The Building, Decaying, Reforming Church

T.S. Eliot writes:

And the Church must be forever building,
And always decaying,
And always being restored.

The church must be forever building. Church by definition must grow. If the church is not growing, something is wrong. If the church is not growing new Christians, something is wrong. If the church is not growing faithful disciples something is wrong. That's who the church is. That's what the church does. The church must be a forever building organism.

The church is always decaying. All living things decay. In fact, decay is often necessary for new growth to appear. What used to work before, doesn't work very well today, and certainly will not work in the future. The old ways of doing things must decay and die so that the church can constantly look for new ways to communicate the message.

The church is always being restored. The reformers said it like this - once reformed and always reforming. The message of the church, the identity of the church, or the purpose of the church never changes. However, how that purpose, message, and identity gets communicated must change over time.

If your church is not building, decaying, and reforming, your church is dead.