What is the Church?

interesting discussion on Dr. M going up on the tagboard.. speak your mind, but please just make sure its in line with the discussion at hand.. thank you.. I was reading an article on The Ooze today about Detoxing From Church.. go ahead and click the link to the article for a good read about what a Christian should be and how Church should be run.. but here's a quote i take from the article on what the Church is.. read it.. its age-old, but we need to be utterly reminded of it.. "What is the Church? It is a community of people who are each following Christ into his divine life and love here on earth. They are learning how to become by grace what Christ is by nature - the full and complete emptying of self in order to participate fully in God's kingdom so as to be a redemptive force that recreates all aspects of life and creation (Philippians 2:5-16; Colossians 1:19; Romans 8:19-21). The Church is a group of Christ-followers who are sent as Jesus was sent (John 20:21). In this way, the Church is the continuation of Christ's incarnation on earth. These and other biblical aspects of the Church run counter to cultural Christianity and its addictive prepackaged consumerist version of the church. Being the Church is about who I am and who I am becoming as I follow Christ individually and in a community. Being the Church is becoming like Christ so together, I and other Christ-followers may continue his incarnation on and to the world. A primary difference between being churched and being the Church is how I approach the community. Being churched assumes the organizational church is designed from the perspective that I am a consumer of religious goods and service. Therefore, I am expected to participate in the church's programs chiefly to receive and consume. It's the organization's responsibility to program, coordinate and provide what I need for my spiritual satisfaction. But being the Church requires me to take full responsibility to follow Christ and Christ alone into his life. I can't say this enough: We are to become by grace what Jesus is by nature. And he did not have an organization mediating his life and faith. He had a relationship with the Father by walking in the Spirit, expressed through a life of spiritual disciplines. Then he invites us to learn from him how to develop the same kind of intimate relationship with the Father in the same way (Matthew 11:27-30). The Christian community is then made up of Christ-followers who encourage, challenge, pray, minister, learn, honor, love and spur each other on. But it is not the community's nor the community leaders' responsibility to program or lead others into divine life. Only Christ can do that. So while my needs remain the same, I must look not to an organization, but to Christ alone to lead me into his divine life and love. I still need to worship, but I am to worship first as an individual follower of Christ daily. I am a priest, offering all of my life back to God in constant prayer, joy and thankfulness (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Then from the overflow of my personal worship, I join in corporate worship with others who also worship God on a daily basis. I still need to fellowship, but now I must actually alter my schedule and hang out with people in real ways - over meals, over coffee, at my home or theirs. This also means that there isn't a program or an event to generate fellowship. I have to initiate. I have to be prepared to discuss life and faith in real ways that encourage and build each other up. I have to be prepared to be used by Christ to pray, listen, minister, laugh, cry, confront, encourage, etc., all on the leading of the Spirit and not at the cue of a leader or scheduled time in a service. I still need discipleship and growth, but now I must walk with Christ, by grace in the Spirit through a life of spiritual discipline. I must follow Christ into a curriculum of spiritual disciplines that transforms my inner world into Christ's inner life. As such, I must study the Bible. I must pray. I must meditate. I must take my own personal retreats. I must read. I must educate myself. I must become theologically astute and spiritually vibrant. I must discover God's will for my life and not some canned version from a pastor who talks at me for 45 minutes each week. I must put the same or more energy and time into my personal faith than I do into my occupation, education, and entertainment. I still need to serve, but now I must look for the opportunities in my life. I can't enjoy the safety of a program with other Christians. I must view my entire life as service to the people I live with and live around. I must discover the poor and marginalized in my life and be Christ to them. I can't just give money to the organization to do it for me. I still need to engage in mission, but now I must actually BE a witness of Christ's eternal divine life to the people I live with, work with, play with and shop with. I must actually be a living, albeit flawed, example of divine life on earth. I must be able to say, "When you see me, you see the Father." Then I must view my family, my neighborhood, my job, and my entire life as my mission field. Not in the imperialistic way the church has done evangelism and missions, but in the winsome, educated and Spirit-led way that drew thousands to Jesus when he walked this earth. I still need to raise my children in life and faith, but now I carry the lion's share of the responsibility. As their parent, my faith and life form their faith and life. I must learn to dialogue at their level. I must lead them in prayer, in worship, in fellowship, in spiritual disciplines, in service, in mission, in play. I still need purpose for my life, but now I learn from Christ how to be like him so I can live like him - completely toward God for the sake of the world." are we Christians who are as far-reaching to the community together as a Church of God?