If you grew up in the church like me, chances are you know the poem commonly illustrated with our hands:

Here’s the church

Here’s the steeple 

Open the doors

And see all the people

Close the doors 

Hear the pray

Open the doors

And they all go away

Short. Simple. Sweet. I recited these words these words all throughout my childhood. Then recently I found myself teaching my 2-year-old son the poem. As he clasped his little chubby hands together and I showed him how to form the steeple with his fingers, I said, “This is the church”. And as those words came out of my mouth, I felt a pit fill my stomach. This poem, while cute, has it all wrong. The church isn’t a building, and the church doesn’t just pray together and then scatter. Instead, the church is God’s body on earth. A community of believers. A family. The children’s poem needs re-written.

In the world we live in today, I can honestly see the appeal for the poem to be true. After all, living in community with others isn’t easy. Especially when that community crosses cultures, languages, and traditions. But it can be done!

Just take a look at the early church in Acts 2 to see a blueprint for what real Christian community can look like. Here, the church (the people, not the building with the steeple) was devoted to the scriptures together, broke bread together, prayed together, had all in common together, shared their possessions together, went to temple together, and praised God together. And what was the result? Their souls were blessed, they experienced signs and wonders, they had glad and sincere hearts, the church grew, and people were being saved every day! 

It seems too good to be true, right? But it isn’t! God’s church should and can be like this today. We just have to be willing to be in community with one another. Real, honest, and humble community.

People all over the world need community. You and I need community. No matter where we live and work, let us be women who strive to recreate the community the church had in Acts 2. And as we do so, I am confident God will add to our numbers daily those who are being saved.