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We are to be instruments of grace, healing, redemption, and justice in our communities and around the world. We want our churches to make a tangible difference in their communities as Christ’s physical presence in the world today.
Paul tells us something rather amazing in his letters to the Corinthians and the Ephesians—he tells us that we, the church, are the body of Christ. Now, please understand that Paul is talking to individual, local congregations, not about the “universal” church. Though I’ve heard that expression for years, as I studied the expression—as I meditated upon it—I became convinced that there is more to this than we think. So often when we speak of being the body of Christ, we think simply of the organization of the church. We think that “Body” is a convenient metaphor for how the church should work, how the church should utilize the many gifts of their people, how the church should be organized. But I think there is more to it than that.
You see, every Christmas we celebrate the fact that Jesus was the Incarnation of God—that “God became flesh and dwelt among us!” Jesus was the essence of God in human flesh. So if you ask the question “What would God be like as a human?” the answer is Jesus. Just as Jesus embodied who God is, we, the church, are to embody who Christ is in the world today. It is more than just “What Would Jesus Do?”—a noble sentiment by the way—it is “Who Would Jesus Be?” The church is called to literally do and be here on earth today who Jesus was and is.
 Now, that is of course an impossible task. But we live by faith and not by works. So we must strive to do our best to be Christ to the world, to be the hands and feet—and heart and soul for that matter—of Jesus to our hurting world. To me, that is the essence of the Great Commission, the Great Commandment, and any other “Great” you’ve ever come up with. But the question is how do we do that?
This is where Holy Scripture comes in. The church has been called to study the life of Jesus and then to do what Jesus did. We see that Jesus came to be in relationship with the world He created and we are to enter into these caring relationships with the poor, the outcast, the hurting. As we discover Jesus doing acts of grace and mercy for people, we are called to do acts of grace and mercy. As we find Him teaching about God’s love and God’s expectations for us to seek after righteousness, we are called to teach about God’s love and God’s expectations for our lives. And when we see Him inviting the “lost,” the outcast, the hopeless and others to New Life, we are to offer this same invitation to the people we minister to as His Body.
This is really nothing new. The church has always known this truth about who and what we are called to be. We just haven’t quite got it down yet. And the real sign of this is how people respond to the Church today. You see, as I read the Gospels, when people were in trouble, when they were hopeless, or hungry or hurting and they knew Jesus was in town, they went to Him for help. But today, the first place people look to for help is… well, suffice it to say it is not the church.
So we are only able to manifest a vague image of Christ in the world today. But it is our hope, it is our intention, that the people we serve will see a far clearer image of Christ through the ministry of our churches than they ever have before. It is our hope that the churches of the ABCRM will truly become the hands and feet of Christ in our world today.
Rev. Steve Van Ostran, D. Min.
Executive Minister
ABCRM
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