How Do You Picture the Church?

My artist friend Galen draws caricatures. At amusement parks and parties, people pay and pose, and Galen produces amusing portraits. His pictures are funny because they look like real people, except with exaggerated features like oversized ears and extra-long noses.

When you picture the church, do you see the real thing, or a caricature? On a street corner sits Old First Church. Its building has been there since 1848—and from the looks of things, so have most of the people. Every week they sit in the same pews, blow the dust off the hymnals, and go through the motions. The aging minister wears a black suit and dark tie as he preaches on "Give Me That Old Time Religion," based on a verse-by-verse exposition of seven chapters from Leviticus. Stodgy, dull, inflexible, dogmatic, stuck-like concrete in pointless tradition—that's the caricature of Old First Church.

Down the block at two-year-old New Life Church, people sit on folding chairs singing praise choruses projected onto the gymnasium wall in their rented school building. Noisy children run around while the gum-chewing worship band cranks up the volume to ear-splitting levels. The youthful minister wears a faded T-shirt and denim shorts as he preaches on "Why You Need to Join Our Positive Lives for Positive People Support Group," mentioning only one verse of Scripture (out of context). Compromising, worldly, disrespectful, unscriptural, arrogant—that's the caricature of New Life Church.

Both both caricatures are wrong. Oh, sure. There are extremes on both sides. Funny stuff and phony stuff happen in old and new churches alike. But neither one has a corner on God's blessing. Each holds misconceptions about the other. And both have more in common than they think. Old First Church once was newly planted, meeting in a schoolhouse or a barn, sloppy with some of the details but excited as new people came to Christ. And someday New Life Church will be 150 years old, trying hard to meet the needs of a new generation.

Old First Church needs to heed Jesus' warnings about forsaking first love and sliding into lukewarmness (Revelation 2:4-5, 16). New Life Church needs to remember that when developing a young church, "Each one should be careful how he builds" (1 Corinthians 3:10). And both churches need to work together for the kingdom's sake—as coworkers, not competitors—as partners, not rivals.

Partnership is a New Testament idea. When the apostle Paul wrote that "All the churches of Christ send greetings" (Romans 16:16), it wasn't just a meaningless comment. To Christians who felt isolated, those words brought priceless encouragement. How comforting to know that "Your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings" (1 Peter 5:9)!

In the book of Acts there was a team spirit. The Jerusalem church sent Barnabas, one of their finest leaders, to help strengthen the new church in Antioch (11:22-24). There was a generous spirit. The young Antioch church lovingly reached back to their older brothers in faith by receiving offerings for the famine-struck Christians in Judea (11:28-30). There was a missionary spirit. Eventually the young Antioch congregation planted churches too, sending Paul and Barnabas to preach at other cities (13:1-3). There was a spirit of accountability. The apostles returned to Antioch and Jerusalem and "reported all that God had done through them" (14:27). And there was a spirit of joy. "The news made all the brothers very glad" (15:3).

Let's put caricatures aside. Our misconceptions distort the real picture. Lost people need the Lord. And to help them best, we need each other.