Without thinking, many of us use the term church incorrectly. We refer to it as a place and not a people. The word church comes from the Greek word ekklesia, which means “to call out of.” According to Darrel W. Robinson, “The word ekklesia (church) refers to those who have been called out from sin to salvation, from death to life, from bondage to Satan to liberty in Christ” (15).On Sunday, I explained to our kids that the church is not a place where people gather one day a week, but is made up of believers who have committed to meet corporately for worship and who represent the Lord individually, throughout their community, during the week. Robinson asserts, “There are two perspectives of the church…First, it is the body of Christ gathered. Second, it is the body of Christ scattered”(21).
Many believers have a grasp on the first viewpoint. This corporate gathering takes place at a specific time for the purpose of worship, training and fellowship. The church scattered, however, is foreign to many. Robinson says, “What about Monday morning? Where is your church? Gathered in the building for worship and praise? No. Your church is scattered to the four winds. Everywhere one of your church members goes, there goes church” (22).
The book of Acts has a lot to say about who the church is and for what purpose it is established. What one finds when they read through the book is that although equipping and training is taking place on a corporate level, the outreach ministry of the church is being carried out by individuals in the community and beyond on a daily basis. Although outreach cannot take place without equipping and training, its result indicates the effectiveness of the corporate gathering. According to Robinson, "The church gathers for strengthening, scatters for service; it gathers for worship, scatters for witness; gathers in praise, scatters in power; gathers in fellowship, scatters in faith following the Lord. The church gathers to equip the saints, scatters to evangelize the sinner" (23).
In Acts 8, we are told, “A great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria…Those who had been scattered went about preaching the word” (v. 1, 4). Breaking up the corporate congregation did not bring to an end to the church, but gave it strength by spreading its influence. May our churches today gather to be rightly equipped to spread its influence to a world in need of Christ.
Robinson, Darrell W. Total Church Life: How to be a First Century Christian in 21st Century World. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers. 1997. 15-22.
