In
our world today there seems to be a lot of confusion about the
"church"? Some say the church is any gathering of believers. Some say
that the concept of the local church is unbiblical, and still others
say that the only church is the Catholic Church. George Barna in his
book "revolution" shares a story of two guys playing golf on a Sunday
morning and as they play they talk about spiritual things, creation,
and discuss the Bible... from what I gather George Barna calls that
church. I'm not sure I agree with that assumption. I think as believers
we should be able to answer the question "what is a church?" In the New
Testament the church is referred to in three distinct ways. First is
the "Church Universal." That is the entire body of Christ made up of
every born again believer. The church universal stretches across time
and geography and links every believer together with each other and
Christ. Ephesians 4:4.
The
second way the church is referred to in the New Testament is
geographically such as the Church in Corinth or Jerusalem. We still
refer to the church this way today as we talk about the church in
America, the African Church or the Church in China. When we make
statements like that we realize there are many local churches in a
geographical area and that they are all part of the church universal.
We see examples of this in passages like Acts 11:22 and many of the
epistles were written to the church of a geographical area
The
third way the church is referred to in scripture is at the local level.
In passages like 1 Corinthians 16:19, Colossians 4:15 Paul refers to
local congregations I think there is very little confusion on the first
two definitions of church but there seems to be some confusion on what
constitutes a local church John Piper defines a local church like this:
"a local church is a group of baptized believers who meet regularly
to worship God through Jesus Christ, to be exhorted from the Word of
God, and to celebrate the Lord's Supper under the guidance of duly
appointed leaders."
In my study and understanding of scripture a local church must have the following 4 things to be considered a church:
1.It
must consist of a community of believers who have made a public
confession of faith who gather for worship and teaching. Matthew 28:19,
John 1:12-13, Acts 2:47 & Romans 15:6-7
2. It must have appointed leaders who preach the Word. Acts 14:23, 1 Timothy, Titus
3. It must of the sacraments of Communion and Baptism. Luke 22:19,1 Cor. 11:24, Mathew 28:19
4.
It must exercise church discipline. Mathew 16:19; 18:18, 1Timothy 1:3;
Titus 1:13; 1Corinthians 11:34; Titus 1:5; 1Timothy 5:20; 2Timothy 4:2;
1Corinthians 5:3-5,13; 1Timothy 1:20; Hebrews 13:17; 2 Corinthians
10:8; 13:10
If a group of Christians claim to be
a "church" but do not meet those four criteria I'm not sure that they
are a Biblical church. They might be a ministry, a small group, a Bible
study but they are not a church.
Why is it important to define
"church"? Because in our postmodern world many Christians are buying
into the idea that hanging out with Christians on the golf course,
meeting up for a beer after work, or talking in a chat room constitutes
being a "local church." The "local church" is an important part of our
faith. We are called to live out our faith and community and not to
forsake the gathering of the saints but the sad thing is many believers
are missing out on the blessing of being in biblical community.
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