For clarification, what is the church? …. The church is made up of real people, and when they come together we have the church. Whatever the people are who make up the church, that is the kind of church it is–no worse and no better, no wiser, no holier, no more ardent and no more worshipful. To improve or change the church you must begin with individuals. When people in the church only point to others for improvement and not to themselves, it is sure evidence that the church has come to dry rot.
A.W. Tozer Sermon: Who Is the Church

The church can be personified just like politicians do when they refer to government, social workers refer to society, and business leaders refer to corporations. Each of these are just collections of people. People who come together and form a particular group. When we pray for our church, our country, our government, or our society, we can forget that these are not things themselves, but the very people that collectively make it up.

The early Christian church had little structure for that very reason. The people wanted the focus to be on Jesus and not “the church”. They wanted the focus to be on Jesus and not the organization. What little leadership that existed was focused on prayer, shepherding the people, and care for the widows and homeless. The shepherding function was primarily to point the people to The Good Shepherd. That was in stark contrast to the highly structured organization of the Jewish synagogue. Have we reverted to that highly structured organization in the Christian church today?

Heavenly Father, I pray for the people that come together and assemble as your church. I pray that our focus will be on Jesus. I pray that Jesus would be increased and organization and structure would be decreased. I pray that our only goal is to worship You well and to serve You in a way that brings You the glory that you deserve.

Always praying for the glory of God,