Minimalist Guide To Christianity PART 3: What's the Purpose of Church?
I’ve been going to church most of my life so my worldview naturally refracts through that lens. Maybe you’ve never been to church or you’ve grown up in the church your whole life.
My viewpoint of aligning to a church might not be relatable to you, and that’s okay.
Perhaps you’ve had a bad experience at a church, and I don’t know your unique personal situation, however, I want to apologize on behalf of the church and invite you to learn more.
I had a conversation recently with someone who had some really good questions about the church.
Is the Church important for everyone and does everyone need the Church?
What is the Church and its purpose?
Is it relevant today?
Is it simply a building used for public Christian worship or is there more to the Church?
I will be answering these questions in today’s teaching.
Let’s begin with a quick overview of what the church is.
The Biblical definition of the church comes from the Greek word “ekklēsia” which means an “assembly, congregation, convocation” or “called-out ones”.
There are several different Church denominations or variances of the Church.
In fact, there are over 33,000 Christian denominations worldwide. Source
But why?
Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Evangelical, Lutheran, and Apostolic churches are all part of one body, one Church.
C.S. Lewis said, “If you are a Christian you do not have to believe that all the other religions are simply wrong all through. If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the whole world is simply one huge mistake.”
Theologically all denominations vary and have differences. Some are slight while others are quite vast.
Despite our differences, overall we are one Church.
What is the essence of the Church?
Let’s first very briefly explore what is mere Christianity?
When we widdle away all denominations we must go to the Bible as our source of discovering what makes someone a Christian.
At the core of Christianity, and you may have heard this before, there is salvation.
Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you declare [confess] with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
Christianity is:
1) Declare (or Confess) that Jesus is Lord.
2) Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. This, Christ’s resurrection, is what Easter is about and why it is celebrated.
3) If you confess and believe those two things, you will be saved.
That is how one becomes a Christian. You see how the journey begins by faith? By faith one confesses and by faith one believes.
To explore this further read my article: Minimalist Guide To Christianity PART 1: What is a Christian?
When we consider denominations, based on the simplicity of scripture's expository for mere Christianity, there are a few things to consider above all else.
What do they believe about the sufficiency of Christ for salvation?
Is Christ significant for salvation? This is at the heart of the Gospel message.
How one acquires, maintains, remains saved, or even needs to be saved, is one of the main reasons why there are so many denominations, however there are countless others. Most of them root into various scripture hermeneutics (or interpretations) of scripture passages and doctrines.
Romans 16:5 says, “Greet also the church that meets at their house.”
Paul is telling us that the church is not a building, not the house itself, but a body of believers, a community.
1 Corinthians 12:27 says, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
Jesus formed a community.
The Church is not the building. The Church is the body of Christ.
In Ephesians 5:22-32 Paul paints a backdrop of what a Godly marriage looks like and a metaphor for marriage pointing to the relationship between us and Jesus.
It points to His intimate relationship with His Church, the body of believers.
What does the Church do?
The Church is intended to corporately worship God together as one body and share the Good News about who Jesus is and what He has done for all humanity.
God also wants the Church to take care of its people as a united family. Christians are supposed to love people, serve one another, lead people to know God, learn their true identity, become restored, healed, and free.
To Summarize what we learned today…
Local churches are not buildings. Churches are gatherings of people who believe and follow Jesus Christ as Lord.
Church is friends, community, a family.
Church is a place where we belong. It is our home.
We worship God together, do communion, pray for one another, love one another, get refreshed, and enjoy a spiritual recharge for the week together.
We have a personal relationship with Jesus, and we have a personal relationship with the church.
Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
In Closing
C.S. Lewis said, “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
Grab C.S. Lewis’s book “Mere Christianity” on Amazon. It’s one of my favorite books and I highly recommend it!
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