Can we just pause for a moment? Among all the busy-ness of life, and church life, and whatever we think is the rhythm of worship that we are going through, whatever motion is next and. just. stop. ? I am by no means a scholar, or a graduate of Biblical studies. I can barely even quote you what verse is my favorite (I know the gist of it but rarely can I recite it word for word, or nail the actual book, verse, and chapter it’s from.). I’m a mom. I’m a friend. Most importantly I’m a follower of Christ, and He loves me more than I could ever comprehend. and right now my heart is hurting.

My heart is torn over the church. Not the local church, or a specific church in mind but the “church” as a whole. The body of believers. Those who call themselves followers of Christ. What have we become? What are we doing? What are we raising up out of our community of faith? Are we so focused on how we look and how our building appears and the structure of things that we are missing the point? 

In many cases, yes. We are missing the point entirely.

I know personally I have been missing the point for a while now. I was raised up as a disciple in a church that had a lot of structure. Many hoops to jump through and a certain way to be in order to be valid to serve. What I learned in my time there was everything had to be just right and certain people had to approve of you for you to be worthy of their permission to be part of the “in crowd” – for lack of a better way to articulate it.

Structure is not all bad, of course some sense of order must be had when gathering a number of people, but at what point does our planning and process snuff out the Spirit of the Lord? At what line do we overstep God and forge on with our own plan put in place because we think it has to go a certain way?

These are of course rhetorical questions as the answers are varying and personal. If nothing else, I just want us to stop and pause on this thought and evaluate where we are at as a whole. Take a moment to look at the community at large in your area. Are you spreading the Gospel locally and with sincerity? Are you reaching out to the lost and the broken and making an impact in your own community, or are you building a temple and waiting for people to come to you?

The church is not a building. The church is us, the church is you. The church is your attitude at the grocery store in the checkout line. The church is the reaction you have when someone cuts you off in traffic. The church is what you do when no one is looking. You are the church.

How can we best impact the lives of those around us? By taking the challenge to live like Christ seriously and remembering that church is not a Sunday thing. It’s a daily, moment by moment choice to follow God in all things, at all times, and in all places, with all people. 

I will admit I have been caught in this cycle of chaos often times focusing on the method rather than the relationships. Many times more effort has been put into the planning of things than the prayer over them in my own life. I have missed opportunities to connect because I let my thoughts wander onto “the next thing” too frequently. It’s time for that to stop. It’s time for intentional focus and a sincere heart check into the way things are done, for me; and maybe for you too.

Let’s put down our ministry titles, our own plans and expectations, and pick up our heads. Let’s open our eyes to the world around us and forget the things we think we need to do, and what our next plan is, and instead be intentional with the people around us right here, right now. Let’s make every moment a gospel moment. We have the chance to share Jesus in every single interaction we have wether we speak His name or not we are the living example of what it looks like to be loved by God.

Lets make a real effort to get back to the basics and slow down. Although the world seemingly moves at the speed of light we need to ratchet back the idea that we need to act fast on something or we will miss out. The truth is if we are obedient to God and tuned into His spurring we won’t miss out, we will actually be right on time.

As my home church puts it: it’s simple: Love God, Love Others, Make Disciples. It’s not that complicated.