Belong (part 2) The "what" vs the "who" of belonging

What's the least I can do to belong to the church?

In part 1 we explored the idea of belonging to someone: it can be scary, but it can also be beautiful. In our relationship with God, being His means being loved, safe and secure.

When it comes to the church the same should hold true.

Before I say what I think the least we can do is, I want to discuss one thing that is a major road block to rightful belonging.

Just a week or so ago I blogged about the term "worship" and how it is quickly supplanting the term "church" as the place that we go on Sunday mornings (You can read more about that here). The problem is that neither worship nor church are places we go...
unfortunately "church" had become synonymous to the building in some contexts and in others it is used as an institution. Both are incorrect and can be harmful.

Saying that the church is an institution hurts us because then it becomes another organization that we are a part of. In most situations this means that there are a select few who run everything and make all the decisions and everyone else becomes a consumer of goods & services. People become members of such institutions because of the benefits or perks that are associated with membership.

OK, I say all of this to establish that many who "join a church" are not joining themselves to a group of people who are set apart by God, but they are joining a non-profit organization that they feel they can get some kind of benefit from.

This is important to point out because if we are going to talk about the least we can do to belong, we must first take "false-belonging" out of the equation.

The Romans 12 verse (5) that says that we each belong to one another is in the midst of comparing the church to being like a body that, though it is made up of many parts, comes together to form one unit.

So the idea that must guide our sense of belonging is not "what do I belong to?" but, "who do I belong to?"

Belonging to the church means I am in submission to the head (Christ) and I belong to all the other members.'

That means that you belong all the other Christians in the world and more directly you belong to the people who make up your local congregation.

so... what's the least I can do to belong to these people?

Part 1 can be read here.
Part 3: What is the least I can do to belong to the church? Identify
Part 4: What is the least I can do to belong to the church? Ownership