BIG "C" versus LITTLE "c"

from The New Dictionary of Biblical Theology: 

Although the church is often thought to be a human institution, a social arrangement to facilitate the interests and mission of like-minded people, as indeed it is, the Bible presents it as primarily a consequence of the character and purposes of the trinitarian God. Its origins lie in God’s desire to have a people of his own (Deut. 7:6). It is a community of those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord (1 Cor. 12:3). It is a fellowship where the Holy Spirit lives (1 Cor. 3:16), directing and energizing its community life.  

In my first post about Christian women and their role in the family, I mentioned the aspect of later talking about Christian women's role in the Church--big "C".  

To help clarify this concept of the BIG "C" versus the LITTLE "c" used for the term "church," you may want to see this article posted by Tod Bolsinger, as a writer of guidance for Christian leaders.

Monday, February 06, 2006

Big C Little c: What’s the difference?

From The New Dictionary of Biblical Theology :
Although the church is often thought to be a human institution, a social arrangement to facilitate the interests and mission of like-minded people, as indeed it is, the Bible presents it as primarily a consequence of the character and purposes of the trinitarian God. Its origins lie in God’s desire to have a people of his own (Deut. 7:6). It is a community of those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord (1 Cor. 12:3). It is a fellowship where the Holy Spirit lives (1 Cor. 3:16), directing and energizing its community life.   

Throughout this most interesting discussion stimulated by George Barna’s Revolution, has been a thread about the difference, priority and relatedness of the “Big C” universal, invisible, “catholic” Church and the “little c” local congregation.  The assumption, even for those who take Barna to task for abandoning the local church, is that when in comes right down to it, in the New Testament, the Big C Church is really the point.  That what Jesus meant when he said things like “Upon this rock I will build my church…” (Matt 16:18) and what Paul meant when he said things like, “(Jesus) is the head of the body the church…” (Col 1:18) is primarily—and maybe solely—about the Big C Church.
To them the point of the “ecclesia” or “gathering” (or “called out ones” as some like to translate the word that is usually simply, “church”) is not the “gathering” at all.  For them, the point is that God is calling out of society individuals who will respond to Jesus Christ in faith and acknowledge his Lordship so that they may be connected--even “ingrafted”--mysteriously, both Jew and Gentile, as the one people of God, the one Body of Christ, the one universal, invisible, catholic, Church.
And they are partly right.
There is no doubt that in the New Testament the great mystery (Eph. 3:5-6) is how God is making of many tribes and peoples and races—both Jew and Gentile—one people that is his presence on earth, the Body of Christ, “incarnation” of the Triune God in Jesus.  But, in every instance, the point, the radical—yes, revolutionary—point of that mystical “Big C” Church is that it is present in each "little c" church and that the way each church lives together is the witness not only to the presence of the "Big C", but of the Triune God's own presence.
For the New Testament writers, one is saved, joined to Christ and joins the (Big C) Church by confessing faith and being baptized into the (little c) church (Acts 2:41-47).   The primary point of the church of the New Testament ISN’T that everyone who makes a personal commitment to Jesus is part of some mystical universal, catholic church, but that every true church in every place is the Universal Church for that particular locale.  The Spirit is the gift given to the church and passed on through the fellowship of believers, not what individual Christians bring to a gathering. One receives the Holy Spirit by trusting Christ and joining God's people in a specific church through baptism.
Ecclesia is not a collection of distinct “called out” individuals but an intentionally social and covenantal gathering, that is distinct because the people have no earthly reason to be committed to each other except for the work of God in Jesus, making them one body, one family, one people—both with each other and in a wonderful way linked to eve (READ full article HERE)

via bolsinger.blogs.com