The word ‘church’ does not have one meaning. Depending on the context of usage, it could mean a building, a gathering of believers in Christ, orthe universal collection of the body of Christ.
Whichever meaning we want to adopt for any context, building the church is the collective responsibility of everyone who is a child of God, who has given to us to build ourselves and our physical place of worship.
We can build ourselves by meeting both physical and spiritual needs of members. Beyond meeting needs, we should also strive to be united because we have one God who appears as Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. He is not divided.
1. Building the church through love (Acts 2: 43-47)
Love is vital in all relationships because it unites. It is the hallmark of any healthy family. The early church came to be after Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the apostles and other disciples.
Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he boldly preached the good news to people around them. About 3,000 people surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ and became believers.
These new Christians were united with other believers and were taught by the apostles. All the believers grew in faith as they heardthe apostles’ teachings. Many signs and wonders were done among them. The church grew significantly because they were united in God’s love.
Some of the practices that were common among these include: devotion to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer, ng performing wonders and signs, togetherness and having everything in common.
They grew spiritually, increased in number, and voluntarily did things together without being forced. They recognised one another as brothers and sisters in God’s family. The Christians in Jerusalem put all they had together so that there would be no one among them who was in need.
They sold property and possessions to share with anyone in need, among them. They continued to break bread together in homes like our house fellowship centres. They ate together with gladness and sincerity of heart, like the love feast organised in our churches.
As a result of their love for one another, they enjoyed the favour of all the people. Also, God increased their number daily. Any church that lacks God’s love among the brethren will not grow as it should. Read 1 John 4:8.
2. Building the church through spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1-11; 1 Corinthians 14: 26)
The human body has many parts. Each part has a specific function, but they all work for the good of the whole body. The body is a system where each part depends on the others to function effectively.
Little wonder, when there is a problem with one part of the body, the pain is felt in the whole body. As such, a body part does not function independently and effectively.
Spiritual gifts, as the name implies, are gifts from God voluntarily given to all believers. They are given by the Holy Spirit and are expressed by those who have the Holy Spirit in them. The gifts are different, but the same Holy Spirit distributes them and works through the believers and for the believers.
The gifts can be identified through the manifestation of God’s Spirit in the believers. The spiritual gifts can manifest in believers as the gift of faith, word of wisdom, word of knowledge, healing, miraculous power, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits (discerning spirit), speaking in different kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues and more.
The gifts are given to all those who have surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as their Saviour and Lord. 1 Corinthians 12:11 says, ‘and He distributes them to each one, just as he determines.’ Therefore, it is Gwhohat determines what gift a believer has.
According to 1 Corinthians 12:6, ‘There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone, it is the same God at work.’
No gift is better or greaterthan the other. They are all the same before God because they are all from Him through His Spirit. Just like the parts of our body, they function to complement one another.
These gifts are given to God’s children for our common good. We are instructed to use them to serve in the church, fellowships, and other little groups, such as our various church departments. The gifts are to benefit everyonein the body of Christ and humanity generally.
Every child of God must first of all use the gifts to the glory of God. The gifts are to be used to help the church of God grow both spiritually and numerically. As you use your gifts, you are building God’s church.
3. Building the church through sharing (Acts 4: 32-37)
The early church was a sharing church. Through the teachings of the apostles, the believers learnt the benefit of sharing among themselves without grumbling or being forced. Sharing simply means giving part of what you have. They used this noble act to build the church of God.
All the believers were united. No one claimed that any of their possessions were their own. They believed that God is the owner of all things, and they were just custodians of material possession as such, no one neglected the needs of their fellow believers. They would not let a brother or sister suffer lack when others had enough.
They were always ready to give voluntarily and sacrificially to the apostles so that no one would be in want among the believers in the early church. The apostles were able to concentrate on witnessing for Christ with great grace and power.
Specifically, today’s passage described a man named Joseph, also called Barnabas. He was a Levite from Cypruswho sold his land and brought the money to the apostles so that they could meet the needs in the church.
The unity and generosity of the early believers attracted unbelievers to them. Daily, God added to their numbers as many as were being saved. So, the early church grew with no restriction.
4. Building the church through teamwork (Nehemiah 4: 1-23)
The enemies of the Israelites destroyed the wall of Jerusalem due to the sin of the people. God allowed the Israelites to suffer reproach among the nations that were around them because of their sin. After 70 years in exile, the captives returned from exile in batches.
Meanwhile, Nehemiah was among those captured, and He became the king’s cupbearer in Babylon. There, he heard that the wall of Jerusalem was in ruins. He was unhappy about the condition of his nation, so he decided to do something about it.
Having prayed to God about his decision to go to Jerusalem to start the rebuilding of the wall, God gave him favour before the king, who gave him everything he needed for the work, along with some men who were ready to rebuild with him. When they started building, they faced opposition from Sanballat, who was the governor of Samaria.
He did not want the Israelites to build their wall. So he ridiculed the Jews and tried to scare them. Nehemiah and his men went away. Both Sanballat and Tobiah used ridicule and insult to try to stop the Jews from building the wall.
However, Nehemiah prayed, planned and continued to work. The rebuilding progressed well because the people (the men working with Nehemiah) had set their hearts and minds on accomplishing the task. They did not lose faith or give up because of the insults, threats and ridicule of Sanballat and Tobiah.
They persevered in the work, and Nehemiah was consistently praying. By God’s wisdom, as the people were working, they had with them swords, spears, and bows.
He also appointed some men to build a wall equipped with spears, shields, bows and armour to protect them. The noblemen were not left out, as they obeyed the instructions given by Nehemiah.
Everyone in Judah contributed to building the wall from morning till night. The men served as guards at night and workers by day; even when they went to get water, their weapons were with them, and they never took off their clothes.
What a great sacrifice and outstanding teamwork by the people of Judah. Judah’s men worked with Nehemiah to accomplish the great task of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem, as God commanded.
Conclusion
The church of God includes both adults and children. Children’schurch, esespecially is age-graded and as such their needs must be catered for. Children worship centre is an integral part of the entire church of God.
As teachersand members of the church, you are role models to these children. As you teach them, you are involved in building the church.
Therefore, be part of all activities of the church and be faithful in the assignment committed to your care. Let the church know what is happening in the church and participate in their little ways.
Love is a command by God to all His children. He enjoins us not to forsake the gathering of believers. (Hebrews 10:25). As you fellowship with other children in church, you should love them.
Also, the presence of the Holy Spirit in believers makes the spiritual gift manifest. Are there things you have at home like books, shoes, clothes, bags, caps, money in the bank, and other materials that you could give to those you notice are in need in your church, school, community or neighbourhood?
Give them out. Lastly, can you join others to clean the church? From today, put into practice the culture of working as a team with your siblings at home, in the classroom, in church, at school, and everywhere there is a common goal to achieve, and God will bless your efforts together. Read the similar post on this page.
