Tan Soo Inn writes about his reflections on the ideal/perfect church that does not exist.
It’s the church that accepts us for who we are yet challenges us to grow. It has the intimacy of a church of 30 and the efficiency and range of services of a church of 3,000. The people are friendly and caring but make no demands on us. The pastors are always available but are also generals in God’s army leading the church to victory after victory for Jesus. The leaders are top biblical scholars and bible expositors who also cast out demons and heal the sick when they are not out evangelising, feeding the poor, and agitating for societal change. Welcome to COOI, the church that exists only in our imagination.
He suggests that the COOI is actually the Church of the Eschaton, the perfect & perfected church in the life to come, the church that will be there at the reconciliation & renewal of all things when time shall be no more.
But our bias must be to stay and help in the building of God’s church. And definitely we are not to embark on any quest for COOI and end up hopping from church to church, spiritual tourists who never lay down roots in any community. We end up not only not participating in God’s purposes in helping the church to grow, and there is great joy in that, we also cheat ourselves of our own growth.
If we truly love the Lord we must love His church and that means loving the real church, warts and all, not some fantasy church that exists only in our imagination. No, there is no COOI but there is the church and there is work to be done.
