Some time ago, I heard an interview with Joel Houston, Worship Leader for Hillsong Australia.  In his interview he discussed the idea of the Global Church.  I would normally hear something like this and think, “wow, that’s great…it is good to reach out and touch the nations with the Gospel,” after all, that’s what Paul did. I would move on and not give it much more thought, simply because I do not personally feel called to serve on the foreign mission field.  But when I heard him speaking of getting people to understand that the church is not just this small thing rather a huge conglomeration of people all striving for the same goal, I was compelled.  We are all here for a purpose and that is to glorify God in ALL the Earth! 
I started meditating on what the Word says about going out into the world, about ministering.  I started considering the local church.  The local church is just an extension of the Global Church and the Global Church is a beautiful representation of all of creation.  We are created in His image yet we tend to get so caught up in our own image.  We get focused on the image other people see in us.  I believe if we were to start seeing our calling beyond our own forehead we might stop having some of the issues that we face.  I even found myself wondering what it is that makes Hillsong Australia pump out so many hit worship tunes, how do they have church services with thousands upon thousands of people, why are they so influential in the Christian community? Then, putting it into the perspective of what Houston spoke of being the Global Church, I realized it is their grasp of that concept which allows them to be so successful – they have discovered what it means to be THE Church.  I’m sure they have their issues and their situations, but I’m also certain that their foundations consist of a group of people who are able to see beyond themselves and into the real purpose of their calling – to be used by our Savior to save a lost and dying World – to share the radical message of grace, just like the Apostle Paul.  If we were to realize our God-given purpose we’d stop concerning ourselves with worldly issues – repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community (if that doesn’t sound familiar pull out your Bible and look up Galatians 5, I took this from The Message Bible).  Unfortunately, even the local church is riddled with lives that look like this.  Why do we continue to be okay with this in our own lives?  Why are we not aspiring to go global by taking on a more Godly lifestyle – things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity…develop[ing] a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people… find[ing] ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
I have no doubt if we were to focus more on the World around us and get outside of our own motives and “all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants,” we would see such a change in our personal lives that it would bleed over into our service for Him.