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      On Building the Church

      The late Wallace Hamilton, who for many years was the pastor of the Community Church in Pasadena, Florida, was arriving late for an annual conference where he was scheduled to preach. As he came up the steps, he saw a group of small boys playing on the front steps of the church. They paused in their playing and were peering into the open windows where the sound of music was coming. As he placed his hand on the church door to open it and go in, one of the young boys turned and said to him: “Hey mister, what’s going on in there?” That question needs to be heard by the Church today. What goes on in here? What goes on in the Church? What really is the Church? What is going on in it?

      That is the question people have been asking down through the centuries. What is happening in Church? Some have come back rather quickly and forcefully and answered: “Not much!” The tribe of “nones”- non-attenders- has risen drastically. Some have said the last days of the Church are here. Books and speeches have been written about The Noise of Solemn Assembly, The Empty Pulpit, The Comfortable Pew, The Last Days of the Church, Demise of the Church, The Death of the American Church, and The Dying Church. The Newsweek magazine had a cover several years ago with the inscription: “Forget the Church. Follow Jesus.” Some voices say that the Church is coming close to its demise. Its end is near. But I think Carlyle Marney is correct when he observed that “people say that the Church is always dying, but it never does.” Most of the hammers of criticism that have been beaten against the Church have been worn out eventually on the anvil of the Church itself. The Church continues to endure.

      Biblical Images of the Church

      When we turn to the New Testament, we find some interesting figures for the Church. Images of all kind abound. The Church is depicted as the Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ, the Household of Faith, the Family of Jehovah, the Seat and Shrine of the Eternal, the New Israel, the New Covenant, the Realm of Redemption, salt, light, leaven, and the vine. But I suppose Paul’s favorite metaphor is the Temple or the building as seen in Ephesians 2: 19-22. Jesus himself said, “I will build my Church.” When congregations have a building in the process of being constructed, they need to remember that the constructed building will house the church. A part of what we must always keep before us and in proper focus is that the building is never the Church. It houses the Church. The building has a function to carry on the ministry of the Church which is being built. We are the building. The Church, when it is properly constructed, is a living structure.

      The Foundation of the Church

      Paul, in the second chapter of the Letter to the Ephesians, writes about building the Church of Christ. The apostles and the New Testament prophets, which Paul mentions here, are the foundation of the Church. Jesus Christ himself is the chief cornerstone in the foundation. Some scholars believe that the foundation stone in ancient buildings was a huge stone that may have been seven feet in its scope. Others are not convinced that the stone is in its foundation but is instead the gem stone, which is the stone set in the archway of the building. That stone is called the foundation stone and kept the whole structure fitted together so it could not fall apart. Whether the emphasis is on the foundation or on the archway, it is basically the same: Christ is the foundation stone which holds the Church together.

      The Basic Stones in the Church’s Foundation

      As we reflect on the Church, we need to understand what some of the basic stones are within the church’s foundation. When these stones are incorporated in the foundation, they will enable us to build a structure worthy of being called the Church of Christ. A church building under construction is important, but even more important is the building of the people. We the people constitute the Church, and the building houses the Church, so we can be Christ’s people in the world.

      The Foundation of Personal Commitment

      Paul wrote about the necessity of the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. You and I are also a part of that kind of foundation. We are a part of the continuing building of the Church by our own sense of commitment as new disciples to the Christ as the early disciples were by their initial commitment to him. One of the cardinal stones in the foundation of the Church is the personal experience of individual people who have committed their lives to Jesus Christ. Our faith is supposed to be very personal, just as the early disciples had a very personal experience with Christ. Now, granted we cannot go back and walk with the living Christ along the shores of Galilee, but Jesus Christ needs to be a real presence for us. Our experience should be so real that we sense the power of his presence that changes and transforms us. Sometimes that is a part of the problem with the Church today. This essential stone in the foundation is often lacking. The Church is not always made up of people who have committed their lives to Christ and have had a genuine personal experience with Christ. Press the pause button on that thought for a moment.

      I heard about a young girl who went to visit a relative of hers who lived in the country. One night while she was visiting her aunt she noticed that her aunt was putting cold cream on her face before she went to bed. The small girl turned and asked: “Auntie, what are you doing?” She said, “Why, I’m making myself beautiful.” In a few moments her aunt began to remove the cream. The small girl looked at her aunt and said: “It didn’t work, did it?”

      Press the pause button again now. Note, there are some folks who are looking at the Church and saying to it: “It didn’t work, did it?” We claim that we are a people who have experienced the vitality of a living Christ, and they are saying to us: “It didn’t work, did it?” They often do not see evidence of Christ in the lives of those who claim that they belong to the Church. Our relationship to Christ is not by proxy, but it is personal. It is not a second-hand experience but a first-hand one. It is not a hearsay experience but an immediate one. It is not something merely passed on to us by tradition. The Church began with a great claim: “I know whom I have believed” (2Timothy 1:12). In the small Epistle of John, the writer says: “That which we have seen with our eyes, that which we have heard with our ears, that which we have handled with our hands, we declare unto you” (1 John 1:1). It is a very personal experience with a living Christ. Vitality in the Church does not come by proxy, or by someone living on another’s experience. A vital Church is built on individuals who have had their own dynamic relationship with the Lord of the Church.

      Pastors and professors are often having tours. So, I thought of a tour group that I could organize. I might call it “Tuck’s Back to God Movement.” We might see if we could go back to places where people say they have experienced God. We could go back and try to find the place where Abraham was