Jesus is Lord of His Church

There are saints that just don't "fit in" with traditional church structures. After I left the "four wall" church, my Mom was understandably concerned. In frustration, she just asked me, "all right, then, what would YOU consider the 'perfect church'", and thus was the article below written:

The Perfect Church
1. We acknowledge that Jesus Christ is truly the head, the Chief Shepherd, the Source of all that we are. He directs our meetings, inspires our testimonies, ministers to the sick, the lonely, the destitute and He alone is glorified among us. I Pet 2:25.

2. We meet in a home (Acts 20:20), and if there are too many we start a new group. Perhaps, as the Lord would direct, we might have fellowship in a larger setting with the other groups. But that larger meeting would never be the focus of who we are, rather a catalyst for the home meeting.

3. Our human leaders are so low key that a visitor might not even guess who they are. They do not “run the show”, but serve so as to allow the Lord to have his way among us. They do not receive any glory, and should any be directed in their direction, they are quick to respond as did John the Baptist, “Behold the Lamb of God.” That is to say, “seek Jesus, don’t seek me.” These leaders will gain nothing in the eyes of the world for having led the church. (Compare Acts 20:29-30, I Pet 5:1-4.)

4. We are accountable one to another. When one member is weak, we are all weak, and when one of us rejoices, we all rejoice. We are family. We love each other dearly. We would rather walk with our brother in his suffering than walk with the world in its joy. I Cor 12:26.

5. We have a vision for evangelism, but nothing like the world has ever seen. We are confident as we gather for teaching, for admonishing, for testimony and for prayer, that our lives will never be the same. The world will note of us, as they did the early disciples, that we have been with Jesus (Acts 4:13). When our parents, our bosses, our friends and others who have known us, see the change that has come over us, they will naturally want to know why. And thus our home groups will never be static, but always be bombarded with those lives we touch coming to see this Jesus who we know.

6. We present a Jesus who is alive, who right now wishes to interact with His church, to be intimate with her, and to delight in fellowship with her. He stands at the door and knocks, and those who would be intimate with Him will open, and invite Him in, and eat with Him. Rev 3:20, John 14:23.

7. We each know that apart from Him who is our Life, we are nothing at all. We acknowledge that we have been put to death with Christ, we have been buried with Him in baptism, and that we have been raised up with Him to a new life. Thus we never, ever, take ourselves too seriously, but rather allow Jesus to flow freely among us, ministering as He would, doing only the work that He sees His Father in Heaven doing. His life is our life, and this is all that we desire. John 8:28.