Much of the church suffers from an identity crisis. We don’t know who we really are. Are we just a group of people who meet on Sundays? A Jesus’ fan club? Or a  gathering of holy people who do not wish to be soiled by their sinful neighbours? This interesting paragraph from Rich Lusk is a stirring reminder of who believers are.

*”The church is the first fruits of God’s saving work in the world. Thus the church models, in principle, human life the way God intended it to be lived. We are God’s renewed humanity. We live the life of the future in the present, the life of the kingdom in the midst of the world. As the church, we are a new city, set upon a hill, and therefore distinct, yet existing within the cities of the world. We are an alternative society, rivaling and subverting the idolatrous societies of the world. We ae a counter-culture, called to reform and transform the cultures of the peoples around us. We are a kingdom, transcending the kingdoms of earth. And we are a new Israel, a new nation dwelling amidst the nations of the earth, with our own defining story, rituals, songs, celebrations, and way of life marking us out as a unique people. We are a contrast society – specifically contrasting the light of a gospel-shaped life with the darkness of the old fallen order.”

Rich Lusk, When Church Bells Stopped Ringing: Towards a Public Ecclesiology for the 21^st Century American Church.

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