Which day of the week is Church?

I am going to think out loud. 

I have been thinking so much about the Church lately, and where we are in 2014 and what God is going to do among us all.

As I think about the Church, the buzz words come to my mind; small groups, community groups, life groups, gospel communities, missional communities..and the list goes on.

I am not saying anything bad about these terms, but as a Church, collectively, we don't know what they mean or which one we want to use. 

Well..I'm not going to solve that problem, in fact what I say might make the problem worse (before it gets better however). 

We, the Church, are doing an okay job at the weekly meetings. We have learned and are convicted that meeting once a week to study the Bible is either what we are supposed to do or it's a pretty good thing. 

Either way...we are doing it. 

We may even meet again in a different group of people, maybe its all women or maybe you help with the youth. 

But, two times a week is what Christians would called "involved" in your local church. 

Again, these are all wonderful things. This blog isn't about those weekly times together (that's a future blog).

 This is about inconsistency...a hole in our understanding of what is means to be the Church. 

We get together throughout the week; laugh, share stories, pray, cry, play with one anthers children, drink coffee, make meals, watch football, speak Gods word to one another, and fellowship. 

Those are small groups, life groups, gospel communities, or missional communities. That's life. 

But, we aren't quite sure what to do with Sunday morning...

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Ive asked myself this question recently; Why does Sunday morning look so different from the rest of our week.

Unless you're from outside America or your church is at grassroots stage, this applies to you. 

Why does Sunday morning feel scheduled, stiff, or programmed?? 

This isn't meant to harp on any local body, because I know there are congregations filled with the life-giving Holy Spirit.

But why does Sunday morning have to look any different from the rest of our weeks?

What happens when a small/life/missional/gospel community gets bigger and starts to outgrow the house it meets in?

------we raise up leaders to start a new group at someone else's house, in someone else's neighborhood, where there are new people, new surroundings, and a new opportunity to worship in new community. 

But, what happens when a Sunday morning gathering gets too big? Outgrows its walls?

------we move buildings? we build new ones? 

This is all I have ever known, and honestly this is all any of us have ever known, because this is what the American church has been doing for most its life. 

I have heard the reasons and have spoken the excuses myself. "If we want more people to come to hear and learn about Jesus than we have to make room for them. The more room the more converts to Jesus." its as simple as that.

I'm a product of this, so don't get my wrong..I'm really trying not to be harsh.

Well what do we do in theses situations? Like any good Christian we go to the early Church in Acts and we see what God was doing among them... 

The first verse we usually point to is Acts 2:41,

So those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about 3,000 souls.

See, there is nothing wrong with having a large church or a bigger building, we can't possibly live in a close community with 3,000 people on a Sunday morning. That's impossible... 

It is impossible. 

But God revealed something to me in his word that spoke to me concerning this disconnect between our missional lives and our attractional Sundays. 

The ONLY reason there were 3,000 believers that day is because it was PENTECOST.

It wasn't normal. It wasn't typical. It wasn't ideal.

Acts 2:1,5,9-11;

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men form every nation under heaven. Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors form Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians- we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty words of God.

God did something amazing that day, he drew in 3,000 believers because it was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, God himself. 
This is an atypical situation... 
They were drawn the temple area because of the Jewish celebration called the Feast of Weeks, and hearing the rushing wind and the tongues of the nations and seeing the tongues of fire caused the men to turn their attention to the apostles and ultimately to the mighty work of the Holy Spirit. 
This was significant.

But that's not the point of this blog. 
The point was at the end of that gathering, after 3,000 believers were baptized in Jesus Christ and all was said and done, they went home.
Of course they would gather. They were used to gathering. 
But they went home. They met at home. 
They didn't build a mega-synagogue to meet in. 
The people of God lived their Sunday mornings, daily.

Here are a few examples of the early Church doing "Sunday"
“When they [Paul and Silas] had come out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house where they saw and encouraged the brothers, and then they left” (Acts 16:40).
“Greet Prisca and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus...greet also the church at their house” (Romans 16:3,5).
“Give greetings to the brothers in Laodicea and to Nympha and to the church in her house” (Colossians 4:15).
“Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved and our co-worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church at your house” (Philemon verses 1-2).



When we outgrow our building, lets meet at someone else's building too. 
The early Church was the spread out, sent out people of God.


Then in Acts 2:42,45-47

They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the prayers. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. 

Church, lets go home. 

I hope that the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us and unifies us together can speak to this hole missing in the Church.
May the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit convict our hearts, in the way we teach, worship, break bread, spend our money, and take care of one another. 

John 20:21

Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.

-Jesus