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| Section: Basic Christian Living:
courses for new Christians |
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Beginning with God |
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11. Church in
Action: |
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Patterns of
Church Life |
| Church
is people
People often talk of 'the church'
meaning the stone building down the street, or perhaps the church
as an organisation or institution. But what does the Bible say
about it? The New Testament presents two views of the church:
1.
The universal church
The universal church is the
sum-total of all born-again people, past, present and future.
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Many have already died and are with
Jesus. The rest are in a variety of circumstances and denominations all
over the world, but because they're all born again they belong together.
They're the redeemed community.
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| 2.
The local church
The local church is
a group of Christians living in the same area who are joined
in conscious committed fellowship under their appointed leaders.
A 'church' that's a mixture
of saved and unsaved, genuine believers and mere churchgoers,
isn't a church at all by New Testament standards. Neither does
the idea of denominations (Baptists, Methodists, C of E etc.)
have biblical support.
Ideally, there would be one
local church in each town or area, meeting in many congregations.
Sadly, over the centuries the body of Christ has become fragmented
so that each town today has many local churches, all with different
labels and loyalties. But in John 17:20-23 Jesus prayed that
all God's redeemed people would be united. Because his prayer
is guaranteed its answer, we should build in the meantime on
structural principles that will pave the way for it.
Who leads
the church?
We're used to thinking of vicars,
ministers, rectors, priests, etc. but the New Testament uses
different terms. Leaders there fall into two main categories:
1. Leaders
with a trans-local ministry
Ephesians
4:11-13 'It was he [the risen and ascended Jesus] who gave some to be
apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists,
and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare
God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ
may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in
the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining
to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ.'
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These leaders
are men who not only have gifts from the Lord for building
up the church but are, in themselves, gifts to the church.
Normally they will have a sphere of influence wider than the
one local church where they are based.
Apostles
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| An apostle is 'an expert builder'
(1 Corinthians 3:10), a kind of spiritual architect. He
can see the overall 'shape' of a church situation and has authority
and wisdom from the Lord to build it, to spot areas of weakness
and to appoint leaders. He's a man of initiative, sparking off new projects and breaking
open new ground with the gospel. He'll have the ready following
of other leaders and be a source of inspiration to them. Like
Paul, he'll have an 'apostolic team' of other leaders who work
under his overall direction.
Prophets
Apostles and prophets work
closely with each other. Together they're often known as 'foundation
ministries' because they lay the foundations of local church
life:
Ephesians
2:19-20
'You are…built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.'
1
Prophets are stirrers and inspirers,
enabled by the Spirit to perceive the mind of God for the times.
They see through all the details of a church's life to the goals
God has in mind for it. In a word, they are men of direction.
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Evangelists
According to Ephesians 4, evangelists—like
the other ministries—were given not primarily to the non-Christian
world but to the church, 'to prepare God's people for
works of service' (v12).
The evangelist's concern is
to see people come to know the Lord. He inspires and trains Christians
in evangelism. More than that, however, he gets on with the job
himself and sees results.
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If apostles and prophets together
draw up blueprints for the spiritual building, the evangelist
works at the quarry-face directing the blasting of building-stones
from the rock.
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| Pastors
and teachers
The pastor/teacher shepherds
the people in accordance with the ways of the Great Shepherd,
the Lord Jesus, and teaches them the Word of God as a
basis for living. To continue the building metaphor, he shapes
the individual stones so that they fit smoothly into the overall
structure.
2. Leaders
at local level Elders
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| The local church is governed
by a body of elders, as we noted in an earlier lesson.
Some of them may also be apostles, prophets, evangelists or pastor/teachers,
combining their local involvement with a wider ministry. In the
New Testament, Peter is an example of such a combination—he
was an apostle, but also an elder of the church in Jerusalem
(1 Peter 1:1; 5:1). Most elders, however, will just have a local
role. Each church
will ideally have several elders (James 5:14; Acts 14:23;
20:17; Philippians 1:1). Each one will function according to
the ability and measure of grace and faith the Lord has given
them, but the elders' emphasis will be on working closely together.
Each elder will meet the character
qualifications listed in 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1 and 1 Peter 5,
and each will have a specific area of responsibility in
keeping with his gifts and abilities.
Deacons
A deacon is an agent of
the elders, carrying out some specific, regular responsibility
on their behalf and by their appointment—usually of a practical
nature.
'Deacon' means 'servant'. Of
course, every member of the church serves the whole in
one way or another, but not all are deacons. These are people
whose service has become a ministry from the Lord. They are publicly
appointed as deacons of the church, being of proven character
according to the standards laid out in 1 Timothy 3:8-13.
The church in the
house
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Jesus enjoyed
a closer relationship with some people than with others. For
example, of the seventy-two disciples he sent out (Luke
10:1) there were twelve with whom he was particularly
close (Matthew 10:2-4). Three of those—Peter, James
and John—seem to have been his special friends (Matthew
17:1; Luke 8:51).
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You, too, need various levels
of relationship and the church provides them in the following
way:
 | First, the joint meetings
of the whole church are great times of praise, worship and
inspiration. In them you feel that you're part of something big
and powerful in the purposes of God.
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| Second, meetings
of the local congregation are more relaxed, with greater
scope for personal participation.
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| But, third, you also need
more intimate fellowship with a smaller number of Christians.
Group meetings, like this one, are an ideal way of satisfying
this need. These groups will often meet in people's homes (Romans
16:5; Colossians 4:15). The informal atmosphere of a home encourages
a relaxed and easy openness in the Spirit. Small groups are outposts
of the kingdom of God in the community, demonstrating in real-life
terms what Christian caring and sharing is all about.
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Some small-group activities will be organised
by the leaders. But you don't have to wait for things to be arranged for
you; just start sharing the life of God naturally with those closest to you.
Be open and hospitable. Offer your help in gardening, decorating or
whatever. Pray with one another, encourage those who are having a tough
time. Do fun things together. Plan a picnic or a barbecue. Just share life!
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| Are
'new churches' starting a new denomination?
Hopefully not. The dictionary
defines a denomination as 'a religious sect or body designated
by a distinctive name' (Shorter Oxford English Dictionary).
The name usually refers to a particular aspect of God's truth
that the denomination emphasises. For example:
| The Baptist Church - baptism
of believers by immersion central. |
| The Presbyterian Church -
presbyterian form of government (multiple elders) central. |
| The Pentecostal Church - baptism
in the Holy Spirit central. |
| The Apostolic Church - present-day
apostleship central. |
| 'Free' churches - freedom
or independence from external control central. |
We simply aim to be scriptural
in all we do, and don't want to adopt any denominational label.
We just want to be God's people touching a needy world. And we're
anxious to reach out in fellowship to all who are the Lord's,
whatever their denominational affiliation. This way, we can help
'keep the unity of the Spirit' (Ephesians 4:3) until,
in the open and loving atmosphere thus created, 'we all reach
unity in the faith' (Ephesians 4:13).
So don't go around saying,
'Ours is the best church' or 'Why don't you leave your church
and join ours?' Just get on with living for Jesus, trusting him
to join to us those he wants. Our main aim, anyway, isn't to
draw people from other churches but to reach the lost and see
them added to the fellowship.
[At
this point a local church using these materials can insert local
details]
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1. The universal NT church,
of course, was established on the apostolic and prophetic foundation
of the original apostles and prophets (the Twelve and Paul).
But churches in every generation need to be properly founded,
and apostles and prophets in every generation fulfil that role
towards them. Back
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