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GRACE LEAFLETS No. 5
Understanding the Church.
Many people think of the Church today as a rather boring and irrelevant institution. People quote dire statistics such as that in the U.K. 90,000 people leave every year, and 1,700 each week. But statistics do not tell the whole story. The Church today is active and serving God’s purpose throughout the world – and that includes the U.K.
What is the Church ?
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It is not a building |
... nor a meeting |
… it is a family
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So much of the New Testament is about Church. The Church is the centre of all God’s purposes. He chooses to use His church for His work on earth and one of our songs describes it as “the hope of all the earth”. Jesus loves the Church and it will one day be glorified with Jesus as His bride in heaven. When Paul writes in Colossians (1: 15 – 18) about the glory of Jesus, and shows Him as Head of the universe, he sees His greatest glory to be that He is Head of the Church.
What should the Church be like?
The Church consists of people who have turned from their own ways and have trusted Jesus as their one Saviour and Lord (there is an article elsewhere on this website about becoming a Christian). We want to see people joining the Church baptized in water and in the Holy Spirit because these are important to living the Christian life.
Right from the beginning the members of the Church loved one another and lived in a close day by day fellowship. This is sometimes difficult in the pace and business of the modern world, but it is still what we want to be. Church is not what we come to on Sunday; rather it is what we are. The life of the Church therefore is to be expressed seven days a week by our care and prayer for each other and by our sharing lives with each other. We are there for one another, and we seek to show mutual love by hospitality and serving one another in as many ways as are needed.
The first responsibility of a Church is to be focused on Jesus and worship Him. God created human beings for His pleasure and to worship Him. The Church is primarily a company of worshippers. After that we will pray for one another and the world about us; serve that world, especially remembering the poor. Especially we will preach the Gospel because the salvation of men and women glorifies God.
Everybody is Important.
The Church does not just consist of a few super-stars. Everybody has a part to play. We have leaders, and their job is to lead, teach and care for the Church, and we need to respect, obey and support them (Hebrews 13: 17; 1 Thessalonians 5: 12). However, all of us have a vital part to play. God does not specially use an exclusive group who are called to leadership. He uses His whole Church. The Church is the body of Christ, and we are like the various organs in that body. If a body is to function well, every part must function well. When one part is not working, the whole body is affected. Paul looks at this very carefully in 1 Corinthians 12, and shows how the Holy Spirit equips and uses the various parts of the body for different purposes, just like the limbs and organs of our human bodies are all important to healthy life.
Local Church
Church is not just a vague body scattered through the world. The Church of Jesus is worldwide, and it is a huge family. But we belong to a local Church, where we serve, are taught and cared for. It is there we can find a place in bringing about the purposes of God. We are there, part of the body, to make the local church effective in reaching not only its own community but also nations.
Getting Direction
We believe that local churches should be governed by a team of local elders, but still need to draw from the wider family of Churches. They are local, but not independent or isolated. God has set in the church men who can support and encourage the Churches and bring direction, strategy and support to the whole. Ephesians 4 describes apostles, prophets, evangelists as well as pastor-teachers as being the gifts of Jesus to the Church. Their great task is to equip all its members for the work of serving God in this world. This also enables local churches to work together. We find we are more together than we are apart.
The local church in the New Testament is not led by one man, nor is it democratic, but it is led by a team of men called to the task by God. We usually call them “elders”. They are responsible for the government and care of the Church, and the Church in turn cares for them, and obeys and prays for them. These elders are not self-appointed, but are recognised by the apostles and their teams who look after the local church.
No leadership is about superiority. Jesus came to be a Servant, and all leadership is about serving. The good leader is to be an example to the Church in every way, and he will be an example of a man who serves both in action and attitude.
Being a Part.
We need to belong to a local Church. It is where we can serve God, find encouragement, receive teaching and be involved. C.H. Spurgeon commented about Christians who say they do not need Church, “There is a brick. What is it made for? To help build a house. It is of no us for that brick to tell you that it is just as good a brick while it is kicking about on the ground as it would be in the house. It is a good for nothing brick. So you rolling stone Christians, I do not believe you are answering your purpose.”
DerekReynolds © Grace Church2002
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