The Church: The People of God We Love and Build Up

Today’s reading continues in Section III: The Church – The People of God We Love and Build Up.Read here.

The church grows as it gathers for worship.

The Lord Jesus summons his church to gather together regularly to worship God the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit. By these gatherings, he invites us to grow in our intimacy and knowledge of him as the Scriptures are read and proclaimed, and to see, feel and taste his grace, in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42).

As the one body of Christ and one temple of the Spirit, the church manifests its corporate identity primarily through its worship. In corporate worship, we are practising church and showing what it means to be the church. This means that worship is essentially a corporate event. Corporate worship, therefore, is not primarily about cultivating a personal relationship with God; it is the “royal priesthood” and “holy nation” proclaiming “the excellencies (praises) of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” (1 Pet 2:5, 9).

The church distinguishes itself as God’s people through its worship of the triune God in word and sacrament. These two basic components of worship are marks which define the church. Worship, therefore, is not just one of many other church practices but the church’s foundational practice. Worship is the ultimate end to which all our mission endeavours are directed. The work of mission will end when Jesus returns but worship will continue forever. So, we call on all churches to give greater attention to worship as a foundational practice and to make worship a more corporate experience through their preaching, prayers, and songs.

Properly ordered worship takes place under the authority and discipline of the local church. This is vital for the well-being of not only the individual believer but of the church as a whole. So, we call upon all Christians to submit to the authority of a local church. Just as individuals grow because local churches grow in health and maturity, so too local churches grow because individuals grow in knowledge, intimacy, and accountability. (1 Cor 5:1-6:11; Heb 10:25)

Christ, as the head of the church, has placed gifts of ministry and service within his church, for the maturing of his people and for their upbuilding. A wide variety of Spirit-empowered gifts are distributed among the members of the church for the common good. The body of Christ grows as individual believers take responsibility to do the work of ministry and exercise their God-given gifts to serve their sisters and brothers with Christlike love. This ministry empowers all the people of God to honour Jesus Christ in the workplace, the marketplace, the home, the school, and the local community—wherever they are called to serve. They fulfil their various callings being fully assured that the Lord Jesus cares for his church, and constantly intercedes for its protection and well-being. (Rom 12:6-6; 1 Cor 12:4-11; Eph 4:7-16)

The church displays Christ in diverse yet faithful ways.

The church has been called to express its common life by forming local, counter-cultural communities in every society. Local churches vary in form: from small bands of believers meeting in secret, to house churches, to much larger congregations that gather in public view. The emergence of digital spaces has provided Christian believers yet another means to come together, prompting ongoing theological reflection on the nature and form of the local church.

Local churches throughout history and across the world display spectacular diversity in traditions and forms, which are shaped by the influence of their distinctive cultures and by the unique contextual challenges they face. Nevertheless, what such Christian communities have in common, and what makes them authentic manifestations of the body of Christ is their worship of the triune God in response to their shared faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ—the faith that Christ calls them to share with the world.