tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009936.post6600583438302054744..comments2023-09-24T04:30:44.330-07:00Comments on Musings of a peripatetic wannabe-sage: KNOWING CHURCH FROM NOT-CHURCHLaura Springerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10920102860381840156noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8009936.post-16649367744714687752007-08-03T14:25:00.000-07:002007-08-03T14:25:00.000-07:00A contribution to your experiment. Some suggestion...A contribution to your experiment. Some suggestions:<BR/><BR/>Biola is an organization established and organized by people with goals, means and boundaries determined by people. As such it is not church.<BR/><BR/>Torrance First Baptist is also an organization established and organized by people with goals, means and boundaries determined by people. As such it is not church.<BR/><BR/>BUT within both of them believers may come together in all kinds of ways and circumstances such that they form an instantiation of (a part of) the Body of Christ. In that period, they are church.<BR/><BR/>Church comes into existence when a number of believers come together under the headship of Jesus and offer themselves (living sacrifices) as living stones to be built into the Body of Christ. Critical success factors are:<BR/>- the people are believers under the headship of Christ<BR/>- they share their lives<BR/>- Christ is Head of the gathering, so He does the building<BR/><BR/>The coming together can be in many types of circumstances of which Sunday services in a building dedicated for the purpose is only one. And since that circumstance can be very formalised with lots of rules, conventions and traditions originated by people, its "effectiveness" may be lower than other types of circumstance.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com