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This is how we define church.
The mission of Mars Hill Church is to make disciples and plant churches to the glory of God. Yesterday, we looked at how we define "disciple." Today, we define "church." The following is excerpted from Pastor Mark's book, Vintage Church, pp 35-41.
A few billion people worship Jesus Christ as God every week and do so in the church as the church. Yet, if you walk into various churches and ask the people who comprise that church what the word "church" means, the odds are that you will get either a blank stare or a series of conflicting definitions.
Sadly, this is even true from their pastors. In preparing for this book, I asked various pastors of some of America's largest churches–godly men and dear friends–if they have a working definition of the church. And not one of them did; they confessed they were giving their lives to building something for which they did not even have a clear definition. [Involved etymological discussion.] Most of the books on the subject simply share best practices gleaned from "successful" churches. This is curious because without a definition of what a church is or does, I'm unsure how we can even deem one successful. Therefore, we will establish a definition of the local church, summarized from Acts 2:
The local church is a community of regenerated believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord. In obedience to Scripture they organize under qualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, observe the biblical sacraments of baptism and Communion, are unified by the Spirit, are disciplined for holiness, and scatter to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission as missionaries to the world for God's glory and their joy.
1. The church is made up of regenerated believers in Jesus.
There are unbelievers and outsiders who join the meetings and have an important place in the extended community. Likewise, children are welcome into the church to be loved and served so that they will become Christians with saving faith and then church members. Therefore, the church is a community manifesting the supernatural life of the triune God.
2. The church is organized under qualified and competent leadership.
We see the leadership role of the apostles in Acts, including their unique role in teaching, their receiving of gifts, their leading the congregation in wise decision making about a potentially divisive problem, and their sending Peter and John to Samaria to confirm the authenticity of the evangelistic outbreak there. We also see the church appointment of elders in Acts 14:23. In Acts 15 they practice their leadership in a doctrinal dispute with the party of the Pharisees in Jerusalem. In Acts 6, we see the beginning of what were likely deacons appointed to oversee service.
3. The church regularly gathers to hear God's Word rightly preached and to respond in worshipful ways.
The church is under apostolic authority. As such, it is a learning and growing church. In the early church, people eagerly devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles, not because they had to, but because their regenerated hearts wanted to. They had received the Spirit, seem remarkable miracles, and witnessed conversion growth. But they also refused a simple experienced-based Christianity.
As disciples, they knew they needed to learn, and so they studied, not just for information, but also for transformation in all of their life. Therefore, the church studies Scripture to show submission to the apostolic authority of the Word of God. We believe in the apostolic gift for church planting and movement leading, but we do not believe there are apostoles in the same sense today, insofar as being able to write books of the Bible and such; rather, their teaching authority comes to us in Scripture. From the very beginning, the church recognized the unique authority of the apostolic writings and immediately canonized them as divinely inspired, just like the Old Testament Scriptures.
The church was also a worshiping community where believers praised God and had favor with all people. Worship is a response to the revelation of the Lord consisting of both adoration and proclamation of the greatness of God and his mighty works and of serving him by living out his character in gracious service to others. It is both proskuneo, literally to fall down and kiss Jesus' feet in an expression of one's allegiance to and adoration for God (Matt. 2:11; 4:9; 8:2; Rev. 19:10) and latreia or leitourgeo, which is the ministering, or doing work and service in the world in the name of Jesus. (Rom. 1:9; 12:1; Rev. 7:15)
After the jump, the role of the Holy Spirit, a holy people, fellowship, and evangelistic community in defining a church, as well as a discussion on (not in) Greek, and a video:
5. The church is unified by God the Holy Spirit.
In this way the unified life of the Trinity is manifested among God's people who live in loving unity together as the church.
6. The church is a holy people.
When they sin, they repent of their sin. If someone should fail to repent, the church and its leaders lovingly enact biblical church discipline in hopes of bringing the sinner to repentance and to a reconciled relationship with God and his people.
7. The church is a loving community that devotes itself to fellowship or koinonia.
Fellowship includes God's people living together in intentional, relational community to seek the well-being of one another in every way, including physical, spiritual, material, and emotional. This most misunderstood word speaks of the church as having a close association involving mutual interests and sharing, characterized by an attitude of good will that manifests in generosity, altruism, and sharing one's possessions because of joint participation in the Spirit and mutual interest interest in Jesus. For fellowship, the church gathers regularly for such things as worship, learning, sacrament, and encouragement. But even when it is not gathered, it is still the church. There is a Spirit-bond of belonging and mission that unites the believers wherever they are, in the same way that a family is still a family even when Dad is at work, Mom is at the store, and the kids are at school.
