Just over a week ago, tbV and i spent five days on two houseboats with about 20 incredible people, mostly younger than me. Here are some of the guys:

hb

We lived together, we ate together, we read the bible and sang some worship songs together, we confessed some struggles and some sin and prayed for each other, we sat in silence for three hours and were just still and knew that He was God, we laughed together, we swam and pokered and joked and crazied together. We had one on one conversations and were challenged about money and life purpose and decision-making and following Jesus in all aspects of our life.

In short, we churched. We were church. God’s people doing God’s stuff together in love. And yet, if we came home on Saturday and then didn’t ‘go to church’ that Sunday, i know a lot of people who would be concerned because ‘we didn’t go to church’.

i personally think God would have been okay with it, though, as He certainly seemed to be smiling down on us churching for the rest of the week.

Church is important. It is crucial. But it may be a little bit bigger than your definition of it. Certainly if it is the identity contained in the images of ‘bride of Christ’ and ‘body of Christ’. Then maybe it’s that bit more important as being something we are as opposed to something we attend.

May you church well this week.

[To read the poem ‘To Church’ that i wrote on houseboats this week, click here]

[For a post looking at the first martyr Stephen as an example of being church, click here]