While location and distance are certainly important, I'm also concerned about how we see our connection to believers around us. If we drive even 5 minutes to meet with a group of believers, but never interact with the believers in our own neighborhood (because they belong to another local church), I think we have an invalid concept of local church.
I'm beginning to think of the "local church" as all believers with whom God allows me to interact. That includes the ones that I meet with regularly. But, it also includes my neighbors and co-workers who are believers. They are part of the local church for me, and we are responsible for one another just as the ones who share "membership".
<idle musing>
Barna raised this same question in The Revolution; his answer is that we have too narrowly defined church. Church is the body of believers, where ever and whenever they happen to meet. If there are two or more gathered, then it is Church. Pretty wide-open definition, but quite biblical!
Under that definition, Alan’s understanding is correct, and our parochialism is unbiblical. If I am talking with my neighbor, we are experiencing a bit of church. If co-workers are discussing biblical concepts, it is church. This definition is at once freeing and scary. Freeing because I don’t have to be concerned about putting on a “church face,” but scary because it makes the presence of God more immanent—everytime two or more are gathered! That’s pretty immanent.
What do you think? Am I all wet here?
</idle musing>
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