Soul by Soul

           When we moved to our present home, we needed to find a new "church" to attend.  I took the yellow pages of the phone book and found the listings for the churches in our area.  At that time, there were 144 Baptist churches in the area along with about 80 Methodist churches and 45 or so Presbyterian churches.  Some were considered large and some small based on the size of their building.  We chose a church that had the AWANA ministry as the pastor would have signed the same agreement with AWANA as we did so many times before.  As we drove up to the church building the first time, it looked like a church based on the shape of the building and we went inside and began to meet the people.  Three ladies met us and informed us of their names, Virginia, May and Jewell.  That was the church.  Ephesians 4:4-6 says, "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;   One Lord, one faith, one baptism,  One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." 
       We often get confused about the church and come to our misguided conclusion that the church is the building, constructed in a certain way with stained glass windows and a "sanctuary" facing a raised pulpit area.  Most churches, but not all, have a steeple with a cross on the top.  Some churches even try to outdo the other churches by having a taller steeple than all the rest.  The church however, is not the building or the way it is constructed, or the artifacts inside that can't be replaced, or the stain glass windows or the size of the organ.  The church is the people.  If the building were to be consumed by an earthquake or fire, the church would still be there as it is the people inside that make it what it is.  The word "church" is a translation of the word Ecclesia which basically means a "called out gathering."  The people that make up that local church are those that have been called out of the world to join together to worship God.  There is another meaning of the word ecclesia which is "assembly."   The place we now worship is called an "assembly"  and is comprised of people who have gathered together to worship God.  Paul, in the passage above, mentioned that there is only "one" body.  While there are many local churches around most towns and cities, there is really only one body and we often refer to it as the "universal church."  It is comprised of every born again believer in the world and will be comprised of every believer from Pentecost to the rapture.  When we moved into a new town with new people, we found a group of believers who were friends with us because of our identical beliefs and we were welcomed to worship with them.  You will probably drive by several church buildings in the near future as you go about your business but remember that what you see on the outside is only the building that houses the real church.  Praise God today that He is building His church soul by soul, and not brick by brick.