What is the church? A loaded question. As one looks around the internet, there are numerous "churches" that range from Christian to non-Christian, but still claim the title of "church." Even as one looks at Christian churches, there does not seem to be one cohesive pattern between Christian denominations. Baptist churches in America look different from Baptist churches India. Baptist churches in Sweetwater look different from other Baptist churches in Sweetwater. So what, then, is the church?
The best place to discover the identity of the church is in Scripture and the understanding of the earliest Christians. Literally, the Greek word for church means "the called out ones." The church has more to do with people than it does with architecture. When Paul went on missionary journeys or wrote letters to churches, he was writing to a body of believers, not to a building that had been erected in a town. The church is not a building, but the church is the people who are called out by God to do the work of God's Kingdom. The church is God's people doing God's work in the world.
Maybe the best way to define the church comes from an experience I had Sunday. Two girls, one in first grade and the other in second grade, asked me to take them home Sunday. As we drove, they told me they wanted to be baptized. We talked about why they wanted to be baptized and their words echo in my mind today, "Because I asked Jesus into my heart and to forgive me of my sins and I love him." The girls told me of the cross and the empty tomb. They told me what sin was and that they knew Jesus died for them because of the bad things they had done. I was in awe of how much they understood about how one begins a relationship with God. I asked them where they learned that and they said at KidX and from their teachers. The church is God's people doing the work of the Kingdom...to all those who serve God's Kingdom and help lead people like these two girls to a relationship with Jesus, thank you! Thank you to our KidX workers, our Sunday School Teachers, our Deacons, our Growth Group Leaders, and everyone else who lives out what it means to be a Christian! Thank You for being the church!!!
The best place to discover the identity of the church is in Scripture and the understanding of the earliest Christians. Literally, the Greek word for church means "the called out ones." The church has more to do with people than it does with architecture. When Paul went on missionary journeys or wrote letters to churches, he was writing to a body of believers, not to a building that had been erected in a town. The church is not a building, but the church is the people who are called out by God to do the work of God's Kingdom. The church is God's people doing God's work in the world.
Maybe the best way to define the church comes from an experience I had Sunday. Two girls, one in first grade and the other in second grade, asked me to take them home Sunday. As we drove, they told me they wanted to be baptized. We talked about why they wanted to be baptized and their words echo in my mind today, "Because I asked Jesus into my heart and to forgive me of my sins and I love him." The girls told me of the cross and the empty tomb. They told me what sin was and that they knew Jesus died for them because of the bad things they had done. I was in awe of how much they understood about how one begins a relationship with God. I asked them where they learned that and they said at KidX and from their teachers. The church is God's people doing the work of the Kingdom...to all those who serve God's Kingdom and help lead people like these two girls to a relationship with Jesus, thank you! Thank you to our KidX workers, our Sunday School Teachers, our Deacons, our Growth Group Leaders, and everyone else who lives out what it means to be a Christian! Thank You for being the church!!!
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