The Centrality of the Church
in the Christian Life

Recently, I was reading a book and came across this provocative question: “What exactly are you doing when you go to church on Sundays?” I appreciate this question because for most of my Christian life, I had the wrong answer. In fact, I would venture to say that a large percentage of professing Christians would struggle to answer this question and very few would get it right.

In his book, “Living in God’s Two Kingdoms: A Biblical Vision for Christianity and Culture,” David VanDrunen dismantles two common analogies used to explain what happens when we go to church. Maybe you’ve heard these before and maybe, like me, you’ve actually used them! He says that, “one popular analogy is that going to church is like stopping at a gas station. Church is a place where we stop to fill up our tanks after a tiring and stressful week and thus get recharged for the week ahead.” He then tackles another popular picture stating, “Another analogy compares going to church to a huddle in a football game. Church is a gathering of all the team’s players so that they can regroup, encourage each other, and prepare for separating again and facing the opponent through the coming week.”

Here’s why VanDrunen says these analogies are insufficient and misleading:

First, they portray going to church, “as a human-centered event. Going to church is not primarily about me or even about us, but about God.” Church is primarily about worshipping God. There are certainly secondary benefits in that we get something out of it, but we must never make those the primary purpose of our gatherings.

Second, “they place the real action of the Christian life somewhere other than in the gathering of God’s people for worship.” In other words, athletes don’t play football in order to have a huddle or locker room pep talk – they huddle to prepare for the play. People don’t go on road trips for the purpose of filling up the tank at the nearest gas station – they stop at gas stations to get them where they set out to go! Huddles and gas stations are means to an end. Sunday morning is not a means to an end; our worship and fellowship are ends in themselves.

So often, we view Sunday morning as the means that will get us through the week. The church does not exist to recharge our batteries. The church is not some holy huddle that gives you a strategy for facing the week. VanDrunen adds these pointed words to drive the nail deep into the wood, “Nothing that we do in this world is more important than participating in the life of the church. Participation in the life of the church, not participation in the cultural activities of the broader world, is central for the Christian life.

Why is this so important to grasp? Because how you view the local church will drastically impact the quality of your Christian life. If you have a low view of the church, you will make other pursuits a higher priority. You will be there for what you can get out of it not for what you can give to God. You will use the church as long as it suits you then discard it when it no longer meets your needs.

Get it right and you will grow in your affection for Christ. Have a high view of the local church and you will serve the body with joy and love. Understand the centrality of the church for the Christian life and you will experience the Christian life the way God intended.  The church is a foretaste of heaven! Yes, we are there to be equipped, edified and encouraged. We are prepared within the local church to do the work of the ministry. But, we must never forget that we are there first and foremost to worship.

If you find Christianity and culture to be a fascinating topic, I’d encourage you to grab a copy of this book and give it a read!

 

If you want to read this book for yourself you can find it here: Amazon.ca