Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. – Acts 2:46-47

Now that Rebekah has retired again, it’s time to renew the “Rebekah & Derek go to Church” series that saw some interesting posts when we left Wake Forest Presbyterian Church in August of 2021.

Back then, and until we landed at Hudson Memorial in Raleigh, we toured the region experiencing a variety of church communities and listening to some of our favorite people preach. Highlights included Trinity Avenue in Durham, University in Chapel Hill, White Memorial in Raleigh, First in Wilmington and The Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Virginia.

This time (since the end of May) we have worshipped with the good folk at First Greenville, travelled to Morton Presbyterian in Rocky Mount, attended right here at HMPC and now – this weekend – visited the lovely sanctuary at William & Mary Hart Presbyterian Church, just up the road in Leggett.

WMHPC is one of those small but very much present country congregations that essentially defines church in rural North Carolina.

The building is exquisite (with a worship space as wide as it is deep, featuring curved pews, stained glass and a gentle pitch down toward the front), the people are warm and welcoming and the church is lovingly taken care of.

Over the years, membership has slowly declined as well as aged, mirroring the local community, and attendance hovers around thirty. But the spirit and the conviction of the people at William & Mary Hart speaks of a church that will not be closing its doors any time soon.

Faithful worship is a beautiful thing, but the heart of the Gospel message is not so much maintaining a presence in the community as it is “The proclamation of the Gospel for the salvation of humankind” (that is #1 from The Six Great Ends of the Church).

The “why” of church:

Simply put, the point of church – any church – is not itself but the world Jesus came to save.

Don’t worry, good Presbyterians, I am not talking about “We won’t stop singing Just as I am until at least one more person comes down the aisle to the front of the church.”

What I am concerned with here is the biblical kind of salvation, the one where we respond positively to the invitation of Jesus to “follow me,” and to join in with God’s initiatives of love, light, grace, mercy, healing, reconciliation, justice and hope.

Salvation means participation in God’s initiatives. Church can either be a memorial to a past long gone, or an invitation into something more. Jesus is something more. This is not an academic distinction but an existential truth.

Church can either be a memorial to a past long gone, or an invitation into something more. Jesus is something more. This is not an academic distinction but an existential truth.

What the world needs is a passion for Jesus that is invitational, both in its authenticity and its response to a culture that is desperate for the kind of community that heals rather than divides, that nurtures rather than condemns and that demonstrates irrepressible love in place of judgement and exclusion.

We can get charged up with love when we are “at” church but we are not being The Church if we fail to share that saving love with those who need it – that’s when church risks turning into a museum.

If we don’t give the Good News away then we likely won’t have it either. It’s that simple.

Or, as Rebekah often puts it, “We can’t really be disciples unless we are making disciples too…” – DEREK