You likely remember what happened in March and April 2020. A mysterious agent from China got in a taxi, hopped on a bus, and then boarded an airplane to make its way to our shores. Once here, it slowly infiltrated our communities. At first, we heard of only a few people in another state or county who were affected, then finally, we all knew someone who had succumbed. By the end, it was in our communities, churches, schools, and businesses—no one was safe from the agent’s influence.

This agent, the SARS-COV 2 virus that causes the disease Covid-19, upended the entire world. Since the spring of 2020, this tiny virus has killed many thousands of people and cost world governments trillions of dollars in relief and stimulus. That is a lot of havoc for a tiny capsule made of only a bit of protein and genetic material. Viruses are so simple that many biologists don’t even consider them to be alive. But how can something that is so deadly and contagious not be alive?

What Makes Something Alive?

It is often simple to determine if something is alive, a rock looks and acts quite differently than a squirrel, but it isn’t quite so clear in the case of viruses. Biologists don’t consider viruses to be alive because they can’t reproduce by themselves. A virus must invade a cell and then hijack the cell’s replication machinery to make copies of itself. Once the host cell is filled with viruses, the viruses burst out of the infected cell and then move on to infect other cells.

The ability to reproduce is not the only characteristic of life, there are several others that biologists have developed over the years.

To be considered alive, an organism must. . .

• Be made of cells
• Need energy
• Grow and mature
• Respond to internal changes
• Respond to external conditions
• Produce more of itself

From the simplest bacterium to orchids to mankind, all living things have these characteristics. If a thing is missing one or more of these characteristics, it is not considered alive.

In 1 Corinthians, Pauls explains that the church of Christ is like a body. This body is made up of many members (or parts) that all work together doing different tasks to accomplish the larger goal of showing the love of Christ to a dark world.

For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. (1 Cor 12:12-14)

What if the body is missing one of the characteristics of life? Does that mean it is dead? How would missing one of those characteristics affect a local body of believers?

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This is the first post of a series that will attempt to look at the spiritual health of ourselves and our churches. I will post one each day for the rest of this week.

All these posts are my own opinion based on my limited experience. If you have any input on this topic, please take the time to reach out in the comments or at invisiblethingsblog@gmail.com.

Thanks for reading.

Next post: Is Your Church Alive?: Made of Cells