Whoops, I did it again! Those problem church-words.

Below are a few terms that are commonly used among most religious denominations and groups. We too used them quite frequently while in the Institutionalized church. They are terms that, when examined by scripture, are found to be in stark contrast to their original intent. In some cases, the use of these terms within the context of their present and popular use, actually do serious damage to the original meaning of the word. It is not our intent to “set people straight” who improperly use these terms wrongfully, for we occasionally slip up and misuse these ourselves. Old habits die hard, but we are trying to rid ourselves of the improper use of these terms. Rather, our motivation behind this brief article is to challenge your thinking, and hopefully, increase your vocabulary in the process.

Let’s start with the first and foremost misused term, i.e., the “church”.

 “I’m going to mow the church grass”
“Let’s go to church”
“Come on children! We’re late for church”
“Look at the cute little brick church”
“I go to a big church”
“We’re remodeling the church”

All these expressions are quite common. It is because we have come to know the church as a physical location rather than a body of believers. Most people view the church as a brick and mortar building with a tall steeple on top.

Luke wrote in Acts 2:47 “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” The church is simply the sum total of Christian believers, those whom the Lord has saved. The true church has no grass, it contains no brick and it is not in need of remodeling. And when one begins to imaging what a “big church” might look like, there are definitely mental images that could be formed! :o)

One final note.  A Christian never goes to church or is late for church. The one and only time a sinner "comes to church" is when he is saved from sin! After that, he is the church.

The second term we will examine is the word “revival”.

 “We had such a good revival last week”
“We’re looking forward to a good revival”
“Bro Smith will be holding a revival for us next month”
“We’re having our annual Fall revival in October. Ya’ll are invited”

The word “revival” is not a word you will find in the Bible. The saints of old never held that first revival.  They were so spiritually alive, they had no need to be revived. Where the word “revive” was used in the Old Testament, it was used in conjunction with a people who had strayed away from God.

The word "revive" is from the Latin, and may be interpreted as—to live again, to receive again a life which has almost expired; to rekindle into a flame the vital spark which was nearly extinguished. This term does not describe the New Testament church. When we limit a revival to a short series of meetings, we seriously miss the whole meaning.

It is doubtless that many who are professing to be the church today are in need of revival, but it will never happen as a result of inviting an evangelist in for a weekend meeting. Once the church (people) begins to abandon the church (building) and get out where the real needs are, we will begin to see true revival in our land.

The next word we will examine is the word “fellowship”. In some religious circles, rather than refer to themselves as a denomination or sect, they call themselves a “Fellowship”. It sounds so much more pleasant!  :o) In the minds of the vast majority of Christians this word "fellowship" implies belonging to some organized Christian body and having regular attendance at its meetings.

"Where do you fellowship?"
“She is not of this fellowship”
“We’re having a fellowship meeting in the Spring”

Fellowship, as used by John the apostle, simply means a partnership or participation. It is something that according to John automatically happens between born again believers who have true fellowship with the Father. For the New Testament writers, the primary meaning of fellowship was heart-relationship with the Lord. Those sharing that heart-fellowship were brought into loving relationship with each other.

All Christians should be in fellowship. When we limit or restrict fellowship to a selected group of people, congregations or assemblies, we have in fact created a sect.

What about the word service?  Service is defined as an act of helpful activity; help; aid: to do someone a service. As a Christian, service is something that happens every day of our life, outside of the four walls of a building. Generally, assembly meetings are not a place where much service takes place, as people come in, sit down and become spectators. So, why do we label them “church services”?

“Come and be with us in our prayer and praise service”
“REVIVAL SERVICES NIGHTLY STARTING AT 7:00 PM”

One might argue that a “church service” is where we come to serve God. However, God is requiring much more than attendance at a local building... one, two or three times a week. Paul instructs us in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” This type of service, which is the only service that God will accept, is done by the way we live seven days a week.  Neither a “worship service” a “prayer service” or a “praise service” can be a substitute for our daily service to the Lord.

Since we are discussion meetings, what about the expression “campmeeting”. By just breaking down the word into its joining parts, one would think that a campmeeting is a meeting with people in attendance who are camping. In years gone by, that is exactly what they were.  But today’s campmeetings are usually announced with something like the following:

 ANNOUNCEMENT:
“You’re invited to our campmeeting.  Below is a list of local hotels”
“Campmeetings dates below. Call for reservations. We have air conditioned rooms on the grounds”

Maybe we should start calling them hotelmeetings  :o)

And finally, the campmeetings are usually announced in the follow fashion:

ANNOUNCEMENT:
Holy Ghost preaching. Healing for the sick. Inspirational singing. Food and fellowship.

There are only a few problems with this announcement. I have been to many campmeetings but I have yet to see the Holy Ghost preach. As for seeing people healed of sicknesses at these meetings I have maybe seen a few, but in many cases, attendees at these meetings will usually come home sick (or get sick afterwards) as these gatherings are generally incubators for contagious flu’s, infections and the spreading of germs. The inspirational singing label is sometimes accurate. As for the “food and fellowship”, now that part we've got down pat!