Church: Totally Misunderstood

1 Corinthians 11:18
"I hear that when you come together as a church"

I realize I have quoted a partial verse, but it is the truth in this part of the verse hat I want to point out. The church is a group of born again believers that gather together in a particular location. Unfortunately we do not speak of the church this way very often.

Frequently, we say we are going to church. How do you go to church? You are the church! Or maybe we say we are going to meet at the church, as if the church was the building. You are the stones! Sadly, we sometimes say that someone no longer goes to our church. However, it is much deeper than that, they are not longer apart of us, for we as a church belong to one anther, we are a body!

There are other ways we misunderstand the church: We speak of the leaders as the church, or a denomination as the church. Church is at 11 AM. When we leave a service we say we enjoyed church. We tell our children to sit still during church. My church believes this, but I don't agree. And you can come up with others.

Why is this so important? We have minimized the church and our duty within. When we simply "attend church", or refer to the fact that we went to church on Sunday, we feel we have fulfilled our duty. In proper terminology, you attended worship, but your duty within the church ought to go much further. Due to many misuses of the term church, church has become all about us, rather than us being part of the church. Understand this, Christians you are the church. Let it not become an institution or something that only occurs 1 hour a week, it must be a living organism. We are the body of Christ, and just as we depend and share in Him, we must depend and share in one another.