I am going through the “Rooted” discipleship book with a member of our congregation. It is my first time reading the book, and it has been an enlightening journey together. There are ten weeks of readings, and each week is broken down into five days of reading, questions, and reflection space.

This is the beginning of week 10, day 1 –

“I’m assuming that we are all committed to the Church. We are not only Christian people; we are also Church people. We are not only committed to Christ, we are also committed to the body of Christ. At least I hope so … For the Church lies at the very center of the eternal purpose of God. It is not a divine afterthought. It is not an accident of history. On the contrary, the Church is God’s new community.”                    — John Stott

Then, they add this as their first paragraph following the quote.

“The Bible is very clear: Christians are to belong to a Church – to belong to the body of Christ. That word, ‘belong,’ is kind of a tricky word, because it means more than ‘just show up as often as you can on Sundays.’ We use the word ‘belong’ the same way you would if you were saying you belong to your family. When you belong to your family, it doesn’t mean you just show up to be fed when you are hungry, rest when you’re tired, and use the family name for application when needed.”                                –Rooted page 208