"Can I Have Jesus Without the Church?"

Pastor Laura Guy

February 7, 2010

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

We saw our traveler get stopped by road construction when she began wondering if she could just follow Jesus without going to church. A friendly construction worker reminded her that Jesus is the one who created the Church and that Jesus himself even prayed for the Church in John 17:20-23.
We heard statistics that over 75% of Americans identify themselves as Christians, yet fewer than 40% actually attend church. In this pluralistic society, it has become acceptable for people to "choose Jesus" but not the Church. This is the first time in the history of Christianity that the Church has had to answer the question, "Can't I have Jesus without the Church?"
We learned that there are different reasons why people don't go to church. Some of the reasons are that people are church-apathetic, church-phobic or church-damaged. Living Water was started as a church to reach all these kinds of folks.
We recognized that the Church was Jesus' idea; he created it. He chose to do ministry in community with others, even flawed, clueless disciples who often let him down. Jesus modeled this life in community for us. He did not give us an option of following him on our own.
We heard the story of Anne Lamott, how she was first drawn to church, to Jesus, through the singing she heard coming out of a little church on Sunday mornings. That church eventually became central to her new faith, her new life. This is the power that can happen when churches get it right.
We read Teddy Roosevelt's Reasons for going to church, written in 1917, but still relevant today.
We prayed that we would be a faithful church.
We celebrated communion around the table of hope.