The word "church" in our current day society is literally tied to a physical structure in which the persons who frequent the occupancy of that building on a regular basis are referred to as "church goers" or a "parishioners". "Churches" can represent any religious affiliation and spans all societies and belief structures. The word modern day word "church" is derived from and synonymous with words like "temple", "synagogue", "mosque", "cathedral", "chapel", "tabernacle", "pagoda", "joss house", "pantheon", "shrine", "minister", "monastery" "abbey", "friary", "convent" and many others, too many to mention.
When I was a child I learned the little rhyme, "Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the doors and see all the people." while folding my hands with fingers inward and then opening my hands to view fingers wiggling inside. It helped to solidify that the "church" was the building and the people were . . . well the parishioners. Later I learned words like "church laity", "laymen" and "lay-persons".
When I gave my life to Jesus and started learning about Him and His ways, I discovered that many of the things I had once learned as a child were still being taught to adults. The expressions were not just childish representations of a greater truth but had become the truth themselves. I discovered that I was then in opposition to the organized religious structure and organization we call "the church". I wondered how I could be so far apart in my understanding of what was suppose to be at the root of my life in Christ.
I soon discovered that the root of my life in Christ was not what we commonly refer to as "the church" but in a living person, the deity of God come in the flesh, the creator of me and all around me, Jesus Christ himself. I also discovered that the world would rather do things its own way than to give up it's tainted and misguided understandings of what "church" really is. I also discovered that Jesus was in opposition to the same "church" structure in his life as well, even from the beginning of the world, until now. So, I guess I wasn't too far off on my ponderings and feelings of despair when I announced to the people around me that I was not just a parishioner or layman in a religious structure called "the church". I had been taught for years how to think and now my mind was being renewed. No wonder! I was starting to see the truth of the matter and learning to think as Jesus thinks, to see as He sees and to hear as He hears.
In reading the New Testament, especially the letters to "the church" in the different cities that Paul and other Apostles visited, I discovered that the word "church" was used in a completely different way than today's definition. It was never even thought of to "go to church" for that word meaning never really existed among those that met together and were learning to love one another. They were the church!
If we look at the history of Christianity from the time of Christ until 300AD we see a unique unstructured but very efficient view of believers who loved the Lord and loved to serve one another because the Lord was everything to them and their lives reflected that disposition. Then from 300AD until the late 1500's we see a different structure emerge and it takes the form of inflexible religious and ritualistic servitude to the structure.
After such time until now we see a new form of servitude to the structure and those that empower it. It is as though the reformation of the first religious structure was reinvented to be more palatable to the masses. It underwent a remodeling but never lost its rigid dogmatic demands for adherence to the structure. It was just easier to do what was required because it fit better with the new age of social justice.
All through history we see that there was a faction of those who opposed the structure and were cast into fire, torn in half, cut into pieces and hung from crosses for their opposition to the "church". Such are those who have been written about and continue to exist among the structured environment. (Read Foxes, "Book of Martyrs")
I have an opinion about the church and what is. I believe that the church is, in its purest form, the culmination of individuals who have laid down their lives for Christ Jesus and one another and wish for nothing less than the true expression of His life through them and those who join them in what we call "The Bride of Christ". It is a marriage of souls, bound together in love for our Lord.
Today, I live in and with the church and have found new definition to the word "church". The church is my life because God is in it and lives through it. I have found that without the church I am left to the wanderings of a lost man who is seeking a home and never really finds anything to take its place. I have found that the church is the "pillar and ground of the truth', the foundation upon which my life is built in Christ. Being baptized into Christ is being baptized into the church. They are not two separate things. 
With all its trials and misunderstandings, the church continues to grow into the perfect bride of Christ spoken of in the scriptures. Why? Because the church is a living, breathing and functioning body, made up of disciples who exhort one another daily and grows up in love. She sees the Lord as her head and does not deny Him access into the very deepest regions of its life. She cannot live separate from him nor does she want to.
So, I leave you with the question, "Are you satisfied with where you are"? That means, simply, are you seeing the church for who she is and living the life of excellence inside of her or are you still playing the finger wiggling game?
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