The church is the community of all people who have a saving relationship with God through Jesus. It isn’t a building or an organization. It’s a people. The church exists as local congregations and as one universal body across all of history. Its purpose is to glorify God through worship, building up believers, and reaching the world. It practices two ordinances: baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Salvation Isn’t a Solo Project
Salvation and sanctification aren’t purely individual events. Salvation unites a Christ-follower with everyone else who follows him. And as we saw in Lesson 10, sanctification happens in the context of relationships with other believers. So it’s no surprise that the Bible places tremendous emphasis on the community of God’s people, the church.
What Is the Church?
The church is neither a building nor an organization. It is a people: the community of all those who stand in a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
The New Testament word for church, ekklesia, means “the assembly of those called out,” called out by the gospel to gather around Christ. The church exists in two ways. The visible or local church takes shape in many forms, places, and cultures (Acts 13:1; 1 Corinthians 1:2). Yet even in all its diversity, Jesus’ church is one. The invisible or universal church is the body of all believers, everywhere, through all time (Hebrews 12:22-23). No single local expression of the church contains the whole.
Pictures of the Church
The Bible uses several analogies to describe the church:
- Family. The church is God’s household, with both relational and organizational elements (1 Timothy 3:15; Ephesians 2:19).
- Temple. Believers are living stones built on Jesus, the cornerstone (1 Peter 2:4-5). The church is now the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit on earth (Ephesians 2:20-22).
- Body. The church is a living organism made of many interdependent parts (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). Christ is the head, who directs its growth and makes it work as a whole (Ephesians 4:15-16).
- Bride. Jesus loves the church as his bride and sacrificially invests himself in her (Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelation 19:7-9).
- Flock. Jesus cares for, protects, and provides for his people (Luke 12:32), especially through the leaders he appoints (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2).
1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Israel and the Church
Before the church, Israel was the people of God. So how do Israel and the church relate? Is there one people of God, or two? One view says the church has replaced Israel, so Old Testament prophecies about Israel are fulfilled in the church. Another view says Israel and the church are two separate identities with two separate plans.
The New Testament defines Israel with some flexibility. It describes a spiritual “Jewishness” that doesn’t apply to every ethnic Jew (Romans 2:28-29; Romans 9:6-8). Followers of Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, are the true children of Abraham (Galatians 3:28-29). The church is described with language that once only applied to Israel (Colossians 3:12). And God still has a future plan for Jewish people as they embrace Jesus (Romans 11:23). So the church doesn’t replace Israel. It expands it and carries it forward (Romans 11:17). There is one people of God, including all who belong to Christ from both Old and New Testament times (Ephesians 2:11-22).
The Church and the Kingdom
Jesus came announcing God’s kingdom (Mark 1:15), and he also promised to build his church (Matthew 16:18). How do they relate? The kingdom of God is his dynamic reign among people for the purpose of bringing salvation. It arrived in Jesus, but it won’t be complete until he returns. The church is the community that surrenders to Christ’s rule. So the church isn’t the kingdom, but the kingdom creates the church. The church bears witness to the kingdom, makes it visible, and serves as its instrument until it comes in full.
The Church’s Purpose
The church exists, first of all, to bring glory to God (Romans 15:5-6). That happens in three ways:
- Worship. God gathered Israel to be a worshiping community through offerings, music, and gatherings (Psalm 18:1-3). The same focus continues in the church (John 4:23; Colossians 3:16; Hebrews 13:15).
- Edification. The church plays a vital role in helping God’s people grow to maturity (Ephesians 4:11-16). Believers live interdependent lives and care for one another’s physical and spiritual needs (Romans 12:13-16; Galatians 6:1-2).
- Outreach. The church exists to reveal God to the world, bearing witness to Jesus (Acts 1:8), inviting people to be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:19-20), and serving the world’s needs in ways that point people to him (Matthew 5:16).
Hebrews 10:24-25 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.
Church Government
The New Testament describes the crucial role of church leaders (Ephesians 4:11-12; 1 Peter 5:1-4; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9), but it doesn’t prescribe one specific structure. Most churches follow one of three approaches:
- Episcopal. Authority rests in a bishop (episkopos, or “overseer”), who cares for a group of congregations and answers to a regional archbishop.
- Presbyterian. The key office is elder (presbuteros). Each congregation is led by a group of elders, and churches in a region are governed by a council of representatives.
- Congregational. Authority rests with the members of each local congregation. Each church is independent and self-governing, and outside associations are voluntary.
Each form can claim some biblical basis, but there is probably no single divine pattern. How leaders function and how churches organize for ministry can vary with circumstances.
The Church’s Ordinances
Historically, the church has practiced two ordinances: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Both are symbolic acts that remember Christ’s saving work and extend God’s presence and grace to his people.
Baptism
Baptism is a one-time act that declares our new identity in Christ. Christians practice it in two main ways.
Paedobaptists baptize infants. They see baptism as initiating children into God’s covenant of grace and the visible church, focusing on God’s promise rather than the person’s experience. They see baptism as the New Testament counterpart to circumcision (Colossians 2:11-12), which marked a child as part of Israel. They also point to entire households being baptized when the head of the house came to faith (Acts 16:14-15, 33).
Credobaptists baptize only those who have professed faith in Christ. They see baptism as an outward sign of an inward reality, following the New Testament pattern of people believing and then being baptized (Acts 2:41; Acts 8:12). For them, what replaces circumcision is regeneration (Colossians 2:11), and baptism is its outward sign. Since baptism pictures dying to the old life and rising to new life in Christ (Romans 6:4), only those who have experienced new life should be baptized.
The Lord’s Supper
While baptism happens once, the Lord’s Supper is repeated, reaffirming our identity in Christ. This symbolic meal remembers Jesus’ death (1 Corinthians 11:23-24), restates the promises of the new covenant (Matthew 26:27-28), and points us toward Jesus’ return.
1 Corinthians 11:26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
It’s also called Communion, because God’s people share together in Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16). It’s called the Lord’s Table, because Jesus is the host. And it’s called the Eucharist, from the Greek word for giving thanks (Matthew 26:27).
The Takeaway
The church is God’s people, not a place. It’s a family, a temple, a body, a bride, and a flock. It exists to worship God, build up believers, and reach the world. Churches take many outward forms, but every church that exalts Jesus and follows his Word is part of the one community he is building. In Lesson 12, we’ll look at what happens after we die.
