What counts as church? If you've heard "nature is my church" or "my coffee group is my church," this one's for you.
(Also, this is not a sleep podcast. Huberman we are not.)
Derek traces the word from Jesus' ekklesia, through the scattered believers of Acts and the house churches a pagan critic mocked, to the Reformation, John Wesley's field preaching, and the attractional model most of us grew up in. Then Derek and Danielle meet Amanda Maphis, the first of this season's everyday influencers.
For five years Amanda has advocated for her husband after a car accident left him disabled. When she took Grace Church's Handcrafted Calling class, her two words were "advocating opportunities." She was a little disappointed. Then one afternoon, putting groceries away, she heard a news story about a new governor's advisory commission and thought, "I could totally do that."
In this episode:
- Why ekklesia named a people long before "church" named a building
- The unnamed believers who planted the church in Antioch (Acts 11)
- How the word "parish" started out as an exile's address (1 Peter)
- The volunteer who couldn't stand up on Volunteer Sunday, and what our scoreboards miss
- What Amanda did when strangers asked what qualified her
- Why "the only Jesus someone sees" is smaller and more doable than it sounds
Your one-week experiment: By Monday night, write your parish down in one sentence: the place or group of people where you spend your week. Under it, write the name of one person in it. Before Saturday, give that person one more degree of patience, listening, or kindness than you gave them last week.
Links & resources:
- Show notes and full transcript: https://dereksanford.com/what-counts-as-church/
- Watch Amanda Maphis's full interview: https://youtu.be/CWDrZa_83eM
- Get The Ordinary Altar, Derek's weekly email: https://dereksanford.com