I’ve been watching a Netflix series about the body called “Human – The World Within”. One of the themes that I’m noticing is how adaptable our major systems are: when we put them under stress, they get stronger; when we don’t, they get weaker. I’m talking about the church.

• Nervous System: change makes it stronger; repetition makes it less responsive
• Muscular System: exercise increases strength; inactivity results in atrophy
• Skeletal System: mechanical stress promotes bone strength; otherwise we lose bone mass
• Cardiovascular System: aerobic exercise increases heart efficiency; otherwise reduced output
• Respiratory System: exercise that challenges our lungs improves efficiency
• Immune System: exposure to pathogens allows a more efficient response than avoiding danger

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. – Eph 4:16

The church is meant to work together. The body of Christ only gets stronger when we put its various parts under stress so it can adapt. If we don’t use it, we lose it. Fortunately, we can get it back. But we have to exercise, not just sit.

This is counterintuitive:

• I hurt my back so I rested it for a few weeks. Then I went to my physio, who told me unequivocally that my back will never get out of pain unless I exercise it. Started exercising; back’s OK.
• I lost my voice a few years ago, and whenever I tried to talk I’d lose it again. I was advised to rest it for a few months. That didn’t work. Then I went to a specialist who said my vocal chords are muscles that need exercise. I was better in a few days.
• When I fast, I feel like I’m losing my capacity to think. The Netflix series informed me that the chemical process that goes on during fasting actually promotes the growth of brain cells.

Read the verses preceding the one above:

Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. – Eph 4:11-15

Creating an environment of “Safe Church” is going to make us weak.