The Church is no place for Superheroes

Christians have different notions of what church is. We also have more views on how a church should operate and look like. When you do some serious probing you will find that a lot of our views of what the church is and how it should function are often unbiblical. In fact, in a number of cases, those of us who have solid doctrinal statements of the church on paper do not practice what we write, and our true belief is hence revealed in our practice.

One biblical truth about the church that we fail to practice is the reality that the church is the body of Christ (Eph. 4:12-16, Col. 1:18-21, 1 Cor. 12). If you think about it that is a rather vivid and powerful analogy. All one has to do is think and look at how their body functions, many parts with different roles but one body working in unison towards one purpose. This has implications for how we view and do ‘church’.

Christ is the head of church

The church is the body, and Christ is the head. The Bible makes this very clear (Matt. 16:13-19, Eph. 4:15, Col. 1:18). The church has only one head and shepherd, and that is Jesus Christ; every leader in the church regardless of title(s) is a mere instrument in the hands of the chief shepherd and will be answerable to Him on the day of judgement. That Christ is the head of the church means that He is the one who builds and grows His church. No human being is capable of carrying out such supernatural work. But it also means He guides and directs the church. It is important to realise that we do not have to manufacture clever ways of growing the body or clever methods of drawing in the lost, we simply follow what the Head has prescribed, namely preach the Word and live by the Word.

Everyone has a role (you are you for a reason)

Every member in the church is significant in that they have a role to play. Just as every part of the body is significant and plays a role for the whole body to function properly, in the same way, every member of a church has a role to play for that church to function properly. God has placed every one of us where we are for a reason. At a time when partiality, tribalism, racism and all forms of segregation are ripe it is important to remember that no member is more important than others. Regardless of one’s financial and social status, Christ died and saves us the same way. Therefore, no one should think they are indispensable, and on one should think they are irrelevant to the body.

I have heard of people who in their pride would refuse to give as the Lord has blessed them, claiming if they did so the church would suffer after they left because they happened to be the richest person in the church. The Lord has placed you where you are for a reason; serve Him with your all and to the best of your abilities. Stop this nonsense of church politics! If the Lord moves you, He will still build His church.

The body is designed to be interdependent

No one part in the body can do everything. God in His wisdom made different parts with different roles to serve in order for the parts to be interdependent. God designed the church in such a way that its members serve each other. The young and old, the rich and poor, the single and married, the men and women, the parents and children, the couples with children and those without, the mature Christian and the recent converts, the different cultures, tribes, tongues and races blending together as one serving one another—that is the Church of Jesus Christ.

Not only do the different statues in life help us to serve one another but the different gifting as well. No one person can do everything. People who behave like the survival of the church depends on them have a serious level of pride that even my charismatic brethren cannot deliver you from! On a serious note; however, God does not gift anyone to do everything.

This also means that we all should be humble enough to let people serve us. We all need to be ministered to, we all need to be exhorted, encouraged, rebuked, comforted, corrected and helped in time of need. We should be humble, vulnerable and let others serve. As my dear wife constantly reminds me “you are not superman.” I would go further and add, the church has no place for superman or any other super hero for that matter, unless of course they humble themselves and appreciate the beauty of interdependence.