"You are the Church"

Written on April 30, 2009 by The Reverend Raymond Walters

Senior Pastor of Stone Squarer Ministries

The above statements are found in the Catechism at the back of the Book of Common Prayer. The word "church" can take on many different meanings in a variety of contexts. It can mean the building, it can mean the Sunday worship event, and it can refer to the institution or denomination. We most often use the word to reference something beyond ourselves. "Where do you go to church?" "This is such a beautiful church!" "Church was very nice today."

But when we depersonalize the church we forget that the very essence of the church is the people. The church is not something beyond us; we are the Church.

The Christian church began as small gatherings of people who believed in the Christhood of Jesus. They first met in homes and tombs to eat together and to remember and experience Jesus. Eventually the Church became an institution. Institutions always forget that they are essentially organized people. They allow themselves to become defined by their buildings or creeds, or even worse hierarchies within the Church. Like governments and universities, the Church too often is defined, even overpowered by the details--- those things meant to support the people without whom there is no institution.

The church is only as strong as the people who consistently come together to witness to the love of God in their lives and the world!

Remember this, the church is not a building; it is not a budget or an endowment. It is not the lay and ordained staff. These are simply gifts, tools to empower US for ministry.

The Church is a group of people who believe that God can do more to transform their city and the world through them collectively than individually.

God and our forbears have blessed us with wonderful gifts that we can use to further God’s Kingdom--- and we should do our best to care for them. Without the Church, the community is just empty.