Acts 20:6-11
A Biblical Definition: A local church is a group of baptized believers who are committed to meeting together each week under the guidance of scripturally appointed leaders to worship God through Jesus Christ, to be exhorted from the Word of God, to observe the Lord's Supper, and to build up one another, who then "scatter" from the assembly to spread the Gospel to their families, neighborhoods, cities and the nations.
The following points are necessary for a group to be considered a church:
- People must give evidence that they are believers—that they trust Jesus Christ as Savior. The New Testament makes it clear that we are adopted into the family of God through faith (John 1:12, 13). The early church knows nothing of an unregenerate membership (Acts 2:41).
- Believers must be baptized in obedience to Christ to become members of the local church. The prescribed method of making disciples in Matthew 28:19 is, "baptizing…and teaching them."
- Believers must regularly assemble in community where they have committed themselves to one another and to the mission of God through their assembly. People meeting occasionally cannot rightly be called a local church because there are essential activities of the church which lose their meaning when not done corporately. Therefore, Hebrews 10:25 commands us not to neglect to meet together.
- Central to the gatherings of a local church is the matter of worship: singing, praying, serving, preaching, etc. The church is destined to live to the praise of God's glory (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14); Therefore, it would contradict our new spiritual nature not to assemble to…worship (Acts 2:47; Romans 15:6, 7).
- Church gatherings must include exhortation from the Word of God. We were born again through the living and abiding Word of God (1 Peter 1:23); and our life in Christ is preserved not by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). Pastors are the provision God has made for feeding his sheep (2 Timothy 4:2; 1 Peter 5:2). A local church always strives to teach and preach the Word of God faithfully in its gatherings.
- In conjunction with worship and exhortation from scripture, a gathering of believers must also celebrate the Lord's Supper in order to be the church. We are commanded to do this "in remembrance" of Christ (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24). Baptism and communion are the two divinely prescribed ordinances given by Christ to the church.
- As part of regular gatherings believers are commanded to encourage, strengthen, edify and serve one another within the body of Christ. The purpose of our gifting by Christ (1 Corinthians 12:4-6; Romans 12:6) is that we might minister to "one another" within the church (1 Peter 4:10). The local church is not a place where we tolerate one another while we sit in rows trying to avoid as much contact with other members as possible. It is a place where we build authentic and transparent relationships with other members of God's family so we can better share with them the love of Christ and fellowship with each other.
- There must be commitment to the mission of God as it is defined in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) and the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-40). The church does not exist solely for its own benefit, but to be a representative of Christ in this world bringing the saving knowledge of Christ to others. As people leave the assembly they are to embark on the mission to be witnesses of Christ through all their networks of friends, family, co-workers and neighbors. They are committed as a member of the local church to bring the sweet fragrance of Christ's love and forgiveness to as many people as possible so that they might join them in giving glory to God in His church and in daily life.
- Finally, all of these things must take place with the guidance of duly appointed leaders. Paul appointed elders/pastors in all the churches (Acts 14:23), he gave instruction about the qualifications of deacons and elders/pastors in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, and he said that Christ had given pastor-teachers to the church to equip the saints for ministry (Ephesians 4:1, 12). These gifted men must be present in the gathering in order for it to be considered a church…something historic Christianity (in addition to scripture) has always affirmed.
From this we can see that the Bible does not define the church as a free-flowing, self-directed spiritual experience determined and guided by individual Christians acting independently of others.
The New Testament references to the local church are always about specific groups of people in specific ministry locations who are organized, rooted and committed to serving the Lord and one another in order to bring glory to God.
Within the structure of the early New Testament church were things like oversight and care from ordained officers (pastors/deacons), participation in baptism and the Lord’s supper, weekly Lord’s Day gatherings with the public reading and preaching of Scripture (1 Timothy 4:13), singing, prayers, mutual care among members, generous giving, members serving the body of Christ through their giftedness (1 Peter 4:10), discipline, loving deeds of mercy and justice, etc., etc.
Evidence for this kind of orderly community is found in the fact that the number of believers was known (Acts 1:15, 2:41, 4:4), rolls were kept (1 Timothy 5:9), servants were selected (Acts 6:2-5), discipline was practiced (1 Corinthians 5:12-13), worship was corporate (1 Corinthians 14:23), and pastors/shepherds knew for whom they were responsible (Hebrews 13:17).
Mark Dever, in his book Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, writes, "Church membership is our opportunity to grasp hold of each other in responsibility and love. By identifying ourselves with a particular church, we let the pastors and other members of that local church know that we intend to be committed in attendance, giving, prayer, and service. We allow fellow believers to have great expectations of us in these areas, and we make it known that we are the responsibility of this local church. We assure the church of our commitment to Christ in serving with them, and we call for their commitment to serve and encourage as well."
