Zach Amick Theology Response

Is Chi Alpha a church? Should a student be involved in a local church on Sunday mornings in addition to their involvement in Chi Alpha? Are your
reasons more pragmatic or theological?

We should first define what a church is in order to state whether Chi Alpha constitutes a church or not. In the past I have taken a relatively simple approach to defining church and that would be looking up the definition. The Greek word for church is ekklesia and it is commonly defined as an assembly or a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place. I would add to this that the assembly has gathered around a common purpose, and being strange man that I am I use the controversial reference of Acts 19. The story is of persecution arising in Ephesus and it can be found from verses 23 to 41. What we discover here is that the ekklesia in verses 32, 39, and 41 is not like the church we think of today. These are idol worshipers gathered to declare their false god’s greatness and to assault Christians. My point here is to say that a church is a group of people who have gathered around a common purpose and in our case that would be primarily to bring glory to God. Bird provides a much more robust definition with more spiritual implications but sometimes simplicity is sufficient. I would say that Chi Alpha meets the definition of an assembly called out into a public space for the purpose of glorifying God. I would also say that students should attend a local church on Sunday mornings. For me this is rooted more in pragmatism of being exposed to a gospel centered community that is more diverse and common beyond the college campus.