The word ‘church’ has two meanings for Christians

  • There is the worldwide Church of fellow believers to which all Christians spiritually belong
  • And there are local congregations we call churches where we place membership and learn and serve and grow together

Though we refer to the building where we meet as “the church”, it is much more than just a building. It is the united body of believers called and held together by a common faith.

Jesus first mentions the church in Matthew chapter 16

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my CHURCH, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:15–18 (ESV)

The word church here means ‘ones who are called out or ones who are called together’. So Jesus was literally saying:

“On the foundation (the rock) of the confession that I am the Christ, the Son of God, I will build my church. And the strongholds of the devil will not succeed against the people who are called out into my church to be set apart for the work of God”

The New Testament church began on Pentecost (as recorded in Acts chapter 2), when Peter and the other Apostles, having been filled with the Holy Spirit, preached the first Gospel sermon and baptized the first 3000 people.

Paul speaks of the church as having been acquired by the blood of Christ.

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.  Acts 20: 28 (ESV)

The church is not defined by a single ethnicity or a single nation. It is the worldwide extension of the blessing to all families who come to believe in Christ as Lord and Savior that was first spoken of by God in Genesis chapter 12. All people can be “grafted in” to the church through a confession of Jesus as Lord and a belief that He was raised from the dead, as stated in Romans chapters 10 and 11. 

As Paul writes in Colossians chapter 3:

Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.  Colossians 3:11 (ESV)

He is saying “in the church into which believers have been called to gather, there is no distinction made between race or ethnicity, what your religious background was before you became a Christian, what language you speak, your cultural or social background, or your economic status, because Christ redefines and gives each of us a new identity anyway”

We see in Acts chapter 2 that the first Christians who formed the first church were consistently engaging in at least four main activities – 1) studying the teachings of what became the Bible, 2) fellowshipping and encouraging one another, 3) taking communion together and 4) praying.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  Acts 2:42 (ESV)

Not only does the Bible say Jesus gave His life for the church but also that He is working to have her grow to spiritual maturity so she can be presented to Christ holy and without blemish

  • And Ephesians chapter 5 says this is done (just as Jesus commanded in Matthew chapter 28) through the individual members being baptized and learning to live out what is taught in God’s word.

…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.  Ephesians 5: 25b – 27 (ESV)

Of the church the Bible says:

  • Christ is the head and the chief cornerstone – Colossians 1:18 & Ephesians 2:20
  • It is the body of Christ – I Corinthians 12:12
  • It is the bride of Christ – Revelation 19:7
  • That each member in a church “belongs to all the others” and that each is of equal value, though they all have different roles to play – Romans 12:4-5