(as) A People Not a Place

Today we begin a new series entitled, Reimagine the Church. The Church is a historically complicated entity. It is both Organism and Organisation . People and Institution. Visible and Invisible. Local and Global. Spiritual and Physical. Eternal and Temporal. Gathered and Scattered. Perpetual and Intermittent. Being perfected and imperfect. It is a community capable of initiating and sustaining great healing, as well inflicting great pain. It is filled with and led by broken people, who are at the same time on a journey toward glory. It is complicated. But it is above all else Gods’. In recent years, perhaps more than any before, the Church is faced with untold complexity, as the era of Chritendom—a period defined by an almost ubiquitous cultural acceptance of Jesus and His Church—has summarily ended… and this was before COVID-19 forced us all to reevaluate how we even defined “Church.” So what do we do, those of us who have an earnest love for this overtly complex entity? How do we engage her? How do we faithfully live as God would have His people to live? How do we faithfully exist as an expression of God’s beloved community? Frankly, I have few answers, but many hopes. Exploring those hopes, through the lens of what God has to say about His church and her activity in this era, is what I hope we can do through this six week series. I want to invite us to Reimagine the Church. I want to journey with you as we try, by God’s leading, to release the images and ideas we have of “Church” to Him, and attempt rather to reimagine His Church as He intended and intends her to be.