Church as Family, Part 1: Family Business
For a long while now, the American church has looked much like this: there is a lead pastor with several elders underneath him or her, and beneath the elders are deacons, small group leaders, or other staff. Finally, making up the bottom of the pyramid, is the congregation. Much like the pyramid-like structure of a Fortune 500, most American churches are structured with a hierarchical chain-of-command. The question must be asked, is this how Jesus wanted His Church to look? I am convinced that the Ekklesia or “Church” of God should resemble the life of who God is at the core: the Trinity. It is worth noting that the Trinity is, ultimately, not a hierarchy of persons, but a family of love and eternal oneness. Theologian Milt Rodriguez writes about the Trinity:
There is only fellowship and communion of equals who share all that they are and have in their communion with each other, each living with and for the others in mutual openness, self-giving love, and support; each free, not from, but for the others. That is how Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are related in the inner circle of the Godhead.[1]
This is who God is and what He looks like, so to speak. The Triune God is an eternal community of three persons, living in eternal oneness as a family. Thus, if we are God’s image-bearers, the Church must exist first and foremost as a family. The Trinity is where our ecclesiology[2]comes from as the Church flows from the very love of God in His inner life. Indeed, because the Trinity is a family, God’s Ekklesia ought to be a family as well, not a corporation or business.
Below is a video about what it really means to be the church - to be the family of God in a world that’s forgotten what it means to be a family:
