Ecclesia: called out ones; St. Paul’s term for the Church.

What would it look like if our churches began to rethink what it means to be the ecclesia, the “called out ones”? For many of us Christians, this concept of being “called out” has led to a seperatist mentality of the sacred verses secular, “us” verses “them” and has distanced us from those most in need. For many it has led to the Christian “bubble” or little world of safety far removed from the broken and hurting. It has led to the mentality of “I don’t hang out in those types of places” and “I don’t associate with those types of people”. What if we have missed the point of ecclesia altogether?

Being the ecclesia means that we as Christ followers are not just ones “called out from” something. It means we are “called out to” something. In Jesus, our focal point for God-like living, we find one who is deeply interwoven in the lives of the broken, the outcast. We don’t find him trying to escape them. Jesus engaged the culturally embarrassing people like the lepers. We don’t find him judging them and leaving them to their misery. He actually risked his reputation for them. He went against all cultural norms to embrace them. Jesus befriended the corrupt tax collectors and brought change in their lives through friendship over the dinner table. Jesus stood up for the adulterers when others accused them. Jesus was the friend of sinners.

We are called out ones. We are called out to live the heart and passion of Jesus here today in our cities. We are called out to bring beauty to the most broken, hope to the most lost, comfort and healing to the diseased. We are called out to serve the lowly. We are called out, like Jesus, to be the friend of sinners.

And we are called out from something as well. We are called out from a life of self-indulgence. We are called out from a life of self-destruction and sin. We are called out from mediocrity. We are called out from looking the other way. We are called out from ambivalence. We are called out from our little “bubbles”.

What if instead of isolating ourselves, we began intentionally bringing beauty to our neighbors and coworkers on a weekly basis? What if we invited them over for dinner? Like Jesus, our friendships with them could form in sincerity and humility and not out of false pretenses or “salesman” tactics. What if we served at the AIDS hospice? Like Jesus we could risk our reputation on them. What if we began to hang out where “those” people hang out and befriend them to the point where we realize that they are just like us: broken people in need of Jesus.

Picture if we did this not only with those who don’t know God, but also with our spiritual family. Picture a faith community full of people actively seeking ways to bless one another, opportunities to care for one another while enjoying deep friendship and meals together. A faith community who know each other intimately enough to see each other’s needs, meet those needs and love each other enough to do so. Imagine a community knowing each other’s personalities and tastes well enough to be able to bring blessings that are surprising in their timing, generosity and personal touch.

Like Jesus, we could pour our lives into being agents of beauty and reconciliation and we could do this out of a connectedness not only with each other but also with God himself. We are called out to be still and listen to the voice of God – not done in a “get-it-out-of-the-way” quickie quiet time, but in a genuine desire to commune with our God, our life source. And in hearing his voice we can allow our minds, hearts and actions to be shaped and changed, refreshed and refocused. We are called to this communion.

We are called to crave Jesus, to need him, to learn about and fill our lives with Him. The Bible is our food, nourishment, and an exciting heritage and story that we feel privileged to find our selves and our own stories within. We are called to hunger for more of this story and the person of Jesus and to study his life as seen in the Gospels. We are called to welcome the whisper of the Spirit that brings enlightenment and impact from the pages. Words that burst off the page. Words that captivate our thoughts and passion and creativity. Words that cut through hidden sin and bring life and joy back into our journey.

Picture our churches so committed to living this way that we set ourselves up to succeed by entering covenanted friendships that bring real accountability. We find the friends that God has placed in our lives who will speak the truth to us even when it is hard. And in hearing the truth and trusting the person, we choose to change. We grow. We break up the hard ground in our souls and reorient our perspectives. We continually encourage each other to live as ones sent from God and “called out to” be his passion lived out in our cities, “called out to” be his heart expressed in exuberant love to the unlovely, and “called out to” be his unafraid hands that reach deeply into the very lives and souls of the most untouchable.

We are called to be this kind of Church, this kind of community. We are called from anything that keeps us isolated from and aloof to the needs of those around us. So as we move forward together, may we hear the Spirit’s whisper, open a new chapter in the Kingdom Story and move on in our journey be the friend of sinners, Jesus’ ecclesia.

Recommended Reading:
“A New Kind of Christian” by Brian Mclaren
“The Shaping of Things to Come” by Michael Frost