I think we started messing up when we began assigning postal addresses to churches, because that is when church became a place rather than a people. Church became somewhere we went rather than who we are.

Some would argue that the New Testament identifies churches by location. The books of the Bible written by Paul were addressed specific locations, but he addresses them to the CHURCH that is IN Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, etc. In the New Testament the church was understood to be a geographical collection of PEOPLE, not a place. Somewhere in the past, however, we assigned an address to the church and it became a destination where people gathered rather than the gathered people themselves.

The first century concept of membership is radically different that our contemporary understanding of membership. Today, a member is someone who holds a vested interest in an organization, and as such is entitled to specific privileges and rights by virtue of that vested interest. The New Testament concept of membership is that of an integral part of a larger whole, a part responsible to the whole to carry out some function that serves the whole. In the New Testament mindset of church, a believer was considered a member of the body, a “body part” in today’s understanding.

My hand is responsible to do things for my feet that they cannot do for themselves. My feet cannot put on socks alone, but they need the hand to accomplish that task. Likewise, the hands cannot by themselves go to the drawer to retrieve a pair of socks, they need the feet to walk them over there. They BOTH need the eyes to help them see how to get there and to pick out the right pair of socks. Membership in the New Testament mindset always denotes function, responsibility, and partnership.

So then, the church is not a building, property, or address; but PEOPLE who, at least for a short time every week, gather at a specific location. The PEOPLE, not the PLACE, are the church.

So let me ask you three questions:

1. Do you belong to a local body of believers, a church?

2. Are you taking responsibility to function WITH the group, to serve each other and the community?

3. If the answer to either is no, what are you waiting for?

Your church is not where you go on Sunday morning. YOU are the church. You are the church at that address on Sunday morning, and YOU are the church while at your job, shopping, the kids’ ballgame, or even on vacation. You are the church. You are a hand, an eye, a foot, a brain, a heart of some spiritually organic collection of redeemed people known as a church. Forget the selfish, egocentric mindset of membership that expects to be served, but rather embrace the Biblical model of membership and become a functioning body part. You will be surprised how fulfilling your created purpose will add meaning and joy to life.