Where In The World Is The Church?

If you were to ask most any person on the street, "Where is the Church?" the answer would probably be, "It is two blocks ahead, on the left", or some such reply. Yes, the Church does exist in church buildings. We might call a Sunday morning worship session, "The gathered Church".

But if that is where the Church is on Sunday mornings, then where does it go during the rest of the week? On Monday, where is the Church? How about on Thursday?

And of course, we begin to realize that the real Church is people. The Church is in the Shopping Center. It is at School, it is in the Board room, in the offices of government. Wherever Christians are being faithful to their Lord, they are the "Dispersed Church"...the Church in the world.

And since Christ is the head of the Church, then Christ must be felt in the Schools, in the Board rooms, in the offices of government, in the controversies of home and nation, if the Church is to be truly in the world.

St. Paul, in his letter to the church at Ephesus, expresses great amazement at how God has made the Church, and for what purpose as he says: "grace was given,...to give the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known." (Eph. 3:8‑10)

And then he goes on to pray: "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend...and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge." (Eph. 3:17‑19)

This love Paul talks about is appealing, but as one person has said, "it's practice is appalling." And yet, this is exactly where the Church exists...wherever Christian people are appealingly trying to put that kind of love to the test.