No Small Parts // Rev. Matt Kennedy // Sep 13 2026

In 1949 about 76% of Americans held "membership" in a church congregation. In 2025 just 45% of Americans belong to a congregation. Yet despite this precipitous decline in church membership, 65% of Americans still identify as "Christian." Belonging to a church and being a Christian no longer seem synonymous. A lot of people who are interested in Jesus are nonetheless asking, "What's the point of church?"The Bible's favorite metaphor to describe the church was to say it was like a human body: an interdependent network of parts like shoulders, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouths, and nose combined to make a singular human being (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). The New Testament uses this image in a variety of ways to say there is something to know of God's grace you'll only find by participating in a Christian community (and you're unlikely to find on your own). For the next three weeks we'll try to answer that question, "why church?" by looking at the body-language of the New Testament. In these we'll find surprising and inviting ways to see ourselves not only more connected to an organization, but more essential to the "body of Christ."