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The Dwelling Place
What If Church Is More Than a Weekly Gathering?
What if the church feels smaller to us because we have forgotten the size of the story it belongs to?
In this episode, Jonathan continues the question from the previous conversation: What if there’s more to church than what we’re currently experiencing?
Rather than starting with attendance, programs, music, preaching, or preferences, this episode steps back and traces one of the major themes running through Scripture: God’s desire to dwell with His people.
From Eden to the tabernacle, from the temple to Jesus, from the Spirit-filled church to the promise of the new creation, Scripture tells one unified story: God comes near. God makes Himself known. God forms a people for His presence.
And if that is true, then maybe church is far more than a weekly service.
Maybe the gathering of God’s people is meant to be a glimpse — imperfect, ordinary, sometimes messy, but still real — of the world to come.
Jonathan explores:
Why church often feels smaller than Scripture describes it
How Eden shows us life as it was meant to be: humanity with God
Why the tabernacle and temple were about more than buildings
How Jesus fulfills the dwelling place of God among His people
Why the church is described as a temple and dwelling place of the Spirit
How the gathered church gives a foretaste of the new creation
Why consumer Christianity shrinks our understanding of church
Genesis 3:8 — Humanity hides from the presence of God.
Exodus 25:8 — “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.”
John 1:14 — “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
1 Corinthians 3:16–17 — The church is God’s temple.
Ephesians 2:19–22 — Believers are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Revelation 21:3 — “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.”
The Bible begins with God dwelling with humanity in the garden and ends with God dwelling with His people forever in the new creation.
So maybe the gathered church is not just a service to attend.
Maybe it is a signpost.
A foretaste.
A glimpse of the Kingdom that is coming.
Have I been thinking of church mainly as a service, or as a people being formed by God?
Where have I slipped into consumer thinking about the church?
What would change if I saw the gathered church as a glimpse of the world to come?
How can I come prepared to give, encourage, participate, and be formed — not just receive?
This conversation is not meant to wrap everything up neatly. It is meant to open the door for deeper reflection.
What if there is more happening when the church gathers than what we have trained ourselves to see?
Continue the discussion in the comments, with your family, with your church, or around the dinner table with friends.
This is The Average Pursuit.
Pursue something greater.
View all episodes
By Jonathan SheppardWhat If Church Is More Than a Weekly Gathering?
What if the church feels smaller to us because we have forgotten the size of the story it belongs to?
In this episode, Jonathan continues the question from the previous conversation: What if there’s more to church than what we’re currently experiencing?
Rather than starting with attendance, programs, music, preaching, or preferences, this episode steps back and traces one of the major themes running through Scripture: God’s desire to dwell with His people.
From Eden to the tabernacle, from the temple to Jesus, from the Spirit-filled church to the promise of the new creation, Scripture tells one unified story: God comes near. God makes Himself known. God forms a people for His presence.
And if that is true, then maybe church is far more than a weekly service.
Maybe the gathering of God’s people is meant to be a glimpse — imperfect, ordinary, sometimes messy, but still real — of the world to come.
Jonathan explores:
Why church often feels smaller than Scripture describes it
How Eden shows us life as it was meant to be: humanity with God
Why the tabernacle and temple were about more than buildings
How Jesus fulfills the dwelling place of God among His people
Why the church is described as a temple and dwelling place of the Spirit
How the gathered church gives a foretaste of the new creation
Why consumer Christianity shrinks our understanding of church
Genesis 3:8 — Humanity hides from the presence of God.
Exodus 25:8 — “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.”
John 1:14 — “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
1 Corinthians 3:16–17 — The church is God’s temple.
Ephesians 2:19–22 — Believers are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Revelation 21:3 — “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.”
The Bible begins with God dwelling with humanity in the garden and ends with God dwelling with His people forever in the new creation.
So maybe the gathered church is not just a service to attend.
Maybe it is a signpost.
A foretaste.
A glimpse of the Kingdom that is coming.
Have I been thinking of church mainly as a service, or as a people being formed by God?
Where have I slipped into consumer thinking about the church?
What would change if I saw the gathered church as a glimpse of the world to come?
How can I come prepared to give, encourage, participate, and be formed — not just receive?
This conversation is not meant to wrap everything up neatly. It is meant to open the door for deeper reflection.
What if there is more happening when the church gathers than what we have trained ourselves to see?
Continue the discussion in the comments, with your family, with your church, or around the dinner table with friends.
This is The Average Pursuit.
Pursue something greater.