Continuing with Todd Wagner‘s emphasis on “church” being the people, not a building, what difference does it really make? It makes a lot of difference if you’re a Navigator, a member of what is sometimes referred to as a “para-church” organization. That is, a lot of people believe that the real “church” are those organizations with buildings that meet on Sundays, and everything else is, at best, para-church.

Todd is the first pastor I’ve heard say that we Navigators are as much the church as the buildings and organizations that claim the title “church.” Max Barnett, many years a professor at Southwestern Baptist Seminary, about whom I’ve blogged, was also at the 2:7 Jubilee Conference in Dallas three weeks ago, and he spoke highly of Beyond the Local Church by Sam Metcalf. I’m about halfway through it.

Sam makes the biblical case that God has always worked with two types of organizations: those who shepherd people day-to-day in a local context (Old Testament priests, Roman Catholic Dioceses, and Protestant churches) and those who are called to a special, often pioneering work (Old Testament prophets, Roman Catholic Orders like the Dominicans, Franciscans, Jesuits, Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, and organizations like Campus Crusade–Cru, The Navigators, Young Life, etc.).

Sam says strongly, “Mother Teresa was NOT a para-Catholic!” and he calls ministries like Mother Teresa’s, The Navigators, and World Vision “apostolic” as opposed to churches led by shepherd-teachers.

This view of church and the variety of God’s work in the world takes seriously the concept that we’re all called to be the church, not just go to church. It also is big enough to include leaders who would be terrible pastors but are very effective at mobilizing people for ground-breaking Kingdom work. Jesus himself was outside the religious establishment.

Todd closed his sermon with a long list of things that had been accomplished a group of people who are part of his fellowship. His friend Christie wrote:

This is what’s been going on in my local church: because of God working through us, I’ve seen children in the local foster care system have an advocate; I’ve seen birth moms supported when they’ve had an unexpected pregnancy; we’ve found lost kids who have been trafficked in the sex industry; women that are being saved out of the sex trade; [and the list went on…]

Then Todd said, let me show you a picture of Christie’s church: “These six young women are responsible for everything I just read. Six young women, all of whom came from dysfunctional backgrounds. That’s Christie’s church.” It was a very provocative sermon including a whole section on “feckless” churches. You can hear it all here.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4.11, 12, ESV)

The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. (Acts 4.13, NLT)