{"id":227413,"date":"2023-05-02T12:26:55","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T16:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liveoriginal.com\/?p=227413"},"modified":"2023-05-11T11:11:48","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T15:11:48","slug":"what-is-church-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liveoriginal.com\/what-is-church-2\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Church?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is <\/span>church<\/span><\/i>? How do we define it when our definitions change over time and can depend on a number of variables such as the passing of time and the experience of crises? When do we lose track of what it means and how? How do we bring meaning back to the word? I wasn\u2019t sure how to define <\/span>church<\/span><\/i> in early 2020, and if truth be told, before the lockdowns began, I didn\u2019t even know I would have to revisit the concept of church.<\/span><\/p>\n

The women had a front-row seat as the men in our circles experienced real life together\u2014studying, praying, and serving each other. Together they were recreating the church of the first Christians. I wanted in, and other wives did as well. So we began our own weekly Bible study. Each Tuesday, we gathered as women\u2014same structure, same vision. We entered inspired and hopeful. Eager and vulnerable, we tended to each other\u2019s needs with a simple group text thread.<\/span><\/p>\n

As we worked together in community, I was reminded of something the ancient apologist <\/span>Blaise Pascal once wrote about a great wager that everyone must make. He urged his readers to bet on God in this wager, for \u201cif you win you win everything\u201d\u2014truth, happiness, and the good\u2014and \u201cif you lose you lose nothing. Do not hesitate then; wager that he does exist.\u201d Investing in community is the same kind of wager. If we win, we win a full and flourishing life, and if we lose, we\u2019ve made a lot of friends to help us endure the hardship.<\/span><\/p>\n

We began waking up together\u2014waking to passion and purpose, to conviction, to what it <\/span>means to be the church. Our awakening propelled us to be the hands and feet of Christ in the <\/span>world around us. We were being revived one by one, and once we\u2019re revived personally, we <\/span>begin to be revived corporately.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our community began hosting town hall meetings with local business owners, curating <\/span>conversations with city leaders, laying groundwork for community gardens, planning schooling <\/span>alternatives, and organizing medical support for frontline workers. Just as in the book of Acts, <\/span>numbers were being added to the men\u2019s Bible study and community initiatives by the day. The <\/span>women were activated too, and we looked for ways to serve one another, starting a group text <\/span>thread to facilitate needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who needs prayer?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Who needs a meal or a care basket because of a loss?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Who needs a ride?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Anyone requiring a doctor recommendation?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Who needs a wedding venue because their previously chosen venue closed its doors?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t just the text thread. We rolled up our sleeves and got about our work of being the church. We hosted \u201cchurch\u201d on our front lawn because we couldn\u2019t forsake our \u201cmeeting together\u201d (Hebrews 10:25). Family blankets took the place of pews. One family led worship <\/span>from their blanket, with my friend Christy leading the chorus and her husband, Nathan, accompanying with his guitar. Another family read Scripture and led a discussion. Since each <\/span>family brought their own Communion elements, other families led in the time of Communion <\/span>and prayer. That afternoon, we were living what N. T. Wright described in his book <\/span>Simply <\/span><\/i>Christian:<\/span><\/i> \u201cThe church is first and foremost a <\/span>community<\/span><\/i>, a collection of people who belong to <\/span>one another because they belong to God, the God we know in and through Jesus.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

By early summer, the First Front Lawnist Church of Franklin was on a roll. Not only were <\/span>we hosting worship gatherings, but on one beautiful May Saturday, we hosted a wedding for <\/span>Molly and Peter, one of the men in this multigenerational community. Because every venue was <\/span>shut down, we created our own. The families and several guests gathered\u2014seated in a dozen or so wooden chairs under a canopy of trees, with wind chimes as our backdrop. A path meandered down the slope to a short hop over the stream for the bride\u2019s entrance. It was a full Lyons family affair, with Pierce playing guitar, Joy serving as the flower girl, and Gabe and I reading the Scriptures. It was glorious.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t