The Everydayness of Church

This idea came up in class the other day. It's one that I have thought about before and to this day do not have anywhere near all the answers, but the questions are important to ask.

The everydayness of church...what is it? Isn't church for Sunday, maybe Wednesday night for prayer meeting, and maybe, if you're a spiritual person, another night of the week for small group? Well, yes. I think church, in the sense of the gathering of believers in Jesus for worship, fellowship, edification, and encouragement, is for Sunday and Wednesday and one other night of the week. But it seems to me that according to the New Testament, especially the book of Acts, church in this sense (though, maybe with a slightly different purpose and organization) is an everyday event.

An alteration to what I have said so far that might be helpful to understand what I'm getting at is to change the term "church" to "assembly." This is an appropriate and accurate translation of the Greek word ekklesia, often translated as "church" in our English Bibles. When we think about the early church in Acts this is what they were and what they did: they were an assembly that assembled. They were an assembly of persons called out by the grace of God in Christ which assembled, not just once or twice a week, but everyday in homes for fellowship and edification.

Look at what Luke writes about the first believers in Jesus:

42And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43And awedcame upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Granted the time, geographical, and cultural differences between first century Israel and twenty-first century America, how many of us could say our church resembles this?

I am not advocating meeting together with your small group everyday at your local church. Rather, consider how and where you might gather in your community: in a home, in a school, at a park, or at a coffee shop. You might join together with one other individual or twenty, for ten minutes or an hour. The point is to build relationships and encourage one another.

Hebrews 3 comes to mind, which says:

12Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

Notice the author says, "exhort one another every day." Obviously, today we can do this without having to be face to face, but certainly that is not what the author intended when he wrote; he meant physically coming together. And why does he command the early church to do this? Because, as John Piper says, "the perseverance of the saints is a community project." Exhortation cuts against the lure and power of evil, unbelief, hardness of heart and the deceitfulness of sin. These are our enemies in the fight of faith, the fight to persevere. By God's grace we are and will be victorious, and daily exhortation is one means by which he has ordained this to happen.

We do not hold biblical values and priorities in our culture and society today. Me and my life is more important than you and your's, nevertheless those in your local church. Getting my things done for the day is more important than helping you get yours, nonetheless spending time and encouraging you in your walk with Christ. And, thus, these are big hurdles for us as American Christians to get over, in order that we might better adhere to the pattern and demands of the New Testament.

So, consider what the everydayness of church might look like for you. This does not mean having a Sunday worship service everyday of the week. Rather, it looks like the early church in Acts 2 and Hebrews 3, gathering day by day in homes and elsewhere for meals, for fellowship, for encouragement, and more. That is how and why the assembly is to assemble everyday.