Paradigm Shift: The Church (Part 1)

[David Wong]

The Oxford Dictionary’s definition of the Church : “Building For Christian Public Worship”.
The majority of Christians have accepted this definition. Church is the place where Christian go for service, worship and ministry. Many have accepted the ‘Church’ to be a ‘Building’, a ‘Place’ where Christian go for their religious activities. This definition is not Biblical ! For Transformation Of The Marketplace to take place we need to have a Paradigm Shift concerning the ‘Church’.

‘Church’ Is Not A ‘Building’ But ‘People’
We don’t ‘Go’ to Church … ‘We Are’ the Church! The Church is not a ‘Building’; the ‘Church’ is a ‘People’. Just as Israel is the People of God in the Old Testament; the Church is the New Covenant People of God. We are People of the Kingdom. In this community of God’s People there is No Denomination, there is No Division. We are One! ‘One People’ under Christ. We are united ‘As One’ under the Banner of Christ.

The Church is not a Place or a Building where people are gathered together involving in Religious Activities … but the Church is ‘People’ in the Marketplace involving in their various Vocations. The ‘Church’ was birthed in the Marketplace and not in a Religious Place. The 12 disciples of Jesus were from the Marketplace, they were not from the religious establishment.

The word ‘Church’ is a translation of the Greek word ‘Ekklesia’ which means ‘A Called-Out People’. Whenever the word ‘Church’ is mentioned in the Bible, it does not refer to a Building but to a People. In the early church, there were no Church Buildings. We need to get back to the original perspective of ‘Church’.

Church is not a Static Building but a Powerful Movement of God’s People
 The ‘Church’ is 24/7 and not on Sunday Services. Matt 16:18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it”. The name Peter is a small ‘stone’ or ‘pebble’ but Jesus is the ‘Rock’. Jesus is building His Church on the ‘Rock’. The interesting point is that the ‘gates of Hades’ shall not prevail against it. Here we see a picture of the Church as a moving army attacking the gates of Hell. The ‘Church’ is Mobile where as ‘Hell’ is Static. Christian have got it all wrong! Often we see the ‘Church’ as a Static Building on a defensive mode, fearing the attacks of Satan. But the Bible depicts the ‘Church’ as the victorious army storming and plundering the gates of Hell.

To see Transformation In The Marketplace, we need to have Major Paradigm Shifts in our Beliefs …. to be continued

[Zaccheus L. Moss]

Seems we treat church as a social club that weove to, within but not without or outside the walls of the building.