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What is Church Life?

By Dudley Hall

Part 2

The Call of God

Another of the misconceptions that has thwarted "Church Life" in the past has been the misunderstanding of the call of God. God's call to men is a call to believe - not just in a new set of facts, but in a Person. For too long we have defined evangelism in terms of believing some truths. We have considered a person converted when they quit believing some bad truths and started believing some new truths. The fact is, these truths are presented only to get the person to believe in Jesus Christ. If there is no personal relationship with Jesus Christ, then there is no redemption or conversion.

Too many people have been "saved" by making a decision to believe three or four truths that were presented to them, and yet they never made the next step of faith to relate to the individual, Jesus Christ. The church field is scattered with doubting, fearful people who are not really sure they would go to heaven if they died. They are not sure that they were sincere enough when they made their decision. They feel guilty and condemned because they have sinned since their decision and have basically been taught that saved people don't commit gross sins. This confusion could be cleared up if they could understand that salvation is a call to relate to God through Jesus Christ.

The Body of Christ

However, the call of God goes even something beyond that. It is a call to belong to His body. It becomes complicated if we declare that people can be saved and healthy in isolation and alienation from the body of Christ. This is simply not true. The call of God is for us to belong to His body--to be an integral part of the church, if you will. A person is never going to experience the actual expressed life of Christ until he is an interdependent, interrelating member of the body. The truth is, we all have a natural inclination to want to belong to something.

We saw it in our youth when the boys developed their little clubs and had to have a password to get in; when the girls all got together and had their little secret cliques. It doesn't diminish as we get older. When we go to college we divide up into our sororities and fraternities. Then we pick our church denominations and our country clubs, etc. It is amazing what people will go through just to be a part of something.

I distinctly remember when I was a freshman in college and had the opportunity to be initiated into the athletic club in our school. I "lettered" my freshman year in football and then came the big day to be received into the athlete's club. On that great day the upper classmen made me chew dog biscuits during the day. They would offer, for the quenching of my thirst, a concoction they had made from combining their tobacco juice with alum water. You say, "Oh, how gross!" Exactly! Yet I was willing to endure that to be a part of the group. But it doesn't end there. Later that day they took all of us who were being initiated fifteen miles from town, stripped us of our clothes, poured syrup over our body and covered us with corn flakes. They sprayed paint on our heads and told us that if we could get back to town we would be received into the club. I thought this was wonderful and gladly did what was necessary to be a part.

The fact is that everybody wants to be received and accepted. Too much of the time we have used church membership to let people have a shallow sense of belonging. The call of God is to really belong, to be a part of--to be a giving, receiving, integral part of His body.

Measuring Truth

If we ask direct, specific questions about three areas of measurable growth, we can get an idea about the health of our "Church Life." These areas are: growth of mutual ministry, quantity and maturity. First, let's look at the eternal growth of mutual ministry.

Mutual Ministry

God has given gifts to everyone in the Body of Christ. To the degree that we recognize our gifts and release them in supporting and enabling the organism to grow, we ourselves are growing in this area. The question we could ask an individual believer is "Do you know what your spiritual gift or gifts are and are you in the process of learning how to use them?"

The church that has been convinced that there are no spiritual gifts or that they are not very important would lack a great deal of the very life of Christ. No wonder the enemy has spent so much time convincing us that gifts have been abused and therefore they must be rejected. That is simply not the case. The church who refuses to receive the gifts of God and to use them in a healthy, wholesome way will be a church that does not experience the true life of God. If you do not know your spiritual gift, make it a goal in your life to know what your spiritual gifts are by this time next year and to be a part of some group of Christians who are learning to use the gifts properly.

The Quantity of Growth

The second area is the area of quantity in redeeming the world around you. The question could be asked, "Do you relate to anyone who has the need to be redeemed by Jesus Christ and to belong to His body?" We are not pushing the old mentality of feeling guilty because there are lost people in the world. Instead, we need the perspective that because our life is worth enjoying and experiencing we can share it with others. I encourage you to get rid of the mentality of "I'm going to win my community" and adopt the mentality of "I'm going to love my community." As you relate to others they will see the life of God in you. If they see the life of God, you will not have to "win" them to a theological or intellectual argument--they will ask you about the hope that lies within you. In that relationship you can share Jesus with many.

We have given most of the credit for those who have been converted to the few who have the gift of evangelism. We watch someone stand on a stage, give an altar call and have thousands respond--and we say "that person won them all to Jesus." The real truth is that there were years of influence through individuals who will not be recognized until we get to heaven: the mother who prayed, the friends who shared, the strangers who gave encouraging words, the printed piece that happened to be lying on the desk. So many of these influences led to the ultimate conversion. The evangelist was simply the one who drew in the net.

Growth in Maturity

The next area of growth is in the area of maturity. Every organism that is healthy grows in the inter-relationships between its own parts, grows physically, and grows in maturity. With maturity it learns to relate to the world in which it lives. Maturity could be measured spiritually in terms of one word: stewardship. To what degree have you become a steward, rather than an owner, over everything that God has entrusted to you? The person who has not had his money, his time, his priorities, and his talents under the proper stewardship is one who is not growing in maturity. Jesus has said if you are not trustworthy with little, you will not be given much. In that context He was speaking of money or possessions. These questions could help you in evaluating your growth and maturity:
  1. Are you the steward or the owner of your money?
  2. Are you honest about your weaknesses?
  3. Do you voluntarily submit to someone for accountability?
What a privilege it is to live in this world and have divine life in our bosoms. What a privilege it is to have been given the resurrected life of Jesus expressed in this world. What a shame it is that we have reduced that life to some kind of form or ritual. What a shame that when the world thinks about "Church Life" they think about steeples, stained glass, programs and boredom. We can be part of a generation that changes that. We can be willing to be the body of Christ that expresses the life of God to the world. This life, breathed into the Church though the Holy Spirit, is the essence of Christ.

Copyright: 1991 by Morningstar Publications and Ministries. All rights reserved.

This article is published courtesy of "The Morningstar Publications and Ministries". If you would like to peruse more of their articles, visit Morningstar's website.

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