A Living Church: Building God’s Family Through Love and Community

Some people think the church is dead. I disagree. The church is alive, particularly when it is a house, a home, and a family. But have you ever wondered why we call churches, “the Lord’s House?” It helps to understand how the police and fire fighters talk about their buildings. It is where they gather to plan their missions to protect and to serve. It is also the center of their life outside their residence. They call those buildings “the house.” They say things like, “I’ll meet you back at the house.” Everyone knows what “the house” refers to. No explanation necessary.

This raises a deeper question. When is a house a home? A house is a home when a family lives there. And that is also true of our churches. A family gathers there. It’s where a family worships together and celebrates baptisms, weddings, parent dedications, and holidays. It is also where the family conducts funerals for their loved ones. Church is their center. It is where it all happens. It is where the Lord works in lives in special ways. It is where people will come looking for comfort and peace in their darkest hours. Home is where families learn to serve one another and the community. As we sometimes say, “Home is where the heart is.”

A House often becomes a home through suffering. In the last century, Russians were forbidden from calling their places of worship “church.” Instead, they called them “Houses of Prayer.” Those churches lived up to their name. As their political and ideological attackers lashed out against them, they found refuge and solace at the house as one great family. Their experience reminds us, “The family is a haven in a heartless world” (Christopher Lasch).

But there’s one more question. How do you make a house into a home with a family? If God’s people will seek him together, he will grow their church family. Then the house will become a welcoming home for others including people with disabilities and their families. Our families are not perfect. Neither are our churches. But they both work to meet our needs and require that we work together to reach out to other people.

May the house that God has given each of us always be a home in which he is growing his family, many of them with disabilities. Jesus said that he would build his church (Matt 16:18). You can be certain of it.

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Written By—Dave Deuel, PhD

Dave Deuel is married with four adult children, one daughter has Down syndrome. He also has a sister-in-law who has an intellectual disability. He is Academic Dean Emeritus for the Master’s Academy International, Senior Research Fellow Emeritus and Strategic Alliance SME for the Joni Eareckson Tada Disability Research Center, and Catalyst for the Disability Concerns Issue Network, the Lausanne Movement.

He served as Old Testament professor and department chairman at the Master’s Seminary for 10 years and in pastoral roles of local churches, five of which were church plants. He is currently elder for pulpit and interim pastor for area local churches in upstate New York.