Week 4 | Dan

"Why Church" - McLaren

There's an overlap between the contemplative and communal way. We can and should do things communally that we do privately. That's how these practices become refined and get passed on. It's like team practice for a basketball team. We go to church to "work out," fine-tuning our team culture and improving on our spiritual health.

Service is to be thoughtfully designed and modified over time according to where we want to go as a church. Every detail shapes the culture, practices, beliefs, and direction of Ekko. No part of service is to be taken lightly. We must fully participate and contribute to the growth of our church.

A few questions that came to mind while I was reading: Why do we do what we do (the way we structure our services)? And how do I need to change the way I conduct myself at church? I've been taking church services for granted. It's time to actually participate in the team workout.

"Keys of the Kingdom" - Leeman

"And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church…" Jesus will build his church not on people, not on words/confessions, but on confessors. This means that the person and the confession cannot be separated. Peter confessed that Jesus was "the Christ, the Son of the living God."

I've never quite fully understood the meaning of the passage about "whatever you bound on Earth will be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in heaven…" I knew it had something to do with Jesus giving us his authority over everything in this world. I never thought of it the way Leeman related it to church membership and church discipline. But his interpretation is definitely in line with what we've been learning about spiritual authority. Again, all authority first came from Jesus. And we were meant to submit to Jesus's delegated authority in our local churches. 

Doctrine - Driscoll (Ch.10 - "Church: God Sends")

Regarding any issues or problems of the church, Driscoll offers this solution - "a simple, humble, and continual return to Scripture." What the church is can be found in Scripture, so we should look there (Acts 2:42-27). A part of Ekko's name was mentioned in the opening paragraph. Ekklesia means "gathering", "meeting", or "assembly." The church is characterized by its likeness to Christ and made up of "regenerated" believers who were given a new heart by the Holy Spirit.

Hearing God's Word as a community is important in going beyond just simple living. However, we must hear God's Word not just for information, but for transformation. When we come together to study God's Word, there is power to change our hearts and our lives. As we hear God's Word, our natural stance should be to respond in worship to the revelation of who He is to us.

Church is designed for holiness, to become a people who grow in Christlikeness everyday. The church is called to love God and each other and to make disciples of all nations.

I think it's important to note that the way we apply these fundamental principles is constantly changing and different for every church depending on the culture of that church and the vision of the leadership. I think it's great that every church has a different color, but God loves our worship all the same.

As Jesus came into this sinful world, we as a church are called to live in the world. As the Holy Spirit was on Jesus, the Holy Spirit also empowers the church to continue Jesus's work in our time.

Finally, there is no church without Jesus. He is the vine, and we are the branches. He is the one who planted and built our church. He is the head senior pastor of every church.

In the Gospel that our church preaches, let's not be like those who forget about the new life of the Spirit which accompanies our salvation. We were given new hearts and regenerated, not just saved from going to hell. We should be living with joy and seeking righteousness, not merely settling for being sinners saved by grace. That wasn't supposed to be the end of the story of the Gospel.

I thought it was significant that the the author first used words like "submitted" and "humble" when describing the desired qualities in a leader. That's the kind of leader we can submit under. I also didn't know that church membership was a Biblical office, along with pastor/elder and deacon. I'm glad Ekko takes membership seriously. At the same time, I like the idea of allowing nonmembers and even nonbelievers serve as a way of inviting them into the life of the church.

I loved the section on why Christians should join a church. God saved us so that we could live a new life, and the church's mission is an integral part of that new life. We're one body, a flock of sheep. We need each other.

Covenant Relationship - Ch.15

Through discipleship training, I'm learning that there really is such a thing as formal church membership. It does sound very business-like and legalistic, but the comparison with cohabitation verses marriage really does make sense. This author reinforces this recurring theme that Jesus meant for us to be covenant-led, vital pieces of the life of the church, not mere spectators.

Attendance is both edifying to yourself and encouraging to the other members. It also shows how you schedule your time around what you really value. Real spiritual growth occurs as you commit and learn the meaning of covenant.

I could tell just a few months after attending Ekko that our church values service. It only makes sense that members of the body should take care of the body, and that each member will have a specialized area that he/she excels in. The church that has every member contributing and doing their part is healthier and happier than a church that's a one-man team. Jesus himself was an example of serving others.

Tithing is something I was not very good at before. Now, I understand that it's an act of covenant with the church, as well as an act of giving worship and trust to God. I realize that finances is a key area in your spiritual journey, one with serious implications, both positive and negative. Through Biblical examples and the stories of those around me, I've learned this spiritual principle that when you surrender to God, He gives you back so much more.

Vision is an aspect that I love because I'm the type of person that lives in the future. What is Ekko's vision? What are Ekko's values? I want to be a member who moves my congregation forward to turn its vision into reality. This also means that we as a church must know how to listen to and recognize God's voice and obey without compromise.

Receptivity to elders means I put my trust in the people that God has placed in positions of leadership, and that I allow them to have influence over my life because we are all submitted to God's authority. I'm the one that signed up to be trained for ministry, so it doesn't make sense for me to reject the leaders who are there to train me under God's guidance.

"A commitment to membership is a commitment to be joined." Being a member means being you were meant to be and carrying out your intended function to the benefit and growth of the body. Eph 4:16 - The body is "for the edifying of itself in love."

Membership in a local church is a calling. It's not like choosing which restaurant to eat at. Seek God and His will.

Devotional: Acts 4:1-17

Peter and John are seized by the Sadducees and temple guards and thrown into jail for preaching the resurrection of the dead. Even then, the number of believers grew to 5,000 that day. Peter and John are brought before the high priest the next day and questioned about "by what power or by what name did you do this?"

Verse 8 says Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, began addressing the rulers and elders who were there. He proclaims that the lame man was healed by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. "There is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved."

The rulers saw the courage of Peter and John, knowing that they were unschooled, ordinary men.

"They took note that these men had been with Jesus," and there was nothing they could say because the man who was healed was standing right there next to them. They "could not deny it."

This is the kind of power and authority that I want to see displayed in my life. I don't have to be primarily concerned about my degrees, experience, or accomplishments. Then I'd just be trying to make things happen with my own strength or will. If someone wrote a story about me, I want them to be able to say that I did what I did because I was filled with the Holy Spirit. I want to go to unfamiliar territories and come back with stories about how God showed up because I obeyed. That kind of thing should be the norm in a Christian person's life. God should get all the credit, not me.