GREAT Article by Jon Zens on the Body of Christ - It's US, not ME!

From Frank Viola's blog...so good I would quote it in full if I could.  This is a HUGE missing element in most Christian churches I have been a part of since I became a follower of Jesus Christ.

The New Testament Is Plural (Us) Not Singular (Me)
by Jon Zens

As folks listen to local and media Bible teachers, most miss the fact that Christ’s body is missing from their use of the New Testament. More often than not the approach taken is individualistic – “how can Christ help me live the Christian life?” However, the NT was not written to individuals but to groups of believing people in various cities and regions. This does not come across in English translations for the most part because the word “you” in the Greek can be singular or plural. For example, the “you” in “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” is plural, and has in view the Body of Christ.

Think about it. The NT letters were sent to ekklesias (assemblies) – “when you come together as an ekklesia.” Even the letter sent to an individual – Philemon – still has a corporate (body) dimension to it – “to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the ekklesia in your house.”

This is the crucial missing element in the bulk of today’s Bible teaching. The Lord intended the life of Christ to be lived out among the disciples in community, not in isolation. Consider how upside-down we are in our practice. The NT has at least 58 “one-another’s” that are meaningless without the reality of close, deep local relationships. The call to be longsuffering and forbearing with others implies day-to-day involvement that simply cannot take place by seeing people a few hours a week at controlled religious meetings.

But where do we put the emphasis in what people call “church”? It pretty much revolves around “the pastor.” He is the one with the ordination, the school training, the vision, and the sermons. Without a “pastor” people would generally conclude that you don’t have a church yet. No church is seen as complete unless it has a “pastor.” If a “pastor” leaves a church, then you have to quick find another one.

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The church used to function as a family.  Why else would it be that throughout the New Testament, people address one another as "brothers and sisters"?  When it functions this way, it can be a truly beautiful thing that comes into being as each person contributes and shares whatever the Holy Spirit has gifted and/or prompted him/her to share, so that the body of Christ can grow - both in strength of connection with the different members and in number of members as those people then connect with others who are not yet in the family. 

For a good example of how everyone working together as a family can accomplish much more than one person running the show, see this YouTube clip on the Snyder Family Band. 



"One thing about us is we've never really had individual interests.  We've always done things as a family."

I originally found this clip on a short, sarcastic article written by Gary North on the horrors of homeschooling, but it applies here extremely well.  Each member of this family has a different gift that they enjoy using and sharing with one another.  Individually, they're all good musicians, but put together they become something so much better than they could be by themselves.  The music they make together then gets to be shared with others around them.

The body of Christ should take note and apply.