Communion always reminded Kari what church really was. The closeness, even intimacy, of communion reminded Kari that the fellowship in her church was more than a society, more than like-minded people gathering to affirm their values and commitments. When the music played quietly, and people started forming circles to pass the given body and poured-out blood of Jesus for each participant to imbibe, Kari always recalled that her church was the body of Christ. Her church was the bride of Christ, a gorgeous entity of which she was a part. Kari liked being a member of the body with Christ at the head. She needed only to do her humble part.
Definition
A church is indeed the body of Christ, more than a membership organization, more than a club, more than a society of like-minded individuals committing to a cause or set of beliefs. A church still has doctrine and beliefs to which members publicly commit. A church is still an organization with a legal form the state recognizes, similar to the corporate form that a charity or golf club adopts. A church still has finances, a budget, and in many cases a building and paid staff, like other organizations. A church also has a mission and may have bylaws and policies to guide its members and staff in carrying out its mission. Yet a church will always be something greater than those worldly particulars common to other organizations. A church will always be not of this world but of the realm beyond, an extension in this world of the body of Christ. Keep that divine perspective in mind in all you do in, around, and for your church, and you will have treated your church with the distinction its Lord deserves.
Body
That the church is the body of Christ means something. Christians would naturally say that it means everything that we could reunite and participate with God as the body of Christ. And indeed, the church as the body of Christ does mean everything in that awesome, otherworldly sense. Yet when thinking about how to understand, lead, serve, and otherwise participate in your church, the church as the body of Christ means several related things. First, it means that every participant in the church also participates with Christ. The proximity of its members to Christ, their intimacy with Christ, holds the church together. Members of the body do not qualify by their education or service, nor by their heritage. They qualify by rebirth in Christ, born of the Spirit, not of the flesh, and by the Spirit in the body of Christ. To be a member of a church is thus to live in Christ. We do not say the same thing about any other organization. In that sense, the church isn’t an organization but an organ or organism, the body of Christ. Pray that your church’s members would come together as Christ’s body.
Unity
Being a member of the body of Christ also means unity in that body. A body doesn’t function in opposition to itself. A body is an integrated organism, with all parts functioning interdependently, one part relying on the other parts, while other parts rely on the one part. All parts of a body must relate to one another in unity. Each part must honor the other parts. While some parts may be more visible and prominent than other parts, even the prominent parts depend on the low, humble, and less visible parts. No part can raise itself up against another part for long, without transgressing the body. All parts must serve one another because they are all parts of a body, each with their own role and function. Pray that your church would retain its unity in Christ.
Difference
Unity in the body of Christ thus does not mean sameness or even similarity. All members of a church are not the same. Membership in the body of Christ does not mean relinquishing differences in roles, functions, gifts, or talents. Not all must preach. Not all must administer. Not all must sing, and not all must teach or heal. Unity in the body of Christ instead means togetherness in different though interdependent roles, carried out with different gifts and talents. As the godhead expresses its perfect unity through the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons in one, so the body expresses its unity in Christ, many persons in one. Unity with difference means interdependence. The body of Christ depends on all its parts, not just one part. Pray that your church’s members respect and value their differences in interdependent roles as the body of Christ.
Head
While all parts of the body of Christ must respect other parts, all parts also fall under the body’s head, who is Christ. The unity of the body of Christ is unity under Christ the head of the church. A body organizes itself around its purpose, as the head determines. The body’s purpose is to support the rule and desires of the head. The body cannot do other than that which the head directs. The body does not have a mind of its own but instead follows the thoughts, purpose, intention, and desires of the head. And so, the church follows the thoughts, purpose, intention, and desires of Christ. The body discerns the will of Christ when the body commits itself to unity under the head. A body divided among its members cannot follow the head because the body has forsaken the head for the minds of its members. The church finding itself increasingly divided must come together not around one faction or another but under Christ the head. Pray that your church recognizes Christ as its head.
Ruler
Christ is not only the head of the church but the ruler of all heaven and earth. The church does not serve an earthly authority but instead the authority over all heaven and earth, who is Jesus Christ the Son. The devotion the church gives to its head Christ is not the recognition that someone gives to an earthly authority. The church instead recognizes Christ as the supreme authority, the creator of heaven and earth, whose will is for all creation and above all creation. All fall under the authority of Christ, whether they recognize his authority or not. As the body of Christ, the church recognizes Christ’s absolute authority as sovereign, unlimited, and unconstrained by any other authority. Christ rules with perfect beneficence, without compromise or accommodation to other authority. Pray that your church recognizes Christ’s authority as unchallenged and supreme.
