Doing "church"

My prayers have changed much over the past few months. Of course I pray for protection over my immediate family and pray for my friends, enemies, and whoever comes to my heart while I pray but lately I've found myself praying for unity in the body. If we are called to be witnesses to God's reign here on earth we need to devalue our own personal ideas about what that means and breath by breath ask the Holy Spirit to help us let go. It seems that if we belong to a megachurch we feel that is Christ's model. If we have a house church, that is Christ's model. If we worship traditionally that is Christ's model. If we have a street corner ministry, that is Christ's model. It boggles the mind at how many models we can call Christ's in an effort to defend our own preferences. I'm not the first but I want to go on record to say they are all valid. Last night I talked to a friend who just surrendered to Christ. He isn't, in his own words, the "church" kind of guy. We have another mutual friend that he avoids like the plague because he feels guilty for not taking him up on his invitation to attend the friend's Pentecostal charismatic church. My friend does "church" just fine one on one. He plays worship songs on his guitar, reads from scripture and ponders creation, lives out his new-found faith at work and at home. He lives a long distance away from me so we've done study on the phone. I suggested that the next time our mutual friend puts the pressure on he invites him to do a one on one Bible study. I think that is a powerful way to worship God. It always has been for me and this morning I witnessed it happening in our local coffee shop.

I've got men's group tonight and it happens to be my favorite way of doing "church". What is yours? I certainly am not saying that I think what my favorite way is necessarily God's favorite way to have "church" done but I think living life together in as real a manner as possible is probably the easiest way to do "church". Lets talk about communion next.

Blessings and Peace