I want to spend some time reflecting on the idea of church, recognizing and celebrating the Lord’s good plan for the church.
Jesus was not anti-church, He used the word twice to describe the community He would build [Matthew 16:18], and the community that would support His followers in their kingdom witness and work [Matthew 18:17].
The church is the community of Jesus-followers, wherever two or more gather together for mutual support, encouragement, witness, work, praise, prayer, fellowship, growth, etc.
These kinds of gatherings occur wherever people can meet; it is not restricted to one location known as “the church”.
Whenever two or more people gather in Jesus’ Name (for His honour, for His purpose), this is church!
If a group of Jesus-followers choose to gather in a local pub, in Jesus’ Name (for His honour, for His purpose), you have church.

There are many benefits that result from this kind of coming together, but they are all secondary benefits to the main purpose – to build us up in our partnership with Jesus in His kingdom.
Serving Jesus in the kingdom, being equipped as His kingdom partners, is WHY we need encouragement, support, praise, prayer, fellowship, teaching.
Witnessing and demonstrating the love of Jesus are not secondary options that are added as tangents to the main thing, they are the main thing!
The call of Jesus is not to go to church, not to grow in our faith, not to worship God in song, not to give 10% of our income to the church, not to listen to sermons…
The call of Jesus is to be fishers of men, to go and make disciples, to witness to Jesus to the ends of the earth, to be sent into the world as He was sent into the world, to demonstrate His love, to declare His kingdom!
These are all different ways of saying the same thing – we are missionaries, sent-ones, ambassadors.
As such, we need support networks to help us fulfill that mission.
We need people to encourage us, mentor us, challenge us, inspire us, equip us.
We need people to share our praise reports and our prayer requests.
We need people working alongside of us, at least two (Jesus Himself gathered a team around Him, and sent His disciples in groups of at least two, Paul was always accompanied on his missions).

Imagine someone deciding to be a missionary, and gathering a team around them to support and equip them; imagine that they meet weekly with this team to be strengthened in that role.
Now imagine three years later and they are still meeting with their team, week after week, enjoying great praise, prayer, fellowship, teaching.
But what about the mission, what about the purpose behind their getting a team together?
They totally missed the point, they cease to be a missionary support team!

This is what I fear has happened to many churches, we have lost the reason why we need to come together.
The central purpose of the church is to support Jesus followers as missionaries, to continue the work that Jesus began.
When that central purpose is neglected, forgotten, or added as an optional tangent, when we have the time (between all our meetings and committees and church gatherings) – then we cease to be the church (the gathering of sent-ones).

Yes, we need teaching, we need prayer, we need praise, we need accountability, we need fellowship, we need spiritual formation – but not as ENDS in themselves, but rather as aids to fulfilling our mission.
So my question to myself and to all is, what is my kingdom calling, the place in the world where I demonstrate and declare the love of Jesus, where I fulfill my mission?
The next question is, who is my support team?
That is your church.