Some Thoughts on Church Matters

Carter Cox can remember the day his extended family began to meet as a church—it was January 7, 2017.

It was his idea, picked up by his father. When they started they were still not sure it was the right thing to do.

Since then three of his siblings have entered the kingdom. Two came off serious addictions. Two walked through crises in their marriage. Lives have been transformed as other friends of the family have entered the kingdom. Today they meet every Thursday around a meal. Carter is the eldest of eight children, seven are married. With spouses that’s seventeen adults and eighteen grandchildren.

Carter’s dad leads the church and has started another church at his workplace that meets on Fridays. From the church in the workplace, someone has started churches in three different prisons.

James (name withheld) was an evangelist who became a disciple maker and church planter in the United States. He remembers starting hundreds of groups in homes which he regarded as churches. Everything was a church. If he gathered with one new disciple he called it a church. James learned that two disciples meeting may become a church, but not until the disciples meeting had taken on that commitment and identity of church. He learned not every new believer means a new church until there is some critical mass as the gospel spreads through a relational network and there is a conscious commitment by the new disciples to forming a church. In Acts, sometimes they are added to an existing church, and sometimes a new church is formed.

Today James coaches leaders of underground movements somewhere in the Muslim world. In the last five years they’ve moved from around 200 churches to two thousand. There’s severe persecution, people have been thrown in prison. Two people have lost their lives. These disciples are learning how to live as the people of God, learn to love one another, forgive their enemies, and suffer faithfully. These are not just matters for individual discipleship, they are matters related to the health and maturity of the churches.

When the Spirit came with power at Pentecost, immediately the gospel went out to an unbelieving world gathered in Jerusalem calling everyone to repent, be baptized, be forgiven, and receive the Holy Spirit. How does the day end? With disciples and churches Jerusalem on the way to the ends of the earth, bringing glory to God.

As the Word goes out to every nation, tribe and language, God is gathering his people — a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. That’s where history is going. That’s why church matters.

The full interview with Carter and James: 327-Church Matters II