Church: What Is It? ...Continued

In my last post "Church: What Is It?" I focused on on three thoughts...

1. In the Scriptural sense, "the Church" is not a building.

2. "The Church" is the body of Christ (the group of people who have been called out by Christ for service in His Kingdom).

3. The body of Christ gathers in many places and these gatherings can look different from gathering to gathering. These gatherings should not necessarily be constrained to any one particular place and time, but should happen regularly and must be real and fluid.

While all of this is true let me add some more to these thoughts.

There are many times throughout the week when I gather with members of the body of Christ. Sometimes I gather with them over something to eat/drink at a restaurant, coffee shop, pub, home, park, ect. When we gather, we hang out and talk and discuss life and often discuss what Jesus is doing in our lives. These are great times and this type of gathering allows my siblings (brothers and sisters in Christ) and I to engage in each others lives in meaningful ways and to uplift, encourage, and challenge each other along with holding one another accountable. While this type of gathering is good and necessary, is this a what a gathering of the church looks like?

In other words, while we know that the Church is the body of Christ, is every type of gathering (of the body of Christ) a Church gathering or are Church gatherings something totally different?