TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE
REVIEW
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH ANALYSIS
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF STUDY
What is the church? Is the church a
building? Is it the place where believers gather to worship? Or is the church
the people—the believers who follow Christ? How we understand and perceive the
church is an important factor in determining how we live out our faith. For the
purpose of this study, we will look at the church in the context of "the
Christian church," which is a New Testament concept. Jesus was the first
person to mention the church: “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 16:16–18, ESV)
Some Christian denominations, such as the Catholic Church, interpret this verse to mean
that Peter is the rock upon which the
church was founded, and for this reason, Peter is considered the first Pope. However, Protestants, as well as
other Christian denominations, understand this verse differently.Although many
believe Jesus noted the meaning of Peter's name here as rock,
there was no supremacy given to him by Christ. Rather, Jesus was referring to Peter's
declaration: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." This
confession of faith is the rock upon which the church is
built, and just like Peter, everyone who confesses Jesus Christ as Lord is a part of the
church.
The word "church" as
rendered in the New Testament comes from the Greek term ekklesia which
is formed from two Greek words meaning "an assembly" and "to
call out" or "called out ones." This means the New Testament
church is a body of believers who have been called out from the world by God to
live as his people under the authority of Jesus Christ:
God has put all things under the
authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of
the church.And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ,
who fills all things everywhere with himself. (Ephesians 1:22–23, NLT)
This group of believers or "the body of Christ" began in Acts 2 on the Pentecost through the work of the Holy Spirit and will continue to be formed
until the day of the rapture of the church.
A person becomes a member of the
church simply by exercising faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior.
The local church is defined as a local
assembly of believers or a congregation that meets together physically for
worship, fellowship, teaching, prayer and encouragement in the faith (Hebrews
10:25). At the local church level, we can live in relationship with other
believers—we break bread together ( Holy Communion), we pray for each other, teach and
make disciples, strengthen and encourage one another.
At the same time, all believers are
members of the universal church. The universal church is made up of every
single person who has exercised faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, including members of every local
church body throughout the earth:
For we were all baptized by one
Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we
were all given the one Spirit to drink. (1 Corinthians 12:13, NIV)
The founder of the home church
movement in England, Canon Ernest Southcott, defined the church best:
"The holiest moment of the church service is the moment when God’s
people—strengthened by preaching and sacrament—go out of the church door into
the world to be the church. We don’t go to church; we are the church."
The church, therefore, is not a
place. It's not the building, it's not the location, and it's not the
denomination. We—God's people who are in Christ Jesus—are the church.
The purpose of the church is
two-fold. The church comes together (assembles) for the purpose of bringing
each member to spiritual maturity (Ephesians 4:13). The church reaches out
(scatters) to spread the love of Christ and the gospel message to unbelievers
in the world (Matthew 28:18-20). This is the Great Commission, to go out into the world and make
disciples. So, the purpose of the church is to minister to believers and unbelievers.
The church, both in the universal and
local sense, is important because it is the primary vehicle through which God
carries out his purposes on earth. The church is the body of Christ—his heart,
his mouth, his hands, and feet—reaching out to the world:
Now you are the body of Christ, and
each one of you is a part of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27, NIV)
In
this context I will be talking about how to pastor a small and a growing church
specifically
Department | Theology |
Project ID Code | THY0002 |
Chapters | 5 Chapters |
No of Pages | 40 pages |
Methodology | Null |
Reference | YES |
Format | Microsoft Word |
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