The Dead Church

Communion in the church is never for its own sake. Why do we have churches? In order to create other churches. In order to work on another church, to have a new one. Then to go beyond this and have another church. This means the church is a little bit different than a home. We have a home and this home represents for us the presence of God among us. The Greek term for home means the space where God is present. This is the home. The space where God is not present, it is not a home. ...But the church is a place where God is present in order to create other spaces where He is present, in order to go beyond. When a church is very safe, very secure, it is one of the signs of death. When a church is very peaceful on the issue of mission, for instance, it could be a sign of death.

I would not encourage you to create quarrels in your church but understanding the presence of the Lord in our church means to transform the walls of the church into something transparent. To see what is outside of the church. Without acknowledging on a daily basis what is outside of the church, we are living in a dead church. The church does not exist for our sake, so that we can live a comfortable spiritual life. The church is something else. The church is the place where we have to be challenged not to live a comfortable spiritual life. Because this is how the word of the Lord would act. The acting word of God is never a comfortable experience, never. If He is acting through His words in my life, it is never comfortable, never comfortable. It's the way of keeping me moving, in transformation.

[AV, (c)2004]