Representation
As the body of Christ, the church represents Christ on earth, to share the account of God’s plan to redeem and restore the earth. God made humankind in his image. The Father sent his Son to give all who would believe in him eternal life in the presence of the Father and the Son. The Son is the fully human and fully divine incarnation of the Father. The body, the church, thus has Christ as the model for the divine character, to take on his likeness and character to do his will on earth. And his will is that the church make disciples of all nations in revelation of the Father’s plan to redeem the world through his Son, to reunite heaven and earth. The members of the body of Christ are God’s emissaries on earth, bearing the good news of the return of Christ and his good and eternal rule over the reunited heaven and earth. Pray that your church recognize its representative role on earth to herald the return of Christ for earth’s redemption.
Organization
Thus to the members of the church, the church is the body of Christ as his earthly representative to make disciples of all nations on earth, anticipating Christ’s return to reunite heaven and earth. Yet to the world, the church is an organization. The church has a membership, function, and structure in the world, whether or not the world recognizes any divine relationship in the church. Indeed, the world does not recognize the church’s divine role but does recognize the church as an organization. To function in the world, the church takes on the form of an organization in the world, even though the church is not of this world but instead of Christ. Church members and especially church leaders must keep in mind that when the church takes on the form of an organization in the world, the church does so to function in the world, not to become of the world, for as the body of Christ, the church is not of this world. Pray that your church retains its stance as not of this world, even as it functions as an organization within the world. Do not relinquish the divine character of your church as the body of Christ, even while helping your church function as an organization within the world.
Transcendent
As the body of Christ, the church transcends the world, meaning that the church is above and beyond the world in a greater realm or dimension. The church transcendent and universal, sometimes referred to as catholic meaning all-encompassing or pertaining to the whole, refers to the full body of all believers in Christ. When instead, we refer to the local church as a distinct body of local worshipers, we recognize the same qualities of transcendence in the local church, insofar as the local church is part of the universal, worldwide, all-encompassing church. The world, though, distinguishes a local church by its separate organization, whether as a state-authorized corporation or an unincorporated association of individuals. Help your church mark itself out as a functioning organization within the world, while retaining its transcendent character as the body of Christ and not of this world.
Agent
Although the church functions as an organization within the world, the relationship of the church as the body of Christ to the world is not one of accommodation. The church is instead an agent of transformation within the world. The church, though, is not a transformative agent in the manner that worldly organizations seek to improve the world. The church instead is an agent of transformation in the world through its witness to the saving grace of the Son Jesus Christ. Although the local church may take on the form of an organization in the world, the church functions within the world as a witness to the work and account of the Son, as the redeemer of the world. Pray that your church retains its character as a transformative agent in the world, even as it takes on the form of an organization in the world.
Reflection
Does your church function as the body of Christ? Can you distinguish your church from other non-church organizations, in your church’s divine character as the body of Christ? If so, what most distinguishes it? How might your church clarify, enhance, or accentuate that distinction, to better carry out its divine role on earth? Is your church unified under Christ, with Christ the head of the church? What are some examples of the unity of your church? Do the members of your church respect one another’s distinct roles and functions within the church? How are some of your member’s roles and functions distinct? Do the more prominent members of your church recognize, respect, and serve the less prominent members? Does your church recognize its aspect as one local part of the universal, worldwide church? How could your church better declare and confirm its aspect as part of the universal, worldwide church? Does your church function well in the world? Is your church too worldly, having lost its distinction as a divine rather than worldly organization?
Key Points
The church is not a mere organization but instead the body of Christ.
The members of the church are the body of Christ, living in Christ.
Church members have the unity of a body, as interdependent parts.
Church members differ only in role and function, not in disunity.
Church members unite under Christ as the head of the body.
Christ rules not only the church but all heaven and earth, as sovereign.
Church members, as God’s image, represent Christ on earth.
The local church functions as an organization in the world.
The universal, worldwide church of all believers is transcendent.
The church is God’s agent in the world making disciples of all nations.