Real Church

In an article in Relevant Magazine this month, Rob Bell, the pastor of Mars Hill church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was being interviewed on his thoughts on the church and its role in society. One thing that he said in there that really stuck with me was, "We have these giant services with thousands of people, and I think that public gatherings beyond 10 or 20 people should be questioned." He was talking about what church really is, and was saying that the best example of real church he ever experienced happened in his living room with a relatively small group of people who were gathering around someone who was in trouble. There's a lot of truth to that, and it's refreshing to hear someone who is the leader of a megachurch say it.

In the past month, with everything that Eric and I have been through, we have seen that idea firsthand. We have always loved going to our church here in Bloomington, and while we've always been involved there, we've never really had a chance to experience the true love that is available to the members of the congregation (and beyond)....until now. While we absolutely love our Sunday morning services and classes, real church has happened to us on the phone, in hugs, in messages sent to us, or in time spent with us, not necessarily on Sunday morning in the sanctuary. We've been overwhelmed by the loving response of people around us -- not only from those who attend our church, but also our other Christian friends and family who know us. We hope that someday we'll be able to pour out this kind of comfort and love on someone else who is going through a rough time.

It seems like that's what Paul was talking about in 2 Corinthians 1 when he said, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God" (verses 3-4). We've received such an amazing amount of comfort from God through other people, that maybe someday we can take this tragedy that we've walked through and use it to encourage someone else. Based on our recent experiences, it seems pretty clear that that's one important responsibility of the Church as a body and one major way to live out "real church."