{"id":2422,"date":"2010-01-21T13:47:11","date_gmt":"2010-01-21T21:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=2422"},"modified":"2010-01-23T14:47:27","modified_gmt":"2010-01-23T22:47:27","slug":"what-does-the-bible-require-of-a-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2010\/01\/21\/what-does-the-bible-require-of-a-church","title":{"rendered":"What Does The Bible Require of a Church?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Agios<\/a>An alum\u00adna of my min\u00adistry recent\u00adly sent me an email ask\u00ading what the Bib\u00adli\u00adcal require\u00adments of a church were. I thought about it for a bit, and this is what I came up with. I\u2019m sure the list of require\u00adments that I have below is incom\u00adplete, and I wel\u00adcome sug\u00adges\u00adtions for improve\u00adment.<\/p>\n

But if you, like my for\u00admer stu\u00addent, are look\u00ading for a church home then med\u00adi\u00adtate on these points.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the email I sent her. <\/p>\n

\n

What does the Bible require of a church? Prob\u00ada\u00adbly not the things you expect. The Bible doesn\u2019t require that a church meets on Sun\u00adday morn\u00ading (although it does set that as the pat\u00adtern: Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2), nor does it require that a ser\u00admon be the cen\u00adter\u00adpiece of the meet\u00ading (although that is cer\u00adtain\u00adly one way of ful\u00adfill\u00ading the cri\u00adte\u00adria of Bib\u00adli\u00adcal teach\u00ading below).<\/p>\n

The most impor\u00adtant thing that God requires of a church is that it be built upon the con\u00adfes\u00adsion of Jesus as God\u2019s Son and Christ (Matthew 16:16\u201318; 1 Cor 3:10\u201311). What this means prac\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly is that Christ is the cen\u00adter of the church and is the focus of its activ\u00adi\u00adties.<\/p>\n

The church should be engaged in per\u00adsuad\u00ading unbe\u00adliev\u00aders to become dis\u00adci\u00adples of Jesus (Matthew 28:18\u201320; 2 Tim\u00ado\u00adthy 2:2; 2 Tim\u00ado\u00adthy 4:5), which the Great Com\u00admis\u00adsion defines as bap\u00adtiz\u00ading them and teach\u00ading them to obey Christ. Dis\u00adci\u00adple\u00admak\u00ading also includes tak\u00ading sin seri\u00adous\u00adly and dis\u00adci\u00adplin\u00ading impen\u00adi\u00adtent believ\u00aders (Matthew 18:15\u201320; 1 Corinthi\u00adans 5:1\u201313; 1 Tim\u00ado\u00adthy 5:19\u201320; Titus 3:9\u201311).<\/p>\n

The church should meet reg\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly and the meet\u00adings should be encour\u00adag\u00ading (Hebrews 10:24\u201325). The encour\u00adage\u00adment should not come just from the min\u00adistry lead\u00aders \u2013 the com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty as a whole should be one that strength\u00adens you. Here is a rep\u00adre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtive list of pas\u00adsages describ\u00ading how those in the church ought to treat one anoth\u00ader.<\/p>\n