God's Family - A Church

My first substantive post was pretty lengthy; my apologies. Just had to get it off my chest!

Just wanted to share a thought about a church and my view of the purpose behind it. "Church" is NOT a building, a worship assembly, or any other place to go to. One doesn't "go to church." A Church is one of God's greatest creations. Even though we do place a certain connotation of a building in a certain location that hosts a body of imperfect believers, it is more: it is a network, a community, a group of Christians that bond together and form relationships.

I would encourage/challenge each of you reading this to find more than one church family. This does not mean "go place membership at three different denominational congregations throughout the area." But it is not to be taken as a limit to with whom you engage.

I am a brother in numerous different sets of mutual believers that I share regular/periodic discussions with. In a single week, I have the privilege of discussing theology with my wife, the church congregation of about 500 that my wife and I placed membership at just south of us and the small group derived therefrom, my supervisor at work, numerous close friends, the Christian Legal Society at my law school, and another group of about 5 that share my faith at school but don't necessarily share a passion for CLS as I do. All of these groups (yes, I consider even my supervisor and I as a "group" - "where two or more are gathered, so there I am also..."(I apologize that I am not as refined as I should be in citing and quoting scripture...)) strengthen my understanding and give me better perspective. It is such a breath of fresh air to be able to do so. No, not all are of the same denomination as I (a commentary about denominations soon to come!), but I would actually argue that it gives me a broader perspective of the bigger picture.

After all, a unified church was what Jesus last prayed for. John 17:20-23. And edification is its purpose. 1 Corinthians 14:26.