Lately I have been challenging the the assumption was raised with that God created the church. Is God drawing people together to live the the way of Jesus? – yes. Was Christ’s statement to Peter about what we now commonly call “church” – I don’t think so.
I’m not even sure that it is even fair to put the word “church” in Christ’s mouth in the two places where Jesus is even said to have uttered the word “church”; a community-sure; a people-sure; a family-sure; a gathering yes, but not the word “church” (given our cultural usage). Church was never Christ’s message, and it is not the hope of the world. Churches are local communities that make visible the invisible. They practice and experiment their way to an ever more realized eschatology. They are embodied local Christ-communities; relationally joined, and bearing witness beyond themselves… disciples. They serve a social purpose, contributing to the shaping of Christ-ethos that is God’s Kin-dom come.
To serve the church is to serve an idol. “The Church” does even not exist. The kin-dom exists and churches exist but not “The Church.” All Christ-communities are occasional. The notion of “The Church” may in fact be among the great lies humans have bought.
Peace, dwight
