Would you agree that the People of American society are able to be the effective core of our civil government, only when we participate in the process of informing, educating, and training our families and fellow citizens to live as the true “We the People?”  But for us as Christians, that raises an even more basic premise. How can we be ‘salt and light’ to civil society, if we are not actively asserting our role in filling our assignments in the body of our Messiah’s Ekklesia?  And by using that word – “Ekklesia” – I’m not talking here about just attending ‘church’ on Sunday.  Yes, it’s true that the Greek word “Ekklesia” is translated in English Bibles as the word church. But we all know that most people think of “church” as the building we go to… or the name of the event we attend on Sundays.  Oh yes, they might think of “church” as the institution of our denomination with all its hierarchy and programs.  But these are not what Jesus said He would “build” when He commended His disciple Peter for the declaration that Jesus is “the Messiah (or Christ), the Son of the living God” (Matt 16:16).