The Church: Christ's Body "Unity"

As I move toward my ordination I am required by my denomination to write a number of position papers that discuss theological issues.  The most recent one was called The Church: Christ's Body and it has really prompted and challenged me internally, to question exactly what the church is and what it is called to do? While also trying to piece together and understand how youth ministry fits into being part of this body.

Now I know there is a lot of different areas, issues, or theological avenues one could take trying to define what the church is and why we are called the body of Christ.  However, this is not my purpose for writing today.  Instead I would like to share with you the questions, thoughts, and new passions that I have been processing in my head regarding the church.

Wayne Grudem in his book Systematic Theology describes the church as "the community of all true believers for all time." Meaning the church is made up of believers from the past, present, and the future until of course Christ's second coming.  A question that has stuck with me is this; does the everyday average Christian view the church as all true believers?  Or to rephrase the question, do the people in our churches view the church body as being much bigger than their local congregation?

Allow me to unpack this some more.  The concept of the church body should be much larger than just one particular  congregation of believers, worshipping and carrying out Christ's mission and purposes.  All churches/denominations around the world should be united by the same cause of manifesting Christ for the rest of humanity.  Scripture calls all  believers to be united under Christ's leadership and authority, so that we can receive direction and vision.

But are we really "united"? By we I mean different denominations or  even churches with in the same local area that ultimately have the same underlying vision, to reach or serve those who are lost, and to build up the those who already believe.   How often do you find churches within the same denomination working together let alone churches of different ones to accomplish these goals?

Have we missed the point of being a greater body? I got to talking with a missionary recently who visited our church.  I asked her while she was on the mission field if she worked or partnered with other missionaries from different denominations.  She looked at me and said there would have been no way to do the mission of God without the missionaries working together.  She explained that these other missionaries became some of her closet friends and allies, the unity and relationships allowed for an outpouring of God's love and salvation among the people they were trying to reach.

Can we not accomplish and  implement this very same idea locally to our communities?  Maybe instead of some churches barely hanging on and struggling to exist we could be a community or nation of thriving churches, which will minister to the lost and broken. 

We understand and do ministry very well in single congregational settings of believers coming together to form the body of Christ.  We know that each individual  posses certain gifts, skills, and talents, that allows ministry to take on many shapes and forms to reach the greatest number of people possible.  But do we know or have we considered that the church down the road maybe excellent in this area of ministry,  which should open the door for our church to minister differently to the same community? 

Why try to compete or spend useless man hours supporting a weak ministry when some one else already invented the wheel?  Or why can't two neighboring churches on the same street communicate together to pull off an event that maximizes community outreach? In my mind it is just plain ridiculous that we are not working or unified together.  Now I know some churches or communities may already be doing this but I think on the nation wide spectrum there is definite room for improvement. 

I know I threw out a lot of questions here and don't expect them all to be answered or easily fixed.  But I do think it is worth that we start a conversation regarding these issues with our neighboring pastors and congregations.  Any thoughts on these questions or what this looks like from personal experience are welcome.