Being Challenge: An 11-Day Plan to Be Like JesusSample

Day 11: Keystone Habit 5: We Choose Church

There are 168 hours in the week, and if you sleep the recommended 8 hours a night, that leaves 112 hours left. Attending church is approximately 1 hour of those 112, leaving 111 hours for the rest of life. It is easy to focus on that 1 hour and forget the 111 other hours. 

The word "church" in Greek is ekklesia. It comes from:

Ek, meaning "out from and to" and

Kaleo, meaning "to call."

In the minds of those first Christians, the church had to do with a group of people called out from one place to another. For an hour a week, we are called out of our everyday life and into our "church world." But what if they meant more than that?

Jesus first called the disciples to be fishers of men. A fisherman pulled fish from one environment or location into an entirely different one. They didn't keep the nets dragging in the water so that the fish could keep living their lives in the water; they pulled them out, intending never to have them return. God intended the early Christians to do that as well. In Hebrews, the author compelled the early church to adopt this new and countercultural lifestyle by not giving up meeting together. In Acts, Paul describes the early church as meeting together daily and breaking bread. Being a church is not just a call to change one hour of your life; this was a call to change all 168 hours of your life every week!

The purpose of the church is to leave the old life and enter into a new walk with Jesus. A transformation happens—a change from the inside out—and it is all to magnify Jesus. Nothing magnifies Jesus more than when people grow in relationship with Him.

Consistently putting yourself in place to hear the Good News of Jesus is a vital habit to practice in your life. But also, after hearing that Good News of Jesus, knowing that you now have been called out to share and bring the Good News of Jesus to others is just as important.

The Good News of Jesus that we both hear and share is: 

1. God's faithfulness in our past. 
2. God's power in our present. 
3. God's hope in our future.

This news of God's love spills over to every area of your life. That's why it's a keystone habit. When you are called to "church," you are not called to "an hour on Sunday" change to your schedule, but you are called to a radical movement from one kind of existence to another.

There's an old news adage that still rings true today, "If it bleeds, it leads." News stations are trying to find the bloodiest, sensational news stories to get the biggest audience. Whether or not Jesus ever makes the lead headline on your favorite news station, His bloody death and incredible resurrection is still the top news story today. Let His life, death, and resurrection lead you on your journey as you continue to grow in a relationship with Him.

In your readings for today, note some practices in which we can learn from the early church. Though the context may be different, how can we mimic the consistency in which they gathered?

Challenge for the Day: Share the Good News of Jesus with someone else today. If you are uncertain, just talk about your story and how Jesus has made a difference in your life. How did it go? Let us know by using the #BeingChallenge on social media.

If you enjoyed this 11-day journey to grow in your relationship with God, consider taking it a step further and grow even deeper in the five keystone habits using the 40-day workbook Being Challenge, available here.  

Or talk to your pastor about launching Being Challenge as an entire church, complete with FREE sermon series, small groups, kids materials, graphics, and more. Info found here.