Tell me about Church
When God designed how we should live our Christian lives, he didn't want us to try to manage on our own. So He created the idea of the local church. That is, a group of genuine Christians who live nearby each other who get together to form a kind of unit. Through this, they can help each other, learn more about God, worship Him together and work together to see other people become Christians.
Jesus also declared that there is something extra special about this special organised gathering of Christians together. He said, 'Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.' (Matthew 18:20) Of course we should spend time with God at home, but when Christians gather together in this special way called church, extra special things happen. You can feel God's presence in a greater way, and as people interact, the Holy Spirit can move in a remarkable way. But there's even more. Let's look at some different parts. The church is the Body of Christ Jesus said that the church is His body, and he is the head. In other words, He is in charge but we are part of fulfilling what He wants to do on earth. With that in mind, the Bible also reminds us that a body is made up of many different parts. We need ears and hands, feet and kidneys! Each has its own function and contribution to make. We can't hear with a hand. To call someone on your phone, you will normally need your hands, eyes, ears, brain working together, but also a whole system of hidden organs like the heart and lungs simply keeping you alive! In the same way, the church is made up of a group of people with different skills and roles, and it is by working together that we can accomplish things. The more visible parts of the body are not more important than the hidden ones. 'For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1 Corinthians 12: 12-27) So the the members of a local church need to work together to in order to serve God, such as by spreading the gospel in the local community. But they also need each other in order just to be built up and sustained as Christians. Just as different parts of the body need each other - the heart pumps the blood to the hands, the hands deliver food to the mouth to provide sustenance for the heart etc. - so do members of the church. 'We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.' (Ephesians 4:15 ESV) It's important that we understand that a local church is supposed to me made up of a diverse group of people - diverse ages, diverse backgrounds, diverse characters. Churches that have only one age group don't really conform to the biblical pattern. Spiritual Food Paul said to the Corinthians that fellowship - time spent with other Christians - is part of our spiritual food. He said: 'The bread that we break — is it not the fellowship of the body of the Christ?' (1 Corinthians 10:16) Since the body of Christ means the church, here Paul says that the fellowship of believers is our spiritual bread or food. A divine organisation Even though the local church is a spiritual entity, it also has the practicalities of a proper organisation. To that end it has leaders who have authority within the church. In the Bible these were mainly called elders but are often called pastors these days (meaning shepherds), and sometimes ministers. 'So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.' (Acts 14:23) 'Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.' (Hebrews 13:17) Regular attendance is important Some Christians say, 'I can go to church and still be a Christian.' That is true, but you can't be an effective Christian without going to church and it is disobeying the clear instruction of the Bible that we should be 'not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.' (Hebrews 10:25) The word assembling here is the one from which we get the word synagogue so it denotes a formal gathering together of Christians. Meeting your Christian friends in a café would not count. A local church God's masterplan for spreading the gospel was that Christians should form a church in their local area, and be a light to that community - spreading the gospel where they live. The church is God's chief vehicle for reaching the world with the good news. For that reason, we should endeavour to be part of a church that's near our home. Travelling long distances because we like a particular church is not in keeping with God's plan. |