Handling the "Do You Go to Church?" Question

6/23/2004

Hi, As I try to reach out to people in the neighborhood or at work and phamily, the common theme is “What church do you go to?” Sometimes it is hard to explain to people, especially when you don’t have enough time to expound on that topic. However, I will not give up on this challenging topic thrown at us by the traditions of men!  I want to compose a letter to some of my neighbors and explain why I don’t “GO” to church. I will try my best to express God’s heart in the matter, but you all could really do a good job explaining this topic (since for 20+ years you have lived the life).... Love,

...It’s not a hard question to answer, if anyone would honestly CARE to ponder the reality of the Biblical Story.

JESUS was and IS “the Church”. There is no proper viewpoint other than God’s: the Church, the REAL Church, is His very own BODY. How could anyone ever think they are part of the Church, and part of Jesus, when they are disConnected in the major parts of their lives and decisions and activities and time and money and intimate, vulnerable, daily relationships? (1Cor.12, etc etc)

Did the Twelve “attend” Jesus—or did they LIVE WITH HIM, AND ONE ANOTHER, “joined and knit together”—working out their Lives and Loves TOGETHER. Did they “attend” Jesus... or were they living with Him and each other daily, in the intimate setting of “rise up, sit down, walk along the way” as “a hundred mothers, brothers, sisters”? You know the answer, if you’ve ever read the Gospels and the Book of Acts, and the Letters! They were FAMILY, “no one counting their possessions as their own” and “we being many, are ONE,” “contending as ONE Man for the Faith,” never living like “I have no need of you” in daily Life. “One heart” “one mind” “one purpose”. One Life. That is the only Church that Jesus has ever Established. NOTHING HAS CHANGED, except this: the traditions and compromises of men have created a “rich young ruler church”—where everyone can hang on to what they REALLY love, and think they still have Jesus too. Ooooops...... Love,