Ubi Christus, Ibi Ecclesia

For many of us the concept of church is a building with some seats, a podium and sound system that blares out what the minister is saying on a Sunday.

But what happens when the building disappears and is no longer there? What happens when over time, less and less people attend and a church just becomes a hollow shell of what it used to be?

In Europe many of the grand and beautiful churches with stained glass windows and awe inspiring architecture stand empty. For the most part these buildings are used as tourist attractions and no longer serve the purpose they were built for. In some cases if the building is not touristy enough it gets sold to offset the costs of managing it. I have even heard of a church that has been converted into pub…can you believe that!

You might say to yourself …”Sacrilege! Disgusting! How could this happen!” and to a certain extent you would be right to be indignant. However, consider this; those are just buildings, they are not the church!

Surly not! A church is a building, a place of worship where people get together, isn‘t it.? How can I say that it is not the church?

How often do we forget that we are the church, that no matter what happens to the building, so long as we believe and so long as Jesus is with us, we are the church. In Matthew 18:20 we read: “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”

This concept of the church not being bound to a building is something that the early Christians understood very well. As persecuted individuals, they did not have the freedom to meet in public as we do and most certainly did not live in a time where they could afford to purchase or build a grand church in honor of God.

There is a very old doctrine that is believed to come from Ignatius of Antioch at the end of the first century that reads as follows: Where Christ is, there is the church (Ubi Christus, ibi ecclesia), and although much time has passed since the beginning of Christianity the same holds true today.

With Christ in us and with us, we are the church. So long as you live and breathe and pass the message of salvation on to someone else, the church will remain. With millions of Christians around the world it should not be surprising that the message of salvation is still being preached today.

So don’t worry about the numbers of people at your church – you don’t see the big picture. You don’t see how many millions of little churches are really out there, because at the end of the day we serve an awesome God, who does not need a building to make a point. All he desires is to have a relationship with you…HIS church.