Moving to France was difficult. We knew it would be, but I do not think we knew just how much. Yes, learning the language was (and remains) a challenge. The bureaucracy is insane, if you ever want to understand where the rainforests went, just start any process in France that requires paperwork. Then there was the loneliness. We made plenty of friends, but in a city that acts as a train station, a waypoint on the road to somewhere else, people come and go so quickly. It was in living here that something fell into place for me when it came to the church.

When I was younger, we used to go to church occasionally. I never liked it. That is probably a sentiment that many people share. It is a feeling that would come and go for most of my life up to now. Things first began to change when I understood and responded to the gospel. I fell in love with Jesus as I learnt about His love for me. This made all the difference in my experience of church. Sunday gatherings, prayer meetings and worship evenings took on a different spin and became the place I wanted to be. I wanted to know God more and be in His presence. It did not stay that way. Oh, I loved Jesus, but I was not always satisfied with the church I was in. The people or the experience did not always match what I thought I needed. Sometimes it was the way worship was expressed, I felt restricted, or I felt unsatisfied, as if somehow my preferences mattered. Sometimes it was the preaching or the teaching that was not “deep enough” or challenging enough, or dare I say it, entertaining enough. Then there was the time it took from me when there were so many other things I could be doing. Afterall, we all live busy lives, how wonderful now that I can have “church” at home in my own time, my own space and at my pace. A simpler way where I am accountable to no one. After all, it’s about me and Jesus. It is my faith, it is my journey and honestly, going to church just does not serve me all that well. How incredibly selfish I am.

A selfish faith. It is a sneaky thing. So subtly and slowly I can take something that is all about Jesus and make it all about me. One of the strengths of the evangelical church is the recognition of the need for personal faith. I am not a Christian because of my behavior, culture, or the family I grew up in. I am not a Christian because of a prayer I prayed, but because I choose (and keep choosing) to follow Jesus. To put my faith and trust completely in Him. That is a strength. The weakness, however, is exposed by our culture of individualism. A personal faith that I do not think concerns others.

Many Christians rightly know that the church is not a building but a people, the eklesia, an assembly. Yet they wrongly think this means that when they become a follower of Jesus it is enough to only be part of that global expression. They do not have to go to a church. In fact, this thinking often shows up when life gets busy or when something better comes along, like brunch. When needing to make room in the calendar then the gathering of a church is often the first thing to be abandoned or dropped from the schedule. The thinking is that now I am a part of this large body, the global church and I can just express my faith individually at home. That would be out of step with the New Testament.

In the letters that Paul writes, he addresses local bodies. Yes, one global body, but expressed in smaller local assemblies. In these letters we are reminded that the church is God’s idea. God’s plan to make His wisdom known. The local church is not to be only a gathering of people that you choose because you like them, or you feel like seeing them that day. Your family, or your friends or people that think and vote like you. No, the church was local, made up of the believers who lived and worked in a specific area. It brought together all sorts, and there is a reason for this. In Christ, He makes one out of the many. He brings unity. In the chaos of so many individual lives, He brings them together in a way that each unique person matters and has a role to play in a common mission. He takes all these bricks and builds a wall. When a person is missing, the body suffers, there is a hole in the wall. This space was not supposed to be comfortable; it is the proving ground and testing ground for genuine faith.

The New Testament letters are written to believers to describe how to live out faith together, because it is together that the mission of God is proclaimed. This is not just attendance, but attendance is the bare minimum. You were never meant to be just a brick. The brick was always supposed to be a part of the wall. To deprive the wall of the brick it needs is an act of selfishness. It is more than attendance though, the brick does not just fill the gap by being present, it is locked in, joined to the bricks around it by cement. Without cement (a flimsy partial commitment) it is easily pushed out, leaving a hole. Cemented in, it is now committed to the wall. When we join ourselves to Christ, we join ourselves to His bride. It means we are invested as necessary parts of the body there to serve one another.

How different this picture is to the one I used to have. When we came to France, separated from our previous routines and concerns, we began to rethink church. When this happened, something changed in my heart. When I realized that the church was not there to serve me but that I was there to serve the other members of the body (as we are all called to do) everything changed, and I discovered one of the great joys of my life. The church. A wonderful, difficult, challenging place to learn to be less selfish. Like a marriage there are ups and downs. Disagreements and disappointments but also love, sacrifice, joy, friendship, community, and a whole other host of beauty that is unveiled in the unity amid diversity. There is a beauty to the church that I am now able to see, something the Bible talks about. A bride being made spotless. A body of different parts. A building of living stones. It is certainly not perfect yet, after all, by bringing all of us flawed people in there is a lot to overcome, but the promise is that it will be done. Therein lies the miracle. This is the place to live out our faith. This is the place to be obedient to Christ, this is the place to show the true nature of the gospel. This is the church.

Find out more in the Titus series.