It seems to me that Jesus’ life was characterised by him practicing what he preached. He taught on the kingdom of God and then demonstrated it in action. He spoke about being salt and light to the world and then was salt and light.

There was not an artificial divide between the spoken gospel and the lived gospel that we sometimes see in the church today when arguing gospel proclamation as opposed to social outreach.  Church life and our Christian life therefore needs to be characterised by the very same things seen in the pattern and person of Jesus’ life.

On the one hand we have higher profile activities that give expression to, and build up, the life of the church congregated at a local meeting place usually on a Sunday.  On the other hand we also need to have activities that give expression to, and build up, the life of the church scattered outward, demonstrating the life of the local church (and the life of Jesus Christ) in the surrounding region.

But it will require a conscious effort when the church is gathered to teach about the importance and validity of the church-scattered. People need to know where what they do outside of a Sunday fits into the bigger Kingdom picture…