Tuesday, April 20, 2021

This Is A Church





Samnang, one of my teammates, was sharing some photos with me recently. He showed me a photo (right). I asked what the photo was about.  Why was he showing me this photo? 

"This is a church" he responded.

When I heard those words something inside me clicked.  

Because the photo was something that is so drastically different from the concept of "church" that I am used to, I had to stop for a moment and process.  At first I was wondering whether this could actually be considered a church, but then I began to consider my own concept of "church".

I asked Samnang to share more about the photo with me.  He said that because of COVID, the church was not allowed to meet in their building.  At that time there was no known community spread of COVID in the nation, but the church leaders were still being careful.  The church family had decided to go to the river, fish, have lunch and worship together.  After fishing and having lunch someone led songs of worship and someone shared from the Word of God. To them this was a natural way for them to continue to live out community. 

Samnang then went on to share that the church planter who planted this church had also planted five other churches in the midst of COVID, using homes, meeting families in rice fields during the rice harvest and just reaching out to people in their normal daily environment.  

As I asked Samnang more questions he shared that the church planter's greatest desire is that people can know Jesus and be discipled.  What that looks like, or how it happens isn't as important as people coming to know Christ.  

I've lived in Cambodia for 10 years, so I am very familiar with how house churches begin and have seen similar things happen over the years.  However, this photo and the conversation really challenged me as I've watched churches around the world struggle during COVID.  And let's be honest, many were struggling before COVID.  What does that mean afterwards?

Are we focusing on reaching people with the message of Christ's redemption and finding ways to disciple them as they grow in their faith in God? Or, do we get sidetracked with trying to make that happen in our current facilities or programs. What can we learn from these church families about adjusting to continue God's mission in the changing circumstances of our world.  How can we enjoy real, genuine relationship?

I'm not writing this to present a definition of "church", to have a theological discussion, or to criticize anyone's current model of a church.  I believe God uses many different styles and models to accomplish His heart's desire of restoring people's relationship to Him through the cross of Christ.

What the photo has done is to challenge me to focus on helping people create communities that fulfill God's mission, where fellowship, communion, new birth and growth in Christ happens.  How or where it happens isn't as important as God's desire that "it" happens!  I've decided I want to be like this church planter when I grow up! 

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