FROM AUSTIN STUCKY

I was thinking today about what I mean when I say church versus what other people mean when they say church. When I say church, I mean the invisible body of believers around the world scattered within various denominations, home groups and more isolated assignments and seasons.
The purpose of church, why we gather? The original intention of the gathering is to edify one another and provoke eachother to good works. Why is edification necessary? Because there is a worldwide network of malevolent spirits that are tirelessly trying day and night to rob us of our inheritance as saints and drag us down to hell. These spirits are active in virtually every institution and territory, so the gathering of saints is a safe place where people go to report on how these powers have been messing with them and they can get prayer from the corporate body. 
The amount of attacks sustained on a daily basis is proportional to the extent that you’re out here in the world making a difference or proportional to the calling that God has on your life. Satan doesn’t bother with people who aren’t on the front lines or actively supporting the frontlines advance. Corporate confession of sins weakens these strongholds, and makes the soil ripe for deliverance from the things that bind us.
Now the center piece of this gathering is to break bread. This is where we eat the spiritual body and blood of Christ and we’re blessed to the degree that we take it in faith with the knowledge that it is a sanctifying agent for our souls, as well as a bonding agent to unite the body together as a force against the kingdom of darkness.
This sort of thing was designed by God as a safe local gathering where people are free to sit in a circle on the grass, or meet in a building, or in a car etc and share dreams, visions, impressions, prophesies, or ways that God was working in their lives and in the lives of others throughout the week. This can be as profound as an audible word or as simple as reflecting on a Bible verse that someone read in private devotions.
This is a time where people can pray together to ask for guidance on where the Holy Spirit might be leading them to go, and what He’s asking them to do. Once this group reaches a point of maturity and has achieved a certain level of inner healing, then they actually disband as a group and go out for a few hours as domestic missionaries. Or maybe two go out, and the other two pray until the other two return etc.
This is a time where maybe some worship is played as a correlary to help assist people break into the Spirit. Additionally this church might end up being a place to find a spouse, give opportunities to help and assist others in their physical needs, function as a sort of day care, or give us the opportunity for some leisure activities, bonding, and friendship that are all well and good.
The problem is that the church has largely emphasized the later, and diminished the purpose of the former becoming a sort of social club for families. Whereas the ancient church and the calling of Christ on His people was anything but safe. The gathering was primarily a hospital for broken saints, to repair them and recommission them to go out and serve in the mission.
So when people go encounter the God of the Bible out in the world, or in their closet, in the street, or in their homes. And they get fired up and filled with new revelation and zeal, they naturally go looking for fellowship among those who they figure to be walking in the same degree of lived experience that they have. What they often encounter is disappointment and disillusionment when they discover that the majority of institutions that label themselves as churches today fancy themselves more as social clubs that pander to families. These groups tend to emphasize safety over sanctification, conformity at the expense of truth and real healing. 
They’re more concerned that the details of every wedding ceremony are perfect, that we have the right number of songs in the service, that people are dressed appropriately, that the food isn’t cold for the potluck after service etc.
They’ve effectively lost vision of the mission, the proper emphasis, and the reality of the spirit realm, and yet, we still need regular connection with others walking in these experiences to keep our fires burning bright so we can be a light to those within and outside the church proper.