Discipleship Dimensions:
What is the Church? (Part 1)
You may have attended a church all your life; or you may have only recently begun to attend. But have you ever asked yourself the question, “What is the Church?” Perhaps the response heard most often is, “The church is place I go to worship God.” While that answer is true, the Church is really much more than a place. This issue will briefly explore the “really much more” part of that last sentence in answer to the question.
The first response to the question is that the Church is the universal church. The universal Church consists of all those individual humans who have believed - that is all those past, present and future - on Jesus Christ for their salvation and received forgiveness of sin. Thus, some believers have already died and are with the Lord in heaven, some are living now all around the world, and some have not yet believed including living people and those yet to be born and believe (Acts 13:48).
As the above definition indicates, only personal faith in Jesus Christ for salvation brings one into the universal Church. One does not become a part of the Church by birth - having Christian parents does not give one a faith in Christ (Acts 2:47; 10:43; 13:38-39; Rom. 10:9; Eph. 2:8). One does not become a part of the Church by being baptized or dedicated as an infant. And one does not become a part of the Church by joining a local church (in other words, some local churches will accept people into membership even though they are not a believer).
Given, then, that only those with a personal faith in Jesus Christ are part of the universal Church, it is fair to say that the universal Church was not only founded by Jesus Christ, it is focused on Jesus Christ. Jesus spoke of the Church coming into being after His death and resurrection (Matt. 16:18), and the Church is described as His body (Rom. 12:5; I Cor. 12:12-31; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4 & 12, 5:30; Col. 1:18 & 24).
The nature of the universal Church can also be described by the following statements: the Church is at the same time one and many - it is one entity in its essence made up of uncounted individual parts; the Church is at the same time invisible and visible - The body of Christ as made up of its members cannot be seen as a whole as it is made up of deceased believers, living believers and believers yet to believe. But the body can be seen in the persons of those very believers; The Church is indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit - it is a “dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit” (Eph. 2:22b); and the Church is an organism not an organization - it is a living thing; it is not a man-made structure.
(Look for part 2 later this week.)
Hi Pastor Dick,
Your definition of Church is very good! In fact, if it is OK with you, I would like use it in some of my teachings on this subject.
The questions “What and who is the Church?” if answered correctly, change everything about ones perspective on God, Christianity and the day to day. We have a purpose and it’s not about buildings - it’s about a movement, thank you for this post.
Wag