Church of Christ

I know this sounds cliche, but tonight I am once again contemplating on what the "Church of Christ" really looks like. We throw in the word "church" to be a Sunday event or a tradition or community that is polished and refined by Christians...but church has nothing to do with a certain day of the week nor does it have anything to do with space or style. Yes, we all know that church is not a building but a body of believers...but if we have no idea what the body of believers are supposed to look like, how are we supposed to understand the church?

More and more, I realize we need less good Christians "in the church." We need to have good Christians "outside the church." There is a need to take the church outside of our traditions, outside of our comfortable communities, and into the world. We, as the church, need to GO OUT and make disciples of ALL NATIONS. We need to be where Christ would be if He were to walk on the earth today. I know He wouldn't be sitting in the pews clapping along in our worship and preachers teaching us how to be better Christ followers. He would be outside actually SHOWING us how it's done. I know Jesus would be out with the sick...healing them; He would be out with the hungry...feeding them; He would be out with the broken...restoring them; He would be out with the sinners...redeeming them. I know this because Christ had...and He still does heal , feed, restore and redeem me everyday. If we cannot bring those who really need Christ into our church, then shouldn't we go out and bring the church to those who need Christ?

I've been here a little over six weeks now. And honestly felt a bit anxious to settling down in a nice church, finding a nice community, so that I would have nice friends, worshiping a nice God, and trying to be a nice Christian. I'm not saying that this is wrong, but I know that there is more...because Jesus went out for more. He wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty, become poor and tired, He wasn't afraid to suffer, and He wasn't ashamed to cry out to God asking for more strength...Jesus was not afraid of challenges and He wasn't afraid to love people until it hurt. I believe the church needs to be a place where we see suffering and discomfort. A place where we see people who are hurt, receiving healing. It needs to be a place where we step down from our "heaven throne which we think we already sit on," and  a place of service and humility.

I have yet to find this kind of church. And perhaps this is arrogant and naive of me to speak...as I know and have experience so little. Yet, regardless of what this church looks like, where I have to go to find it, I pray that I can find and experience the Church of Christ.