10 things I love about Church

As promised in yesterday’s post, this is the counterpart and lists 10 reasons why I love church. It will hopefully help us as we think about how we fulfil our vision to make a positive difference in Dublin spiritually, culturally and socially. And by the way, I am a ‘glass half full’ kinda guy and as such I usually focus on the positives. So I am generally excited about the potential power for good church contains within it.

1. It’s God’s plan A. It’s wonderfully reassuring to know that (a) God invented the church and (b) it was his intention, instituted through a promise to Abraham 4000+ years ago (Genesis 12:1-2), to form a family that would be a blessing to the world. The church is God’s channel to bring his love to this world. This is scary and exciting!
2. Lives are changed. The church is a random bunch of people (our church included!) but it’s amazing to hear the stories of how God has worked in our lives to bring freedom, confidence, joy and purpose in many ways. Last year we had three baptisms, as people discovered God’s love and were transformed.
3. It’s a community of all people groups. In Ephesians 2-3, Paul argues that the church is a place where every human “dividing wall” is destroyed by the cross of Christ and, through Christ, God is bringing together all people groups to display the “manifold wisdom of God” to heaven and earth. The cross humbles and exalts us in equal measure and forms our most core identity, therefore uniting us with people totally unlike us. Hallelujah!
4. It’s dynamic. I was interested to hear it was said in a debate with atheist Stephen Fry this week: “My hope is that as Christendom continues to fall apart, so the church may be able to recapture some of its pre-Constantinian vitality and radicalism.” Whilst I have experienced the agony of church structures that hinder the life of God coming through, the majority of my experience of church has been with teenagers and twenties who have the fire of God in their bellies and want to make a difference. This is just fantastic!
5. It’s never going to be defeated. Jesus famously says to Simon Peter (Matthew 16) that he will build his church and the gates of hell will not overcome it. It’s brilliant to be a part of something that even at its worst, most stagnant, most pathetic and most frustrating moments, is guaranteed to survive and conquer because of the certain promise of Jesus.
6. Jesus partakes in it. In Acts 9 Saul is off to persecute Christians and has an encounter with Jesus where the Lord says: “Why do you persecute me?”. Saul was killing Christians and putting them in prison but Jesus so identifies with the church, as it is his body, that he feels the pain. What a wonder! I guess that is no surprise because he loved his bride so much that he died for her.
7. The Holy Spirit fills it. Gordon Fee defines the Holy Spirit as “God’s empowering presence” and whilst the Holy Spirit fills us each individually (1 Corinthians 6), often the emphasis is on how he fills the church. I think it can be argued from 1 Corinthians 3, Ephesians 2 and 1 Peter 2 that as we love one another and build one another up, the more the Holy Spirit fills and empowers us.
8. Dreams are born. I think of people who because of the involvement, support and inspiration of the local church, have done great things. I think of a couple who started a school in Zambia or a man who started debt counselling centres all over the UK. When it is functioning as God wants it to, the church should be a place of imagination, inspiration, entrepreneurship, energy and new projects.
9. It joins heaven and earth. The church has often been described as ‘an outpost of heaven’. It’s the place where the reign and rule of God is seen and people get a taste of what it is to know God and be part of his family. In Hebrews 12 the believers are told that in their corporate worship they actually join with believers in heaven and thousands upon thousands of angels. This expresses the wonderful idea of the “the communion of the saints” – that we are united with our brothers and sisters who have already gone to glory.
10. It’s fun. Well, at least it should be! And I whilst I have suffered some scorn (in a small way) for being part of the church, it’s been a fantastic adventure. I discuss more about this adventure in this post.

I am sure more could be said but these are 10 reasons why I think the church rocks and why it’s worth being part of a local group of believers who are committed to loving God, one another and the city.