Ekklaysia

This Sunday was wonderful. We came together to have a conversation about the culture we want for us around the Table. A culture which is not held accountable through positions of power, but through principles that apply to everyone equally around the Table. We applied the proposed guidelines to our decision making and we arrived at some wonderful decisions. We did not begin from a place of agreement, and we may not have fully convinced everyone, but we did have a process which was transparent and strengthened our purpose. I really am very proud of how we are forming our community around The Table.

My reflection today is on the Greek word EKKLAYSIA. This word appears in different settings in the New Testament. Many around the world use this word to describe church. I grew up with this word being used a lot more than I hear it in the American context. It shaped how I think of church. Ekklaysia means an assembly that is called out with a purpose. In my language we used the word keleesia (Urdu for the Greek Ekklaysia) to speak about our church. It meant that we were called out of the world as a group of people – not individuals – for a specific purpose. The purpose was God’s purpose not our purpose.

Hence when I reflect today, I do not think of a church as a body that comes together for individuals to be on their individual spiritual journeys, or refining their individual moral compass, or a space that helps people to feel belonging, or any other such individual reason. I don’t think of it as serving a communal purpose either, such as a great group of friends gathering to support each other. For me it has been and continues to be a gathering of people called out by God to do God’s will.

So, what is God’s will for us? For us to be a people called out (ekklaysia), we first need to know what are we called out to do? What do you think are we called out to do? What is God’s purpose in our lives as a collective people called out? I would love to hear from you in the comments section below. Simply login using either Facebook or another authenticating platform and share your thoughts.