Volume 1
Going Under to Go Out
Issue 5
May 27, 2020
Can we “have church” without a church building? The earliest evidence we can find of church buildings is after Christianity was officially adopted as the religion of Rome in 325 A.D. How in the world did the church get along without buildings? To be truthful, it got along quite well. It grew from a handful of disciples to over 120 million believers in 300 years. Buildings don’t hinder growth in the church, indeed it can clearly grow rapidly without them! The early church was an underground movement spreading light into the darkness in what may have seemed, to some, to be small and apparently insignificant ways. How did the Christian church in China, in the midst of utter persecution grow to 120 million adherents under the communist revolution? They grew like the early church and without buildings. The early Methodist movement met in homes and wherever they could gather. Every Holy movement in the past 2000 years has understood, that the priesthood of believers is called to reach others with the message of God’s love, whether there is a place to meet or not. America has now been through a time where we’ve realized that even without our buildings, we are still the church. We have forged new friendships with people and the light of Christ in us has again, permeated the darkness. We went “underground” in the sense of not being able to gather in groups, but we also went “out” as a result and remembered our calling! As Ephesians 4:12 reminds us, the gifts of the Spirit (Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd and Teacher) are given to equip God’s people (that’s all of us) TO DO THE WORK OF MINISTRY. When we all minister, the church matures, and we end up having a greater impact on the world. We went under, and ended up going out, and I hope we’ll never be the same. ~ Jim Halbert
Connect NOW is a temporary project of the Connection Magazine staff. We will be writing and soliciting weekly articles for at least May and June, to encourage, inform, and inspire people as we walk through this unique time together. The Evangelical Methodist Church is a global family of Christ followers committed to sharing the good news of God’s love with people.
