Is the church something you are or something you do? Is "church" a place set aside for public worship or a group of people united in service of God? Is "church" a noun, an adjective or a verb? Some people say: "We are just going through the motions of doing church." Others say, "There are so many people who are unchurched in our city." There is a popular "praise" song which pleads, "Come on people, let's have church!" And St. Paul speaks of "the church" which is in his house, plainly signifying that even a Christian family may be termed a church.

How did the church as we know it come into being? Did the church evolve from a little camp fire to a hut to a shack to a cottage to a building to a cathedral to a Vatican City and then to an independent state? Or did the church suddenly appear when men and women simultaneously realized they were speaking in different languages both intelligible and unintelligible?

In his sermon on the church, Wesley reminds us that "church" is a matter of daily conversation for many. Yet he points out how few really know what they are talking about. The first time Paul uses the word "church" is in his preface to First Corinthians, when he writes "unto the Church of God at Corinth." Paul also uses the word in the plural, as in Galatians' "unto the churches of Galatia," clearly meaning those scattered throughout the country.

John Wesley tells us that Paul is clear his meaning that the word "church" or "churches" does not mean the buildings, but the people that assembled there. Wesley also credits Paul with giving us the meaning of the churches around the world as the church universal, united by one body, one spirit, one faith, one hope, one baptism, one God of all, who is above, through and in all.

Wesley points out that God stresses the differences among people in order to emphasize their common ground in Christ. There is a place for everyone in the church. Wesley maintains that at Pentecost all were filled with the Holy Spirit in order to show them a more excellent way. And what could that more excellent way be? Wesley says that the more excellent way is to understand the mind of Christ.

From the Old Testament when God breathed the breath of life into Adam, to this day when we prepare for the next century, church people have yearned eagerly for nourishment from the church. When Jesus was taken from them, the disciples looked fearfully and angrily heavenward and cried "where are you God?" Every time a Littleton, Colorado, occurs or a Kosovo breaks out, people look up to the heavens and cry out, "Where are you, God?"

At Pentecost the nourishment, the breath of life, became the empowerment of church people to carry on in God's name. In Adam, God gives human existence to life; at Pentecost, God gave life to human existence. Pentecost is the completion of God's gift of life. At Pentecost we discover both the fruits of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. And there we find the church. Who is the church? Wesley is very clear in answering that question. The catholic or universal church is all the persons in the universe whom God hath called out of the world to be "one body," united by "one spirit," having "one faith, one hope, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and in them all."

Now that we know who the church is, the question becomes, "What does the church do?" John Wesley has two answers to this. First, the visible church is a place where the pure word of God is preached. Second, the church is a place where the sacraments are duly administered.