What is ‘church’ and why should we get involved?  The Bible word (ekklesia) means a gathering of people called out from their routine lives to consider important business which would affect the community.  It was used for the town or city council.  Christians then used it to describe their meetings.  ‘Church’ is not a building.  It is a group of people who come together to worship the Lord Jesus.  Some say that going to church is mainly to worship and fellowship, others feel it helps family bonding and still others say it is to learn from the Bible.  These are all good reasons to join a congregation; and indeed, if Christians do not … something is wrong (Hebrews 10:23-25).

What did 'church' mean to Jesus?  Every day, the Jewish family would gather, reciting a part of God's law to remind the adults, and teach the children, who they belonged to (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).  Every Sabbath they would attend a synagogue to hear the scriptures explained, and to pray.  On feast days they would go to the temple to sacrifice and worship (Luke 2:41-50).  That was normal life for Jesus as he grew up with Joseph and Mary and his half-siblings (Mark 6:3).  These were not optional activities; they were part of the spiritual DNA of being a Jew.

Those practices became a template for the New Testament church but with some very important differences because the Old Testament looked forward to Jesus - who is the centre-point of worship.  The temple worship, which focussed on access to God through sacrifice, was redundant when Jesus became the sacrifice to end all sacrifices (Hebrews 9:11-15).  So, the church grew out of the synagogue model - with its emphasis on hearing God's Word explained.  In addition, prayers and songs of worship became part of relational fellowship, as did the 'breaking of bread' (Acts 2:42).  'Church' was not so much what they did but an expression of who they were. Although today's church has many culturally appropriate forms, the Acts 2:42 agenda of teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers is still essential for church to be church.  None of these elements can be disregarded without compromising our identity in Christ: and receiving God's Word through teaching is foundational.  Without it, the church will become a self-centred, sentimental, power-grasping club, assuming that it exists for us and not for Christ (Colossians 1:18).

Jesus had none of those delusions, although many religious leaders did!  He explained that God's Word pointed to Himself, and validated His authority (John 5:39).  Perhaps that is why so many people starve themselves of the Word - because it upsets their sense of personal identity, authority and image.  They become spiritually anorexic while enjoying a lighter diet of inspiring company and a personalised feel-good factor.  Of course, that is the route to spiritual illness.  We trust that your commitment to receive Word@Work will be matched by a daily eagerness to let God feed your soul, so that you will be strong against temptation and full of godly wisdom as you go to work each day.