In a similar fashion to the way the Bible establishes the government to oversee our citizenship to the nation, it establishes the local church to oversee our discipleship to Christ. Therefore, you cannot grow to your fullest potential in Christ apart from a community of believers in a local church.
John Piper observes that, "In the New Testament to be excluded from the local church was to be excluded from Christ." That’s how important the local church was to believers and how important it should be to us.
From these facts, we can conclude that the work of the church is not about individually tailored services, self-fulfillment, self-actualization, or some grandiose social project. The church is called to prepare people for eternity!
Many people talk about wanting a God-centered church so long as God is man-centered or me-centered. The church isn't to be a gathering of consumer-oriented believers looking to have their own needs met first. It's to be a gathering of crucified saints selflessly looking to put the needs of others before their own (Romans 12:10; Philippians 2:3). When we make the choice to attend church primarily on the basis of whether or not it will benefit us personally, while giving little or no thought to how we might bless others by being present, we lack a fundamental understanding of what it means to share life together in community.
The gathering of believers is to be the place where we can love one another (1 John 4:12), encourage one another (Hebrews 3:13), “spur” one another to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24), serve one another (Galatians 5:13), instruct one another (Romans 15:14), honor one another (Romans 12:10), and be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32), along with the many additional "one another" instructions in the New Testament.
In the process of belonging to a local church, it's important that we remember that it is made up of imperfect, flawed and deeply broken people, all in need of God's healing truth and power. In Love in Hard Places, D.A. Carson suggests that ideally the church is not comprised of natural “friends” but rather “natural enemies.”
"What binds us together is not common education, common race, common income levels, common politics, common nationality, common accents, common jobs, or anything of the sort. Christians come together, not because they form a natural collocation, but because they have been saved by Jesus Christ and owe him a common allegiance. In the light of this common allegiance, in light of the fact that they have all been loved by Jesus himself, they commit themselves to doing what he says – and he commands them to love one another. In this light, they are a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus’ sake."
Being a local church means fighting against homogeneity (e.g., reaching one target audience alone) and cultivating diversity as much as possible, even if this makes people feel uncomfortable.
- It means prioritizing the values of church membership and tithing, even if it turns people off.
- It means volunteering to serve so that every member has an active part within the local church.
- It means sticking around even when the church goes through peaks and valleys.
- It means building a tight-knit community but not an insular one, engaging the community and sending out members on mission with Christ to spread the Good News.
- It means bearing with one another in non-essential matters, but not shying away from discipline when a member drifts from the essential matters of the faith.
- It means preaching the truth with love, even when the culture around us disapproves of what the scripture teaches.
Again, there are no perfect churches, but the scriptural evidence shows that Paul didn't give up on the imperfect ones. The church at Corinth is a prime example of his vision for seeing a broken church returned to the beauty God intended. What had basically become a band of misfits Paul envisioned becoming again the radiant bride for the coming Christ (Ephesians 5:25-32). From the evidence in the epistles written to them, we learn that they were a dysfunctional mess with factions, harshness, divisions, adultery, lawsuits, divorce, elitism, classism, and neglect of the poor, to name just some of their issues. The famous chapter on "love" (1 Corinthians 13) was actually written less as inspiration and more as a rebuke, because each “love” attribute was something the Corinthians desperately needed to practice. Because of their carnality they had trampled on the ideal of what God intended the church to be—an infectious community of prayer, truth, love, and mission (Acts 2:42-47).
Sadly, many people are increasingly becoming unfaithful to the local church…Christ's bride. Statistics show that a person who was faithful to church two or three decades ago attended three times a week: Sunday morning, Sunday evening and a mid-week service. Now statistics tell us that a person is considered faithful if he/she attends a worship service three times a month. Think of the damage that does to the overall cause of the body of Christ in ministering to the sacred community of believers, as well as in fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20).
The fact is, people are religious by nature, but many people are choosing to be religious about things other than God's church. Too many Christians have taken up marathons, triathlons, cycling, boating, fishing, etc., in place of church life and the mission of God. They are faithful to their tee times and always honor their commitments to ball games, amusements, recreation and travel, but the local church service is only a distant afterthought.
These types of things and many more like them have become the new religion of many believers. So let me ask, how much money do you spend on your favorite hobby? How many services do you miss from the gatherings of believers each week or month, when you are not providentially hindered (work, illness, etc.)? We're all investing our lives in something because we are all basically religious people by divine design. The only question is whether or not we are investing properly in the place God commands…the local church (Hebrews 10:24-25).
