The Church: The Family of God with Erin Wheeler
Today we get to talk with Erin Wheeler about one of our favorite topics here at Journeywomen, the church! Erin is a mom, a pastor’s wife, a theology teacher, and a writer for TGC and 9Marks. Her first book, The Good Portion: The Church, is slated to be released in 2022. Today’s conversation is packed with Scripture that reveals God's heart for his body. We pray that after listening to this conversation, you’ll be encouraged to press into the church and seek to worship and serve the Lord alongside brothers and sisters in your local context.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
I imagine there are women coming to this conversation on the church with lots of different church experiences… Some of the listeners might be happily plugged into a local church, others might feel some degree of shame for not being plugged into a local church, some might be dissatisfied with their church, and still others might be hurt from a poor experience within the church. Would you be willing to offer some encouragement to our friends who are feeling hesitancy when it comes to having a conversation about church? What is the value of being involved in the local church?
How do we become part of the church? What is the church?
How does God use the church to help us know and love him more?
For those of us who are professing believers, how is the church our family? How does Jesus feel about the church?
What are some other helpful metaphors we see in Scripture that might help us better understand the church? How do these metaphors help us better understand who God is and how we are to live in light of him?
What is God’s purpose for his church? Why is it important that we understand that? What is the work of the church primarily about?
When we’re talking about the church, is there a distinction between the local church and the global or universal church? How are the two related? How are they distinct?
What is the importance of attending church and not only attending, but actually being active members of a local church?
What sets the local church apart from para-church organizations and other Christian “communities”? What's the value in knowing and loving people who are different (personalities, preferences, demographics, etc) from us in the church?
How does love undergird all of our life together as a local church? How does our love for one another reflect our love for God to a lost and dying world?
NOTEWORTHY QUOTES
“We’re not supposed to be comfortable in this life, we’re supposed to be looking for heaven and finding those people to walk with us on that journey toward heaven—and that’s what the church is for, to help each other along on that journey.”
“The church is the Lord’s idea. It was a divine idea from the beginning of time.”
“The Lord created churches for sinful people to come and to be with him and with his people to demonstrate to the world what he is like.”
“Loving unlovely people is the skillset that we need to grow in.”
“We lose out when we try to do the Christian life alone. The Christian life was never meant to be done alone.”
“The church is a place for God’s people to gather together for the praise and glory of his name.”
“To be a part of that people of God is to join in and partner with and covenant among those people.
“The Lord intended for us to be together in order to be in each other's lives.”
“This is how you can know God and this is how you can love God—through the local church.”
“We need other people to be able to lovingly point things out and to help us to grow in godliness as we’re walking that road to heaven.”
“Our desire is sanctification, and through the Lord Jesus' work in our lives he uses people as part of that project. We are not meant to do it independently.”
“The church is a means of grace that God has given us to be weekly refueled.”
“God gives us pastors and shepherds to guide us along the way. When we sit under the preached Word, the Lord is using it supernaturally in our lives collectively.”
“We grow, and when we grow we glorify him.”
“From the very beginning of time the Lord is telling a story to us of his love for us.”
“We are meant to continue to fight the good fight and persevere together to the end, and we cannot do that independent of the Lord or independent of one another.”
“The main purpose that God has given us is to glorify himself.”
“The Westminster Catechism says our purpose is to glorify God and enjoy him forever; let’s enjoy him together forever.”
“We proclaim God to the world in our gathering together.”
“The church is a place for people who recognize that they need help, and who are going to the Lord Jesus for that help.”
“When you see a church working together, it’s demonstrating to the world a different kind of story than the world would know. It defies the odds. It naturally produces a witness.”
“The point of the church is to make disciples.”
“Our main end in life is the Lord Jesus’ love and forgiveness, and his grace for those who come to him in faith.”
“The local church is a local body of believers who have made a profession of faith and who have covenanted together for a season of their lives. The universal Church is all true believers from all time… It’s our local churches that make up the universal Church.”
“Healthy churches should be laboring alongside each other, encouraging each other in the work that is being done.”
“The local church was created by God and for God; it is God’s creation.”
“Even the imperfect demonstrates a beauty because God is in the business of redeeming.”
“The local church is the place where you can give of yourself, not be a consumer but be a provider and use those gifts Paul talks about...for the benefit of the church.”
“The church says to the world what God is like.”
“Because we bear his name, he loves us and wants to display his love through us.”
“The church should be the safest place for a Christian who is struggling with sin.”
“The end goal [of church discipline] is to demonstrate to the world how God loves us by correcting us and sanctifying us and making us more like him.”
“The Lord is love himself.”
“It’s one thing for us to say that we’re a Christian; it’s another thing for someone to see us being Christians together.”
PRACTICAL STEPS
Pursue church membership
Utilize your gifts to serve the church
Read God’s Word (specifically Ephesians) looking for the local church
RESOURCES
The Good Portion: The Church, by Erin Wheeler (forthcoming 2022)
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
SIMPLE JOYS
Being outside in nature
Good coffee and a book
My husband and my children (specifically dinner with them)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What is God’s purpose for the church?
What value have you drawn from being intimately involved in your local church? Write down or share a particularly encouraging church experience.
Where in Scripture do you see God’s heart for the church? Consider memorizing one of these passages.
How has the church been a means for you to come to know and love God more?
What are you going to do or implement based on what you learned in this week’s episode?
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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