About the church....

Thoughts from a fictional book that I am reading....Facts being stranger than fiction? Closer to the truth....I think, at times. "The first order of a church.....to teach, have fellowship, break bread together, and pray. A church without walls. It isn't the building that matters or the programs or the numbers. It's not the music or the ritual. It is about relationship with Jesus Christ. Believers make up the temple. They are the church. Christ's resurrection power is revealed through our new lives. Sometimes focus changes when there is a 'building' project on. It becomes about bringing people in to bring money in. It becomes about 'events'. The building of a relationship with Christ is secondary or lost completely. It becomes about a head count...the take at any given service. The Lord destroyed the temple and we keep trying to rebuild it. Maybe it is easier to pour efforts into building a house for God rather than building a relationship with Him. One requires a few years of hard work, but the other asks for a lifetime of commitment. The problem is the building becomes the idol of worship. The programs are the sacred cows. Numbers are the means of evaluating success. Vanity is what it is all about. My church is bigger than your church. My pastor draws a bigger crowd. He is on TV and radio. Next thing you know he has a Bible with his name on it." Guess what I mean is that a church started by praying together. Now the church .....big or small.....does everything but....just my ramblings today. Church falters...when we fail to be the church...when we lose the focus....Jesus Christ!