Your parents are “meat and potatoes” people, while you’ve developed a palate for ethnic foods.
Your husband prefers quiet nights at home, while you like going out with friends.
Your kids want to vacation at the beach, but you love getting away to the mountains.
Each person is unique, and we often struggle with navigating those differences in relationships. This battle is present in our homes and our churches. It’s very easy to tune in to churches and fellow believers who are like us, while finding little use for those from different backgrounds or convictions.
However, one song literally charts a different course. Jenn Johnson, Abbie Gamboa from UPPERROOM and Kristian Stanfill released “The Church” as an expression of the diverse, yet unified body of Christ. In an interview with Kevin Davis from New Release Today, Johnson shared about the song’s origin.
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“We wrote this song at a songwriting retreat in Dallas with a few members of UPPERROOM and Passion City Church. We didn't plan on writing this song. As they are both beautiful expressions of the church, I suggested we write a song together. As friends, sitting in a room together as worship leaders, it became obvious that we have learned to love each other and each other's church movements, and this song was birthed and the lyrics flowed out from us and it is an echo of what's already in God's heart, the beauty of His Church.”
Just as the creation of “The Church” reflects a global vision of unity among believers from very different churches, the lyrics of the song reflect the Biblical roots of that vision. While some songs echo a verse or two, “The Church” features many verses.
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First, the song speaks of the pure bride of Christ, echoing Paul’s words in Ephesians 5 about God purifying the church “without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish.” Second, the song references Jesus’ prayer for unity in John 17, where he interceded, “May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.” Third, the worship leaders from three distinct churches pointed to the vision John had in Revelation 7 of humanity worshiping in heaven. “After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands.”
If those texts weren’t enough, the song also includes the content from the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6, one of David’s prayers in Psalm 86, and Paul’s call for unity among the Jews and Gentiles in Galatians 3. If a song could include footnotes, this song’s documentation would be longer than the lyrics!!
Johnson hopes the song inspires and calls people to align their hearts with God’s when it comes to His bride. "The Church" is about God's heart for the global church. It highlights the importance of the church as a collective body, rather than just an individual building or organization. This song was inspired by a desire to capture and communicate God's presence. This involves a call to ascend to a higher place to encounter God, and then to come back down and share that encounter with others.”
However, knowing these truths and living them out are two different things. The real challenge comes in translating this beautiful vision of unity into our daily lives and local church experiences.
So, how can we live out the heart behind this song?
First, we can commit ourselves to a local expression of the church. In an era of rampant “church hurt” and countless stories of fallen leaders, it’s easy to reject the church and seek to follow Jesus alone. However, listening to this song and reading the Scriptural foundation reminds us that Jesus loves His church, and we must do the same.
Second, grow in your appreciation of different expressions of the church. Whether you watch other churches’ services online or seasonally visit a different kind of church, expanding your horizons can help cultivate a greater appreciation for the diversity in the body of Christ.
Third, nurture friendships with believers with whom you can unite around the essentials of our faith, while disagreeing with honor and respect on the nonessentials. It’s one thing to listen to a song like “The Church,” but it’s another to emulate the kind of respect and honor the singers are modeling for us.
At a time when it's easy to criticize and tear down the body of Christ, UPPERROOM, Jenn Johnson, and Kristian Stanfill offer an alternative: coming together with believers from other churches to lift Christ in unity. 'The Church' reminds us of Jesus' commitment to His bride and invites us to the same kind of promise.
Just as we can learn to navigate differences with our 'meat and potatoes' parents, our homebody spouses, or our beach-loving kids, we can embrace the beautiful diversity within God's family. When we do, we become that 'masterful reflection' the song describes. We get to be a unified church that shows the world something they can't find anywhere else: diverse people bound together by one Name, one Spirit, and one love.
Scott Savage is a pastor, author, and speaker with the best last name in the world. Scott’s writing helps people transform difficult circumstances into places where they can thrive. He leads Cornerstone Church in Prescott, Arizona, and loves watching movies with his wife and three kids. You can begin Scott’s life-changing project, The 21 Day Gratitude Challenge, today.
