Why the Local Church Matters
Many Christians love Jesus and keep His church at arm's length. They watch sermons online, visit when it suits them, and treat the church as a service provider. Scripture sees it very differently. The church belongs to Jesus. He started it, He purchased with his own blood (Acts 20:28), and He is its head (Colossians 1:18).
We believe the church began when Jesus called out His apostles, and that it was empowered on the day of Pentecost. We believe the local church is God's only institution to carry out His work today. And we believe it is made up of people who have been saved and baptized, and who have voluntarily united together for worship, fellowship, service, and the Lord's Table.
That makes the local church far more than a building, a weekly event, or a club for religious people. It is where God has chosen to spread the Gospel, make disciples, and grow His children. A believer who drifts from it is not only missing a meeting. He is stepping out of God's plan for his life.
Do you think of your church as a place you attend, or as a body you belong to?
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For Deeper Study
- The Church in God's ProgramAmazon Robert L. SaucyA clear study of the church's beginning, government, and ministries (Moody, 1972) by a longtime professor of systematic theology at Talbot School of Theology.
- What the Church Is All About: A Biblical and Historical StudyAmazon Earl D. RadmacherA careful study of the word *ekklesia* and its uses (Moody, 1978; first published in 1972 as *The Nature of the Church*) by a Baptist theologian and longtime seminary president.
- What Is a Healthy Church?Amazon Mark DeverA short, practical book on preaching, membership, and discipline in church life (Crossway, 2007), written from a Calvinistic Baptist perspective.
- Church Membership: How the World Knows Who Represents JesusAmazon Jonathan LeemanMakes the biblical case for membership and church discipline (Crossway, 2012), also from a Calvinistic Baptist perspective.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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The Perpetuity of the Church
Christ's churches of saved and baptized believers have existed in every age since He founded them, distinct from the institutional church of Rome.
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