• Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

The word church G1577 ekklēsia or ἐκκλησία  in the Greek has the following meaning in the above verse,

• an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting
• a company of Christian, or of those who, hoping for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, observe their own religious rites, hold their own religious meetings, and manage their own affairs, according to regulations prescribed for the body for order’s sake
• those who anywhere, in a city, village, constitute such a company and are united into one body
• the whole body of Christians scattered throughout the earth
• the assembly of faithful Christians already dead and received into heaven

The remarkable fact is that we humans, saved or not, have very little clue what a church, or “the” church is! I suspect that an innumerable amount of people has been turned off Jesus and his calling because of what our enemy has done to our most sacred institution. As we shall see, when viewed through a biblical lense, the church should be an amazing haven for followers of Christ whilst they carry out their mission here on earth.

What Church is Not!

Firstly let’s clear something up, the following is not meant to be offensive. If you believe the bible as per John 1 we must align our beliefs and position with God and not our desire or tradition. We can safely say that as per the word of God the church of Christ is not,

• catholic
• orthodox
• anglican
• baptist
• seventh day adventist
• protestantism
• pentecostalism

Or any other label that humans have given a movement that attempts to represent Christ.

Further, the church is not,

• A building
• A registered company
• An organisation
• A corporation
• A body or thing that holds money or wealth

The Basics

Church is a group of Christians, yes, it is as simple as that! It is not a building or group of buildings with a label that humans have given it. Some of the most evil acts that we have seen on earth have been carried out by stupid men that have been caught up in decades and millennia of false teaching and heresy, that all come from humans placing their faith in human organizations that operate in direct opposition to the word of God. All one needs to do to prove this is to look at what the catholic organization did between 476 and 1517.

Christ told Peter that he would build his church upon him. What he meant was that Peter would go out and spread the gospel offering salvation to all those who would accept Christ as God and savior, and when this happened, they would form small groups of Christians that would gather and meet regularly for a number of reasons.

The Reasons for Church

• Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Reason 1: We meet in groups as Christians to exhort one and other. Exhort means,

• to address or speak to
• to admonish each other
• to strive to appease by entreaty
• to console
• to encourage
• to strengthen
• to instruct or teach

• 1 Thessalonians 5:11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

Reason 2: We meet in groups as Christians to edify one another. Edify means,

• to found, establish
• to promote or establish
• to grow in wisdom and piety
• to grow in affection and grace
• to grow in virtue and holiness

• Acts 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Reason 3: To have fellowship with one and other in the breaking or bread and in prayer.

• Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Reason 4: To teach and admonish us to sing in spiritual songs with grace in our hearts.

What we see from the above is that church is for our benefit, each and every point is for the Christian and his well being in his walk with God.

Interestingly, a concept that we do not find about church in the bible is witnessing or “soul winning”. We are called as individual Christians to go out to all nations and preach the gospel, the church exists for an entirely different set of reasons.

Church Participation

Now that we know what church is and isn’t, what are the conditions of entry? Who can attend and who should not? The overall assumption across almost all humans is that the Christian church is open to anyone, and there are no conditions of entry. As we shall see this is not the case, there is indeed only specific people who can attend church, and there are conditions upon them.

• Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
• Acts 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

From these two verses we can see that,

We must gather in his name, that would be only people of Christ or saved Christians. And in Acts the people who were meeting in the breaking of bread were continuing in the doctrine of the Apostles, which is the gospel of Jesus.

Indeed, there is no place for non-Christians in our church. It is a group or gathering for us, not for the unbeliever!

• Matthew 18:15-17 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

There are some circumstances where even a Christian can be denied entry into the gathering. In Matthew we see if a Christian sins and does not hear his fault he can be excluded from the group.

The idea that church is for anyone who wants to attend, or for any Christian who wants to attend with unrepentant sin against his fellow Christians is absent in the word of God. church is a safe haven for the saved who are acting in grace towards each other at all times.

Who Owns the Church

• Ephesians 2: 19-20 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.

The simple truth is, Jesus owns the church! Men, pastors, elders or anyone of importance have no ownership over the gathering of Christians.

Church Hierarchy

• Acts 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
• 1 Peter 5:3 Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
• Titus 1:7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
• Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

Jesus installed leadership in church. We can see from the above verses that the leaders of the church,

• Are there to serve the group of Christians, for the group of Christians and not for themselves.
• They are “NOT” lord over the gathering or group, they are there as an example to the group.
• They must lead with Joy and not grief.

Most importantly, Christ has given us some very specific rules for a person who wants to take the lead of one of his gatherings of Christians.

• 1 Timothy 3: 8-13 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

For a person to hold the position of a group leader of Christians, he must,

• be male
• never be drunk
• be blameless
• have a wife
• have a wife that is not a slanderer, and faithful in all things
• a man who is ruling his house well

If a man does not meet the above list, he should not be a pastor or leader! There is no room in the word of God for a man to live his personal life in disorder, but on the other hand attempt to lead a flock in Christ.

• 1 Timothy 3:5 For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?

How Big is too Big / Bad news for the Mega Churches

• 1 Peter 5:2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
• Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin
• Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

In the above 3 verses we see that

The pastor should feed the flock of God. The word feed G4165 poimainō or ποιμαίνω in the Greek means,

• to feed, to tend a flock, keep sheep
• to rule, govern
• to furnish pasture for food
• to nourish
• to cherish one’s body, to serve the body
• to supply the requisites for the soul’s need

So, the question is, how people can a pastor supply the requites for a souls need? We would propose that it would be impossible for one man to manage his own family, work to supply his family’s needs, and serve a local group of more than 50 Christians.

Now many say that a church can have more than 1 leader, thus making it possible for larger congregations. If we read the above verses we see that,

• The group or gathering must exhort one another
• Must interact daily

I don’t know about you reader, but I would struggle to know intimately, and exhort with more than a dozen other Christians daily!

There is no room whatsoever for large Christian churches. These large institutions that have huge memberships breach the word of God on dozens of bible verses. The do not meet the criteria for a Christian church, and they do not meet their obligations as a Christian church.

Conclusion

The Christian church in our modern age is far from what Christ and Peter intended. When one looks at all the organizations and institutions that are masquerading as Christian “churches” the one common theme we see is mans pride. Weather it be the catholic or orthodox organizations, or the likes of the hillsong organization they all share mans greed for money power and pride.

Christ called us Christians to find each other, meet in local groups, have Godly blameless men as our leaders and serve God together daily as we navigate life.