It is Sunday morning in Seoul, Korea, and Pastor David Yonggi Cho stands before a gathered crowd of more than a million members to preach “The Healing Power of the Holy Spirit.” There is no steeple. This is a massive arena. That same day in rural Alabama at Rock House Holiness Church, a group of 30 – some people come to test their faith through the handling of venomous serpents. Meanwhile the High Kirk of Edinburgh is having a very solemn communion service. Here at the “Mother Church of Presbyterianism” the people sit in lovely green pews beneath the priceless stained glass held within the grey stonework. Yet while the Kirk proclaims the Prince of Peace, the families of Westboro Baptist in Topeka, Kansas, are planning to picket a local soldier’s funeral as an act of worship. At sunrise, New Monastics dumpster dive for communal food and pray for AIDS patients; Jay Backer preaches to pimps and prostitutes, and a heavy metal worship service begins in Mexico City. In central B.C., Jae Bong Koo is singing old hymns with his family of four in the living room and praying that their agnostic neighbour will be the first to visit their home church.
All of these gatherings are called “church.”
In the Bible people didn’t talk about “the church” the way we do. They called themselves “brothers and sisters” (Romans 12:1), “the disciples” (Acts 19:30) or followers of “the Way” (Acts 19:23). Those gathered together in Christ’s name are also called “the bride” (John 3:29). Interestingly we were first called “Christians” in Antioch, which was most likely intended as an insult against Jesus followers or “little Christs.” Instead of the church, the Bible speaks of the ekklesia—a term that occurs 115 times in reference to “gatherings” or “an assembly” but never once is used to refer to a physical structure of any kind. One thing is for sure: the “church” is not a building. Oddly enough, though ekklesia is often translated as “church,” that same word is also used for a judicial court (Acts 19:38) and to describe an angry, disorganized mob (Acts 19:32). Apparently a “church” isn’t just a place where Christians are found; sometimes, it’s just a mess of equally messy people.
Like a good Presbyterian, I’m tempted to say: “The church is Christ together with his people called both to worship and to serve him in all of life,” and leave it at that (Living Faith 7.1.1). But I can’t because that doesn’t do it justice. Sometimes church is a million worshippers, other times just two or three. Sometimes its hands are outstretched to help, sometimes quietly folded. Sometimes it is the loving community; sometimes it is the mob.
So what is church? Three things are clear to me. First, like the Holy Spirit, perhaps, it’s helpful to understand what it’s not. It’s not a building. Second, it’s a gathering. And third, it’s messy. As the old joke goes, “the church would be perfect if not for all these people.” Then again, maybe that’s just it. Maybe church is so diverse because church is just a gathering of imperfect people desperately trying their best to know and serve the God of scripture and never quite getting it right.
