Church.
Saying that word will bring up different pictures. It is a precious word to me because it’s precious to Jesus Christ. It’s so precious to Him that He is doing all He can to ensure that on His return, the church will be ready for Him. He views the church as His Bride and He will return to her ensuring that she is spotless and without blemish.
While He waits to return for her, He has given her clear instructions as to how she should reflect Him in the earth. As with all of God’s glorious ideas given to humans, when they turned their back on Him they likewise corrupted those plans. That is no different with the church.
A lot of the Scripture is filled with warnings and incidents of people called to God who turn from Him to do their own thing and as a result, endeavour to ruin what He made to be good. Thankfully, Jesus will not be returning to something ruined. He will return to a glorious Bride. The challenge for us is whether we will be part of that glorious bride.
There have been a number of trends and cycles in the life of the church to highlight areas of what it is to reflect what Christ is looking for. Some phases highlight one misunderstood or neglected area and in time another phase will crop up drawing attention to another misunderstood or neglected area. In some way, these shifts and trends are good corrections to ensure that the Body is functioning in all its capacity reflecting the beauty, wonder, glory and mission of Jesus.
One intriguing development is the concept of the micro-church. The whole point of the Dryden Links series is to let the link speak for itself so to find out more about what micro-church is all about click this link and explore the explanatory aspects of the site. Why it’s worth taking a look is because it should at least get you to think about the part you play in the expression of the Bride of Christ on the earth.
It can be only too easy to believe that church is about buildings, times of service and turning up for key annual celebrations. It can also be too easy to get caught up in the activity of organisational machinery designed more about keeping the machine going, rather than genuinely looking to be a part of a dynamic and growing, loving and merciful expression of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It’s something worth considering in the light of the soon coming return of this beautiful Saviour who is coming for His resplendent Bride.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 