The Bible uses beautiful images for the church. The church is the flock of the good shepherd, and may cherish his care. The congregation is a home, a family, with fellowship and intimacy. The church is a body, in which everyone has his own task and place in the congregation. 

But what do these images have to say about the task of the church toward the world around it? It is beyond the scope of this article to deal with all of those images and their meaning. Instead, it will focus on the church as a family (see Ephesians 2: you are members of the household of God) and the church as a home (Ephesians 2 and 1 Peter 2).

The church, as a family, is a beautiful image that you can elaborate on through your own experiences in the family where you function. Parents, brothers and sisters do a lot together, look out for each other, and so on. You are there for each other, and you do not ignore each other. That is beautiful of course, but a family can also be completely different today. You may see each other only once in a while, and you are so busy with everything outside your home. My point is that you have your own subjective view of this image.

Then it can happen that you start to defend an inward-looking church. The church is the place where you can do nice things together. You go for it. All the emphasis is on being together and enjoying each other. In such a church there is always something to do: a committee meeting; a Bible study; a creativity club, like a social or activity committee—lots of good works that can require quite a lot of the members. Concerning this topic, Stott once said that the church gives the impression that her most important goal is to protect her members from wrongdoing. That seems admirable. But it also has its drawbacks: fathers and mothers are seldom home. And it prevents you from being involved in social life in your own living environment. A little irritated, Stott then asks, “Would it not be very healthy for church members to see each other only on Sundays, while throughout the week you can have your eyes especially open for the fact that we are sent into the world.” After all, as a congregation, you have been sent into the world to witness of your Lord (1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 11). A healthy church is therefore a sent(!) church. 

However, you can come up with noble motives for being an inward-looking church. After all, the church has to be firmly trained in doctrine, and a holy congregation. We first have to grow in faith, holiness, and boldness ourselves before we are ready to share the gospel. These motives can exist as a reaction to the view that the church would derive her reason to exist mainly from her world-oriented focus: that the church is not only a religious association, but has a worldly mission. Then it is not about church worship services anymore, but only about service to the neighbour. The love for God then merges with love for the neighbour. 

What Does the Bible Say?⤒🔗

I first want to study Ephesians 2. In the church at Ephesus, Paul was dealing with a congregation where two opposing groups met: Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. Things were not easy between them. Then Paul very particularly addresses the Gentile Christians: You are no longer strangers and aliens (meaning almost like foreigners) without rights, but you are fellow citizens with the saints: you share in all rights, protection, and safety that the city offers. You are even members of the household of God; who does not think here of the Lord’s Supper, where the Lord brings all his children together at the one table? 

Paul uses the image of a city to teach us that within a city, the population actually forms a united family. Every city had its own city god. Citizens formed the family of the city god. In the same way, today Jews and Gentiles form the household of God together. And in the same way, the church is a community where intimacy reigns, in intimate relationship with the Lord and each other. 

In the following verses the image of the citizens shifts to a structure that gets bigger and bigger. Gentile Christians are building blocks who, with the Jewish believers, are being put together into the building where the Holy Spirit wants to live.

Anyone who lets these images act on them will already notice the congregation can never be an introvert community nor just a social awareness society. It is important that you are members of the household of God. It is about a building that under the influence of the Lord and the Holy Spirit comes into being. It is God who is in control.

There is even more to learn about that when we turn to 1 Peter 2. In 1 Peter 2 the image of a house is used again. That house consists of living stones called saints. And when you are called (by the Lord) then you have to come to the Lord, and present yourself to God. When you come to the Lord, you yourself will also be built. You will be added to the house of the Lord as a living stone. Of these living stones (Christians), some more can be said: these living stones are a holy priesthood (verses 5 and 9) who bring sacrifices of praise, mercy, and brotherly love. They function in a direct relation to God (praise), but also form a unity with people around them (priesthood). These saints who have been called, are also honoured with special titles (verse 9): a chosen lineage. The Lord brought this group together with great care. They are children of one Father, members of a distinguished family. Because the Lord chose them, they are holy. Their special status is not something to enjoy; rather, they stand in service of the preparation of carrying out the good name of the Lord to the world outside (verse 10!).

Close to God←⤒🔗

Do we with these images get a little closer to the mission of the church today? To begin with, we cannot speak about a clear separation between the “normal” church life and the missionary calling you have as congregation. We actually knew that already. The Lord does not appeal to his congregation without reason: You are the light of the world and the salt of the earth (Matthew 5). These images of a family and a house leave no room for horizontalism or introversion. No horizontalism: very emphatically the church is composed of the members of the household of God, of priests who dedicate themselves to the Lord and the proclamation of his great deeds. The church is a house that is built under the influence of the Spirit. Therefore, when the church enters the world, it will not merge into the world. It may not retreat into Anabaptist shunning, because it has to fulfill its calling by witnessing of the Lord and living a holy life before him.

Be Who You Say You Are←⤒🔗

Maybe we can still learn some more from these images. The images of home and family do not primarily point to our security. The Holy Spirit wants to live in the church. And from his house the testimony sounds to the world outside (see 1 Peter 2). But that testimony does not only have to sound only through words. It has so often been said that in our postmodern time, the attention to feelings has gained much ground at the expense of rational thinking. We are used to the church trying to convince people using words. We have a good story and we bring it, using a variety of words. We advocate for low-threshold services, with no difficult words and a clear message—but it is still a story. Do we not then forget that people can be especially touched (positively and negatively) by the atmosphere in the worship service. During conversations with guests after the service, I often notice that people do not complain about everything they do not understand about the sermon (they find it rather normal that they do not understand everything), but they especially react to the atmosphere in the worship service: whether or not there was respect, cordiality, hospitality.

It is not only important that you tell the people what the gospel means, but also especially: that the people taste and experience the reality of the gospel that renews life. Van Loon says that it used to be that the emphasis was on the content of someone’s faith; today it is about the authenticity that appears, for instance, in open and personal contact. Precisely because of his authentic position, the Christian can show what it means to be a believer, to be members of the household of God together. In a society with increasing fragmentation, people have an increasing need for acceptance. They look for a home. A church that is a real church can mean a lot, through the open, helpful, and loyal attitude of her members, through solidarity with people.

Will the church then not adapt to the world too much? Back in the days we talked about the antithesis. Today, it seems that we instead talk about solidarity. I do not believe that this is a contradiction, because in addition to solidarity, the antithesis remains important. You could say that solidarity and antithesis are no competitors of each other. An open church requires radicality. A church that understands its missionary calling does not obscure its identity. Its identity stimulates it in serving. People have to be able to see with their own eyes that the gospel we preach about has indeed changed us. Christians have to look like that which they talk about. The unseen God makes himself visible in the congregation where people love each other (1 John 4:12).