Who: Allison and Grey
Church: Sojourn Community Church
Lunch: Lo Main
Topic: Who Can Take Communion; Living OUT Church vs Going TO Church
About a month ago, Sydney and I were speaking at a monthly “networking” event when I was approached by Allison, who found my blog and expressed an interest in talking more about it at some point. We exchanged numbers and made a tentative plan to grab coffee in the New Year. But, when my plans to visit a church fell through a few weeks ago, I posted on Instagram asking if anyone was open to letting me tag along. Almost instantly, Allison sent me a DM, and just like that, our timeline got fast-tracked!
So, the Sunday before Christmas I visited Sojourn Community Church in the North Shore/ Hill City community. It was the last week of Advent and, honestly, I’m not sure what I was expecting, but all the notes I had would eventually take a back seat to what happened during communion. This sacrament has always felt complicated to me. On one hand, it’s deeply personal—a reflection of grace, sacrifice, and our relationship with Christ. But on the other, it’s tied to the broader relationship one has with the church, and for me, that relationship has felt strained. Over time, communion began to feel more ritualistic than relational, like a practice I went through without feeling fully present in its meaning.
But in all my years of taking communion, across the country and around the world, I heard something during this service that I’ve never heard before. The pastor invited all believers in Christ to participate, but with an important qualifier—not if they were under church discipline. There was no explanation, which led me to have so many questions! (I’m hoping to connect with this pastor to have a conversation about the proclamation, but the lack of context has also provided me space to process my own thoughts, from my own experiences.)
Communion is not merely a ritual or a private exchange between us and God—it’s also a public affirmation of unity within the body of Christ. By excluding those under church discipline, he wasn’t being exclusionary for exclusion’s sake but was instead (I think) pointing to something vital about the heart of the Gospel: reconciliation.
While it might come across as gatekeeping the table, it could also be about honoring the purpose of communion—a celebration of Christ’s sacrifice that brings healing and unity, both with God and with His people. Communion is sacred, not just in its symbolism but in its implications. If someone is under church discipline, it’s often because there’s a significant break in their relationship with the church or its leadership, and taking communion without addressing that brokenness can feel contradictory. Communion is a time to reflect on grace and forgiveness, and part of that reflection involves confronting areas in our lives where reconciliation is needed.
This perspective can be challenging. How often do we think of communion as merely about our personal faith, forgetting its communal aspect? The pastor’s words remind us that the body of Christ is not just a metaphor; it’s a living, breathing community of believers bound together by love and accountability. To take communion while disregarding those connections would cheapen its meaning.
This connection to community was also something we talked about during lunch. In the South, the question “Where do you go to church?” is almost as common as asking about the weather. It’s a question that carries cultural significance, often serving as a gateway to connection or shared values. But it also raises a deeper question: Is church really something you can go to?
At first glance, “going to church” makes sense—it’s shorthand for attending a service or being part of a local congregation. But when we think about the essence of what the church is, the phrase feels incomplete… or outright wrong. The church isn’t a building, a Sunday morning service, or a place you check in and out of like a doctor’s office. The church is the people—the body of Christ, a community of believers united in their faith and purpose.
When we reduce the church to a location, we risk missing the richness of what it means to BE the church. Scripture consistently reminds us that the church is not about bricks and mortar but about lives being built together in Christ (Ephesians 2:19-22). It’s about relationships, discipleship, and living out the gospel in everyday life—not just for an hour on Sunday.
So instead of asking “Where do you go to church?” maybe the better question is, “Who are you doing life with?” AND “How are you living together as the church?” (And, personally, I think that last question is key!) These questions shift the focus from a physical place to the relational and spiritual essence of what it means to follow Christ.
These questions could also make a lot of people feel very uncomfortable.
Perhaps the most important question isn’t whether we go to church, but whether we are the church wherever we go. The idea of “going to church” can unintentionally create a passive mindset, where faith is compartmentalized into a weekly event. But when we see ourselves as part of the church, it becomes an active, ongoing participation in God’s mission—caring for others, seeking justice, and growing in faith.
And yet, to take it a step further, I believe one of the collective challenges in the contemporary church is our dependence on leadership to create those opportunities for local outreach. We often look to pastors and ministry directors to guide us, plan for us, and essentially carry the weight of creating the opportunities. While strong leadership is vital, this dependence can inadvertently rob the church—the people—of its call to take initiative in the everyday spaces where we live, work, and interact.
The Great Commission wasn’t given exclusively to church leaders; it was given to every follower of Christ. But in many cases, we’ve adopted a consumer mindset, where we wait for someone else to organize, fund, and lead the way in serving others. This creates a gap between what the church is called to be and what it often becomes: a group of people who attend but rarely step into their own agency as disciples actively living out the mission of God.
What would happen if we flipped that script? What if we stopped waiting for opportunities to be handed to us and started asking, “How can I be the church today?” What if, instead of looking to leadership to define our mission, we looked to our communities and identified ways we could personally engage—whether it’s loving a neighbor in need, advocating for justice, or sharing hope with someone who feels lost?
The truth is, being the church isn’t limited to organized programs or large-scale missions. It’s found in the everyday acts of kindness, the small sacrifices we make for others, and the courage to live out our faith in a way that reflects Christ. When we embrace that call, we empower the church to be what it was always meant to be: a living, breathing movement of people working together to make the love of Christ known in the world.
So perhaps the question isn’t only whether we are the church wherever we go, but whether we are willing to take personal ownership of the mission, instead of waiting for someone else to lead us there.
CHALLENGE: Take time this week to honestly reflect on your involvement in living out the mission of the church. Ask yourself:
- Is my engagement in local “missions” dictated primarily by the opportunities presented by my church leadership, or am I actively seeking ways to serve and love others in my daily life?
- How often do I rely on organized programs or events to fulfill my call to be the hands and feet of Christ?
- In what ways am I personally taking initiative to reflect God’s love in the spaces I already inhabit—my workplace, neighborhood, school, or family?
Searching for Jesus in A̶m̶e̶r̶i̶c̶a̶ Chattanooga 