Where do you go to church?

[The following is a conversation I had with a man I met today.]

"Where do you go to church?" 

I fumble for words to tell the guy about my congregation and, at the same time, correct the idea that church can be fixed to a place or contained in a service.  Now, I know that this fellow did not mean to enter a theological conversation with me; however, his question ignores the real and radically necessary essence of the church in our world.  If "church" is as innocuous as a place or even an activity, then our witness, our life together, is very small.  

"I am a part of the East Goshen Mennonite Church," I responded.

"Where is that?"

 Now, I am stuck.  How can I dismiss the core nature of our faith community by restricting it to an address definable by Google Maps?  No, really...  If he can find my "church" with his car's GPS, then it is so much less than I thought it to be.  

"Our building is on Lincoln Avenue, just east of town."

"What time is your church service?"

We are drowning in a sea of misunderstanding.  God save us from defining ourselves by place, time or even gathered activities such as singing from hymnals or communion by intinction.  Jesus himself, who shook off established religiosity to define himself as the proclaimer of a kingdom without a throne, is the clearest model of the Christian community.  If Jesus characterized the kingdom as "the way" of liberation and abundant life, then I had better find a new way to introduce people to my part of it.

"We worship at 8 a.m. and 10:30 on Sundays... we often eat together, and attempt to follow Christ in all of our living."

"Ahh... Oh."  [Conversation ended.]

We need to find a new language for identifying what it means to be followers of Christ.