In one sense, people are the very building blocks of the church, the ‘living stones’ Peter describes as being built into a spiritual house in which God dwells. (1 Pet 2:4-5) But there are also ‘building blocks’ we need to use in our lives if we are to be built up and if we are to see the church built up. It’s not only the number of ‘stones’ or ‘bricks’ which matter, but the strength of the material.
Paul tells us to encourage each other and build each other up. (1 Thess 5:11) We do this as we each individually attend to our personal relationship with God and help each other to follow God more closely. Our ‘interior life’, as Mother Teresa called it, is all important, for it is out of this intimacy with God that all our work flows. To build ourselves up, we must develop:
- our prayer life (both individually, spending time with God, listening for His voice and pouring out our hearts to Him, and collectively, understanding that there is power in corporate prayer.)
- our knowledge of God’s word (reading the Bible daily and taking every opportunity to take in God’s word and build our lives upon it, using the opportunities we have collectively to learn from Bible study and sermons so that God’s word is constantly shaping our lives and directing all we do.)
- our care and concern for each other (fellowship or ‘koinonia’ is so important to the life of the church – see Acts 2:42, Acts 4:32-35. As the saying goes, ‘united we stand, divided we fall’. Think of the acronym ‘TEAM’ – ‘together everyone achieves more’. We need each other and we need the encouragement of meeting together to pray, study the word, take part in Holy Communion and worship to keep us actively pursuing God in every area of our lives. (Heb 10:24-25))
- our outreach to others (we are a royal priesthood, called to be ambassadors for Christ, bringing His message of reconciliation to everyone. (2 Cor 5:19-21) Personal witness is vitally important; we all have a story to tell. (Ps 107:2) But we can also do more together than we can do individually, which is why corporate outreach is so important. There are many ways we can be involved in witness (e.g. helping at the church youth club, Parent & Toddler group, coffee morning or holiday fun days), but however we reach out to others, we have to be aware that our lives must match our words and there must be consistency, honesty and integrity in how we live.)
