I have been taken by many statements in the book but one statement in particular concerning the revolutionary change in the christian church that was brought on by the Emperor Constantine has me thinking:  ”The church was no longer defined as ‘a people who’ but rather ‘a place where’. Before Constantine the church was known as a group of people who lived a certain way and treated others in ways that reflected this belief in Jesus Christ.  They lived this way so profoundly and loudly that they were persecuted and even killed for their actions and beliefs.

Now in reality the statement reflects a lot of history and much of it positive.  Constantine took a small-ish religion and brought it to the forefront of the people of the time.  But the long lasting repercusions may be causing a need to change the paradym of church somewhat.

Many will say this requires us to move back to a simpler less institutionalized model.    I think to do so would alienate a generate of church attenders.    Some would say that it just means they need to get on board with this change or get left behind. I think this is troubling since this would in affect create reverse discrimination to those who attend church.

I think that it comes down to something that I heard Andy Stanley say today from the stage at North Point Community Church.  As followers of Christ we must represent  the true nature of our God instead of the humanly interpreted system of church (I am paraphrasing fairly I think).  Andy was simply echoing the words of Jesus when he said to love others.  (John 13)

Easy to say, s0 extremely easy. But my question with Church, religion and faith has always been, “But what does it really mean – right here, right now?”

It seems to mean that just like Jesus we go into the neighborhood.  In the Message version of scripture John 1:14 says: “The Word (meaning Jesus who is often called the Word) became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.”

I believe that until people see the glory with their own eyes and the work and generosity of God’s people that Church will not happen.

We need to step out of the building and into the street and begin to wake up each day saying what will God’s love require of me today.

Also check out The Tangible Kingdom on Amazon as well as the North Point Online services at http://northpoint.tv/messages/nponline.  These are great resources to discover or re-discover Church for yourself.

It’s true and I’m kinda glad.  When the prodigal son came home to his father he was at the end of himself.  (Luke 15) He had tried all of his ideas, followed all his plans, lived the way that he wanted and he was truly at the end of his rope.

Now I haven’t been a prodigal in that I went into another country and lived like the prodigal- wine, women and the wild life.  But it is easy to have a lot of plans, a lot of ideas, and an expectation that things will go exactly like I planned.

Jesus said that we lose our lives to follow Him. (Luke 9)  To me that means that we lose our plans and our expectations too.  Jesus that we do this to see the Kingdom of God.

This takes away any idea that our performance is what it takes achieve what God requires from us.  The prodigal son had completely messed up his life and simply returned to his father.  There was NO worthiness or ability on his part to heal the bond or to rescue himself from his failure.

Many of us may not be prodigals in the same way but we may be when it comes to our seeking to be something or someone in order to reach God’s “standard”.  The father in the story didn’t send the son out to the servants quarters nor did he tell the son that he would have to earn his way back.  He opened his arms and welcomed the son back.

So as we embark on our next plans, our next goal or our next destination we must realize that we are the same as the prodigal. It isn’t about our performance; instead, it is about our proximity to our Father that matters.

Or for those of us that may be the prodigal – we’ve been far from God or we’ve completely ignored him the answer is the same but even better.  No matter what we have done God opens His arms to us not based on our worthiness or based on our ability to undo our sin.  He opens his arms based on his desire to see His sons and daughters come home.

The words that Christians often say are difficult to understand, especially for non-believers. We have our own dialect and us words like Saved and Lost , Forgiven, Redeemed and Blessed. Sometimes Christians also forget the real meaning and the power behind the words as well.

Take the phrase – “I once was lost”.  Christians know the rest of the phrase as being “but now I’m found” (or some variation).  It comes from the words of Jesus in the Story of the Lost Son in Luke 15  The son had left home and lived a horrible life and the father waited daily for the son to come home.  When he did the father ran to him and forgave him.  He even threw a party to celebrate his son’s return.  The older brother heard the noise and came in from the field and complained to his father. The father said:

“It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.”  Luke 15:32

The story is in a section where Jesus is telling about the love that God has for us and his willingness to see past our former lives or our failures and to bring us into a completely different life.

We forget that, a lot, at least I do.  We act like lost children a lot of the time running around doing just what we want while not thinking about the consequences.  Telling ourselves that we’re doing the best we can and that we aren’t affecting anyone.  We forget or some of us don’t even know that there is a condition of being Lost.   Lost means a lot of things when we say it.  It can mean not found or ignorant of the proper direction.  It can mean roaming without purpose like – “Poor John, he’s lost and just doesn’t seem to have any direction in life.”.  But the most important meaning – the meaning that all of scripture says over and over is – that being lost means we are without hope, unsecure in the world without a chance at real, true life.  Being lost means that we will never have a chance to know what life is really about.

You see God has all the best plans!  He has all the best of everything!  We forget this.  Sometimes people aren’t willing to believe it because they think that God would never want to give it to them or if he did why doesn’t he just give it  and leave them alone.

The truth is that God is it.  He is above all things and is completely without corruption.  So in order for us to receive the best we have to take the best which is him.  It means that we stop looking for the best in everything else.  We stop it!  It means that we quite looking to our fathers, our friends, our jobs, or our stuff to prove our value and we look to God and what he says about us.

It means that we stop living like christian people and live like people who are in love and focused on a God who is the answer to all our questions.  And we start telling people, we start pointing people to him (not us), we start taking care of people and walking them down the road from lost to found!  We get off our complacency and tell the best story ever told.  The story of God and that he has the best stuff.

If we aren’t telling, leading, sharing and living every moment with God then we’re traded real life for something else.  We’ll always be locked in out problems.  We’ll always be a victim and therefore powerless and unwilling to embrace our Heavenly Father. We’ll trade for normal living instead of accepting the best.

It takes living together to do this.  It takes looking at other’s needs far above ours to do this.  It takes sacrificing our pain to be willing to embrace the real power and love of Christ.

Stand up believers - it’s time.  Come on non-believers give it a try.  Come out of the darkness into the light!  It is time to be no longer – lost.

We’re in the process of planting a church in Goose Creek, SC, which is just outside of Charleston!  We’ve got a lot of plans and dreams at this point but very little money to make it happen.  The truth is that we need donors!

We need people that want to be a part of our church by partnering with us.  This means donating to the work of our Heavenly Father!!  It is an incredible opportunity to see God at work in a new way!  His desire is to be known to those who need him!

We’re focused on our community in Goose Creek because God has called us there.  We are making trips and trying to build contacts but most importantly we want to be on the ground there being a part of the community.  Our goals are long-range and slowly focused on the community.  We want to start a coffee house and a Community Development Center.  We want to make a difference in the everyday lives of the people there, not just on Sunday!  We want to be a vital part of the community by loving people where they are and not asking them to come to us.  We want to lead people to their Heavenly Father so that he can change them and change their lives.  We know this happens best through friendship and time.  We will love that community!

But we need your help! We have wonderful, amazing friends that we have known through the years and we’re asking you to partner with us!  It’s going to take financial support to get this going!  We have a budget, we have our plans, we have our calling and we have experience.  We’re putting more financially ourselves into this than we have ever in our lives because we see God’s hand on it.  He continues to open doors and we keep walking through them.

Would you be willing to support us monthly for 1 year? Your support will be worth it!

You can go out to our Donation page on the SouthEast EFCA district website.  We are listed on the page as Journey Fellowship (Charleston, SC).

If you want more information about the church please go to http://journeyfc.org or you can email me at sidemory (at) gmail dot com.

Life is a journey and we’re meant to live it together!