FROM BILL CLARK, INTERIM MODERATOR

Dear Friends,

It has been for me a privilege to spend some time with the Bristo deacons as we have thought, prayed and discussed together during these past weeks the health and f u t u r e o f t h e fellowship here. It quickly became clear how important the building is when t h i n k i n g a b o u t anything to do with the future of the church at Bristo. It got me thinking back over my ministry, to the part buildings have played. In Bradford we grappled with the costs involved in maintaining an old building. In Alness I was clerk of works while a new building was erected and I arrived in Dedridge to be pastor in a church where a brand new building had just been completed one year previously. It seems we simply cannot get on without buildings!

Leaving you to contemplate that issue, let me say something about the church as building. The idea of the church as ‘the building of God’ is rooted in the Ta b e r n a c l e a n d Temple of the Old Testament covenant, but now that Christ has come and is now our only high priest, the old sacrificial system has been abolished. Christ has become the fulfilment of tabernacle and temple yet people still talk of the church as a material building. Yet a building is no longer the temple or house of God. It is God’s people who are now called God’s Building. There are no more holy places, only holy people. It seems that God deliberately chose a tabernacle, as the symbol of His presence among his people, because of its mobility! God’s people moved when He moved and the tabernacle was easily carried with them. From the start then God intended that his dwelling should be among his p eople (Exodus 25:8). On the other hand the temple was not God’s idea but David’s, he allowed a temple to be built as a concession in the same way as he allowed them to appoint a king.

What then does it mean for the people of God to be God’s building?

• The Church must be centred on Christ (Matthew 16:18); He is the a r c h i t e c t a n d builder and it is to Him that each local church must take its direction.

• The Church must be founded on Christ (1 Cor. 3:11). It is possible to build a sizeable s u p e r s t r u c t u r e wi thout taking enough care to the foundations. This must refer to a p e r s o n a l relationship with Christ.

• The Church is held together by Christ (1 Peter 2:4 ff).

• The Church is sustained and indwelt by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16).

• The Church is made of human stones (1 Peter 2).

Note this: The Church is still under construction (Phil. 1:12-14; 2 Cor. 5: 1-15).

Buildings under construction can look a mess. Thus, we as the living stones which make up the building of God are not the finished product.

What does this picture say to us? Let me answer that question by posing some more.

1. Are our lives shaped so that the vice of Christ is the voice we listen to individually and together?

2. Amid the other sessions we may give, do people who come among us see
that Christ is central t o o u r l i v e s together?

3. If the church is filled with God’s Holy Spirit, then the presence of the
Lord will be evident to all. Is this true of this fellowship? If not what do we
need to do?

4. If the building is s t i l l u n d e r construction, in other words we are
not the finished article and we understand this to be true, how will this understanding affect how we behave toward one another?

5. Forgiveness and love are the cement which hold the stones together. Are
we noted for this? Is forgiving love above everything that which makes us
a church?

What a responsibility! What a privilege! We are the people of God! God’s temple! Let us live what we are day by day as we move into the future, for the future belongs to
Him!

Bill Clark