Most of us have grown up to understand “church” to be a structured Sunday morning meeting with some room for the Holy Spirit to come in and do His thing. Yet he’s only allowed to move within the allocated time slot, the non-offensive Christian jargon or comfort zone we allow Him to move in. In some churches still the Holy Spirit is just about as welcome as the Devil himself…
Very few people reach the sobering point in their walk with God where they actually stop and question their motives for going through their religious motions. Some people attend Sunday meetings for years and years without even wondering why. Because we tend to relate to God on the basis of how good we perform (read Bible, pray, attend church, etc.), we never try and stay away for a few weeks or months at a time because the feeling of guilt just gets too much to deal with. So we put on our Sunday best and go back for more…
The sad thing is that most church goers seem to have based quite a large degree of their spiritual identity and security in their association with the church movement or institution that they attend. It’s remarkable though that they never stop and wonder what will happen to their spiritual walk if that carpet is pulled from underneath their feet. How long will they be able to stand if their local church closed its doors? How secure is their relationship with God AWAY from that institution?
“Christianity started in the Middle East as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise” – Sam Pascoe.
Throughout the centuries all kinds of clever manmade doctrines have been introduced to keep people spellbound to the spectacular Sunday performances, for example that we have to be “Accountable” or under the “Covering” of an institution or church movement somewhere. Yet we never see this example modeled by Jesus.
“The doctrine of covering is an old lie with a new name. It is fundamental to the maintenance of a false hierarchical religious system controlling many Christians in this day. Without the power of this erroneous mindset, it is even doubtful that some sections of the “church” could survive” – Cheryl McGrath.
Our Bodies: God’s Temple
In the Old Testament God used to live in temples built with human hands. During the dedication of the Tabernacle (Ex 4:34) and also of Solomon’s temple (2 Chr 5:11-14) God’s presence filled the building like a cloud and that was where He chose to dwell among His people. The building was not made for people; only the high priest could enter once per year to make sacrifices. The building was for God alone.
In the New Covenant God does not live in buildings anymore – He dwells in people: [1 Cor 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?].
Now we are His holy priests, given free access into the Holy of Holies: [1 Pet 2:5 Come as living stones, and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple, where you will serve as holy priests to offer spiritual and acceptable sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ] (GNB). The only reason we should have for wanting to meet in a physical building is to prevent the rain from falling on our heads or being scorched by the sun. The building only serves to accommodate the people. So to say that we are “going to church” or that “we attend church” is actually erroneous, since we ARE the church.
Getting together in buildings on Sundays has also had the regrettable effect of making people more “meeting focused” than “Christ focused”, to the extent that believers have nearly become incapable of functioning effectively outside their structured meetings on Sundays. We shouldn’t need a special sermon, “anointed” worship or anything of the sort to be intimate with our Father. He’s right there with us every step of the way, simply enjoying us because we are His own.
Are Sunday Morning Meetings Unbiblical?
The simple reason why Sunday meetings work so well for most, is because that’s when everyone’s free. If people for example had Mondays off, then church meetings would probably have been held on Mondays. No day is more special than another day (Gal 4:9-10).
As for the fact that Sunday morning meetings are labeled as unbiblical by some, that’s utter garbage. Everybody should have a place of fellowship to connect with the rest of the body (on whichever day of the week they want to); we weren’t meant to run this race on our own: [Heb 10:25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching].
We are all part of the same body and none of us are supposed to try and function in isolation. It’s a sad reality though that many parts of the body are being forced to connect with each other outside of the formal church setting, since the biggest part of the body is rampantly infected with the diseases of traditions, formalism, religion and rules.
When we found ourselves stuck in the same spiritual rut year after year, we should really be asking ourselves whether our church attendance is doing us any good. Perhaps we need to come out from the manipulative bondage that some church leaders impose on their people, and taste and see for ourselves that God is good.
Personal Testimony
I’ve come to experience that there is no difference between the way I feel when I’m at a “church” meeting or when I’m alone at home, or at work, or with friends or in the street, where I’m actually supposed to BE the church. Over the past 7 or 8 months, having not been formally involved with any “church”, it’s become natural to lay our hands on sick people at BBQ’s, to talk about the Kingdom with friends at restaurants or in the living room and to enjoy God’s residing presence with us every day.
We meet with some friends every 2nd Friday evening simply to chat, eat and fellowship. If we are led to talk about a certain subject, we do so. If someone feels they want to pray, they do it. When we sense the Spirit wanting to infuse the room with prophesy, words of knowledge, songs of worship or tongues, we let Him. And we let everybody contribute, not just one lonesome warrior who comes with his revelation of God every Sunday, requiring the rest to remain passive while the message is delivered. Yes there is a time to sit quietly and listen, but not the way it is done Sunday after Sunday, week after week.
There aren’t any people or movements that I know of who have managed to set into place a structure for this type of freedom. I would imagine it gets a bit tricky when you have lots of people. If anybody is part of something like this, I’d like to find out what you are doing, because I’m trusting God to show us how to plant a church this side, without it just being another institution. This I believe is the key to seeing the worldwide move of God manifest: The revelation of BEING the church – Christ in us, the hope of glory.
In Grace
Andre van der Merwe
