What is the church for?

[Meandering Monday] 

A few years ago at gym night I asked a bunch of men a curious question: curious to me at least. Seems there are ten thousands of questions and I learned early in life the pain of asking curious questions when no one is interested, not even a little. But, having learned that lesson long ago, I easily sense when the question rising in my soul can be spoken without being rejected.

We were standing around between games, chatting about church life when I tossed it out: 

“What is church for?”

Blanks stares. I must have really mis-read this. I immediately expected looks of derision and plain avoidance by changing the subject. It wasn't that bad, but no one answered. There were 4 or 5 guys there, all responsible, thinking people with whom I had mutual respect. But they had no ready answer. (I should add, none of them were from my own church.)

And maybe for good reason. What is church for? Perhaps best to define terms and see if we know what we are asking.

Church: a gathering of people, usually on Sunday morning in a context known as religious, usually indoors, usually including music, spoken word, reading of Scripture, forms of practice, and mutual relational bonding.

For: To what end? What is the purpose of church? What does church do that cannot be done in any other way?

Now it is I who do not have a made-from-scratch answer, at least not one without qualifications. But I'll give it a go.

Church is for.....connecting with God. But we said it had to be a purpose that cannot be accomplished outside the church. So the purpose must be larger.

Church is for.....corporate worship. This qualifies and explains and seems true to me. All other purposes are secondary to this and flow out of it. The kicker here is if we think it must be something that no other organization can do. And any one else who is doing corporate worship is by definition doing what a church is for.

Where does that leave us? What of the "salvation station a block from hell?" What of fellowship, Gospel teaching, moral accountability? Surely those all apply. But are they the principle purpose of the church?

This is a meander and I'll not finish it. So I will stop by asking you, welcomed occasional reader, What is the church for? (In one sentence or less.)