The Role of the Church
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I was reading recently a point of comparison between the 1960s & today…
Views on the role of the church: In the 1960s, the church was often seen as the central organizing force of a community. Today, many Christians are more likely to view their faith as a personal relationship with God and may be less connected to formal religious institutions.
With the increasing secularization of society, many have lost their connection to the church and the “good works” that churches can do in communities. Now we expect governments to employ people to do these “good works”.
In our “Manual for Field Churches” we see there are 4 “essential activities” of a local church:
1. Worship – This involves prayer, hymns & honoring God with our presence
2. Edification – Involves preaching & teaching
3. Fellowship – Simply being together to exhort & encourage
4. Service – Including assisting the needy, visiting, encouraging & helping the sick
I suggest that society is weakened when churches are not empowered to fulfil these human needs!
Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matt 16:18)
There is a big difference between:
- the spiritual organism “church“– those lead by the Holy Spirit, &
- the physical organization “church” – the legal entity
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
The Church of God is composed of Spirit-filled Christians who constitute the Body of Christ. Some have thought different CoG (Church of God) organizations as “the branches” – This is simply not true – Individual Christians are the branches.
Our purpose … is to direct the efforts of some in the spiritual organism, through our organizational strengths. Members of the spiritual organism voluntarily worship together to fulfill the common purposes of preaching & publishing the gospel.
Might you want to be part of this Mission?
For more information … such as the roles of Ministers & Deacons … Please see our booklet!