Dear Rose Park,
One of my seminary professors would always tell this story. He served as a pastor in Mississippi and when someone of the community would ask where is your church? he’d answer by saying: Well, Mr. Smith works as a mechanic around the corner, Miss Suzie is a local school teacher, and the Robinson family is just across the street. My professor knew that the question where is your church? typically referred to a building, but he took every chance he could to remind his community that the church is a people and not merely a brick-and-mortar location.
There are three words for ‘church’ in the bible. The first is a Greek word that is only used a few times, kyriakos, from which the Scots get the word kirk, which is transliterated into English as church. This word is typically in direct relation with the facility of a building. The other two Greek words are ekklesia and synagoge, from which we get the words ecclesia and synagogue. Ekklesia refers to the ones who are ‘called out’ and synagoge refers to the ones who are ‘called together.’
Meaning, we are the ekklesia because we are the ones who are called out to serve and witness to Jesus Christ within the world and we are also the synagoge because we are the ones who are called together to give praise and glory to the name of Jesus. I wonder though, do we see ourselves as such? Do we see ourselves as the ones who are called out and called together? Do we see ourselves as a people who are gathered to give praise to God and then sent to give witness to God? Or do we see the church as a mere building that we occupy a few times a week for dinner and worship?
This is all to say, at Rose Park we desire to find a healthy balance of being the church and going to church. Of course, we want to see you around the Family Table for dinner tonight at 5:30 p.m in the sanctuary and then again on Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m for communal worship, but we also hope to be the church throughout the week.
I hope and pray we can give witness to the love and hope of Jesus Christ in the ways we work for our employers, drop our kids off at school, and even go out for breakfast at Russ’ and Dutch Delight. I hope we can be called together on a regular basis for worship and fellowship just as the early church was, but at the exact same time I hope we can be called out in all we do in order to point others to Christ. So, join us as the called out and called together church who deeply desires to grow closer to each other as we grow closer to Him.
Grace & Peace,
