B E H I N D / T H E / B A R

Its one empty room right now.  A few other empty rooms are attached to it. It needs some tables and chairs and a few other things.  But, its the space that God has miraculously provided for RiverChurch to gather downtown.   I walk through and imagine what amazing things God will do in this room.  I anxiously anticipate news that the doorway between Cadence and the new space will be opened soon, but construction never goes as fast as we want it to.

I was walking through the space the other day with a buddy, when I said, “This is our church.” Suddenly, I stuttered, tripped all over my words, and in a clumsy recovery said, “No, this is where our church will meet.”

At RiverChurch we wear t-shirts that challenge us to “Go Be The Church.” Yet, sometimes I find myself falling into a trap of thinking that “Church” is confined to a building, worse yet that it IS a building.  But its not.  Its so much more.

Its the people that come together under the name of Jesus Christ, held together by the powerful truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – that He came to die, be buried, and come back to life that I might be free from sin and live forever.  Church is the living, breathing, maturing, morphing body of believers who see a bigger picture than just their individual lives.

Church is what will happen in our space on a daily basis, as people gather together to share what the Scriptures are speaking to them in Bible study.  Church is the brother laying a hand on another guys shoulder asking God to strengthen him as he faces a tough day ahead, or a couple of college girls curled up on opposite ends of a couch with coffee in hand, and a box of tissues close by as they share their hurts and fears.  Church is the gathering of rich and poor, sheltered and homeless, young and old, black, white, brown, and every other color to worship and proclaim the name of Jesus.

Church cannot be contained in a 1700 square foot room.  Church is where you will be today, as you live out your faith in the public arena.  It’s not bricks and mortar, furnishings and lights.  Its not programs and activities.  Its you and me, living in real time relationship with Jesus because of the Gospel.  That’s the Church.  Anything less than that, well its simply . . .  Not the Church.

Go Be The Church!