8. The church is an evangelistic community where the gospel of Jesus is constantly made visible.
This happens by its preaching, its witness of the members, and its Spirit-empowered life of love. From the first day "the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved" (Acts 2:47) because they took Jesus' command seriously: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8)
Etymology of "Church"
The assumption that Christians innately know what the church is has a long history. The early church debated many things, such as the Trinity and the relationship between the humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ. However, one issue it did not debate was what constitutes the church. After Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, wrote The Unity of the Churchin AD 251 until Wycliffe wrote The Church in 1378, there was no significant monograph on the church.
Everything changed in the 16th century when the Reformation forced Protestants and Roman Catholics alike to actually define church. This led to numerous definitions and debates, which continue to this day with no widespread agreement.
Part of the confusion is that the Greek word ekklēsia, which is translated "church," has a wide range of meaning. (p. 266, 1st ed.) Originally, it sometimes designated any public assembly, including a full-blown riot. In the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament), the word is translated qāhāl, which designates the assembly of God's people. (Deut. 10:4, 23:2; 31:30; Psalm 22:23) So in the New testament ekklēsia may signify the assembly of the Israelites. (Acts 7:38, Heb. 2:12) Most of the uses of the words ekklēsia in the New Testament designate the Christian church, both the local church and the universal church. (Matt. 16:18; Acts 20:28; 1 Cor. 12:28; 15:9; Eph. 1:22)
The English word church derives from the Greek word kyriakon, which means "The Lord's." (I Cor. 11:20, Rev. 1:10) Later it came to mean the Lord's house, a church building. This increases the confusion because nowhere in the New Testament does church in any of its forms refer to a building. Wayne Grudem helpfully summarizes (p. 857) the uses of a church:
A "house church" is called a "church" in Romans 16:5 ("greet also the church in their house"), 1 Corinthians 16:19 ("Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord"). The church in an entire city is also called "a church" (1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:1; and 1 Thess. 1:1). The church is a region is referred to as a "church" in Acts 9:31: "So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was built up." Finally, the church throughout the entire world can be referred to as "the church." Paul says, "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" (Eph. 5:25) and says, "God has appointed in the church first apostles, escond prophets, third teachers …" (1 Cor. 12:28) … We may conclude that the group of God's people considered at any level from local to universal may rightly be called "a church."
Jesus was a man who claimed to be God. Think on that for a minute. If that were true, how would it change the way you thought, felt, and lived this life?
At Mars Hill, we believe that Jesus is God. We take him at his word. Because of this, everything we do is all about Jesus. We invite you to learn more about this man who is God and how you can find forgiveness and new life in him.
Visiting a church for the first time can be nerve-racking. But having an idea of what to expect can help. There are three main parts to every Sunday service: preaching, worship, and kids. To learn more about each of these, click the links below.
Church is more than a service. It’s people living life together and helping one another throughout our cities to serve our cities. Each week, thousands of people at Mars Hill meet in hundreds of small communities to learn about God, pray, eat, laugh, and live. We call these Community Groups—and they’re the heart of our church.
Jesus is the most generous person who ever lived. He gave his life so that we might live. As Christians, we give our time, talent, and money joyfully in response to Jesus’ generosity and to help more people meet Jesus.
A few billion people worship Jesus Christ as God every week and do so in the church as the church. Yet, if you walk into various churches and ask the people who comprise that church what the word "church" means, the odds are that you will get either a blank stare or a series of conflicting definitions.
Sadly, this is even true from their pastors. In preparing for this book, I asked various pastors of some of America's largest churches–godly men and dear friends–if they have a working definition of the church. And not one of them did; they confessed they were giving their lives to building something for which they did not even have a clear definition. [Involved etymological discussion.] Most of the books on the subject simply share best practices gleaned from "successful" churches. This is curious because without a definition of what a church is or does, I'm unsure how we can even deem one successful. Therefore, we will establish a definition of the local church, summarized from Acts 2:
After the jump, the role of the Holy Spirit, a holy people, fellowship, and evangelistic community in defining a church, as well as a discussion on (not in) Greek, and a video:
