Foundational Doctrines: What is the Church?

Today when people speak of “church” they most often are talking about a physical building. In the Southeastern United States, the landscape is covered with various church buildings. The honest seeker of spiritual things may wonder, “Which church is the right one?”

Biblically, the concept of the church is coming from a completely different perspective. The English word “church” is a completely invented word. But it is the word that is most often used to translate the Greek word ekklesia. Yet, this Greek word literally means “an assembly,” or “a gathering.” In Matthew 16:18, Jesus is literally saying that he would build a “gathering of people” that the gates of Hades could not overpower. As we explore the fundamentals of our faith in this series, we want to get at some basic truths that we can know with confidence about the nature of the church (God’s gathered people).

1. God Himself gathers together all of the saved of the world into a single global assembly. People that repent and are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins are saved by grace through faith (Acts 2:37-38; cf. Titus 3:5). When we obey these commands, we are added into God’s worldwide assembly of the saved. “And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). This assembly of the saved is the “one body” of Christ (Ephesians 4:4). This is the “assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven” (Hebrews 12:22-23).

2. A person enters God’s assembly of the saved by being baptized. This point is made clear in 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and were made to drink of one Spirit.” Spiritual people who have not been baptized are not in God’s assembly of the saved. Baptism is the means of entering God’s gathered people and is essential (John 3:5).

3. By simply obeying the gospel and being baptized, God automatically adds you to his global assembly of the saved; but it is important to also “gather together” regularly with other Christians. Scripture directs us to resist “neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another” (Hebrews 10:25). After Saul was baptized and added to God’s gathering of the saved, one of the first things he did was try and join a gathering of local Christians (Acts 9:26).

4. Be aware that not all “Christian” gatherings are really in the kingdom of God. John made this clear when he wrote, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us” (1 John 2:19; cf. Matt. 15:13). When you are trying to find a gathering of Christians to meet with regularly, you must make sure that you gather with a group that is really in the kingdom of God. Some “Christian” gatherings teach “other gospels” which is not the gospel at all (Galatians 1:6-7).

5. There are several essentials that are absolutely necessary that will identify whether a gathering is really in the kingdom of God. (1) The group must believe in God and seek Him (Heb. 11:6), (2) The group must submit to Jesus as Savior (Acts 4:12), (3) The group must teach the essentiality of being born again of water and the spirit (John 3:7; cf. Acts 2:37-38), (4) The group must worship in spirit and truth and not by presumption (John 4:24; cf. 1 Sam. 15:23), (5) The group must have proper assembly conduct with male leadership and women learning quietly (1 Tim. 3:15, and context), (6) The group must endure tribulation and not teach a “health and wealth” gospel (Acts 14:22). This list is not exhaustive, but these are some “musts.”

The saved of the world are God’s one global assembly. We must find a local gathering of true disciples that are really in the kingdom and meet with them regularly.