The Church

                  The Nature of the Church

                  The church is the new covenant community of Jesus—rooted in Israel, built by Jesus, and inaugurated by the Holy Spirit. The church is the elect people of God, chosen by the Father and graciously brought into a relationship with the triune God and one another. The church is the redeemed communion of the saints, bought by the blood of Christ, including all believers throughout all the ages—those on earth and those in heaven. The church is the adopted family of God, once separated from him but now brought into a loving and intimate relationship with God as Father and with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. The church is the body of Christ, having Christ as head, dependent on him, gifted by the Holy Spirit, created as a unity with diversity, dependent upon one another, and functioning as Christ’s agents in the world. The church is the bride of Christ, specially loved by him, saved by his sacrificial work on the cross, exclusively devoted to him, and increasingly adorned in beauty for him as her bridegroom. The church is the new temple of the Spirit, filled with the fullness of Christ and marked by God’s presence. The church is the new humanity, composed of Jewish and Gentile Christians united together in Christ, displaying the way life was always supposed to be. The church is the gathered covenant community, visibly and regularly coming together for worship, discipleship, fellowship, ministry, and mission. The church is the eschatological community of the kingdom, existing in the already and not yet, living out God’s eternal purpose of cosmic reconciliation.

                  Local and Universal

                  The word church (ekklēsia) in the NT refers to house churches (1 Cor. 16:19; Philem. 2), metropolitan churches (Acts 8:1; 20:17), provincial churches (Acts 9:31; 1 Cor. 16:19), and the whole worldwide church (Matt. 16:18). It usually refers to the visible church, the gathered community of God’s people covenanted together to worship the triune God, love one another, and witness to the world. Sometimes church is used in a different manner, of the invisible church, which highlights the unity of all believers everywhere, both living and dead (1 Cor. 1:2). The universal church is not synonymous with any one organization, denomination, or association. It is never entirely visible to humans. Only God knows the sum total of all believers from all places and all times.

                    The Attributes and Marks of the Church

                  Early Christians described the church as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. The church is one in that believers have been united together in the same Lord Jesus Christ and are to promote visibly this eternal spiritual union (John 17:20–23; Rom. 12:3–8). “There is one body and one Spirit . . . one hope . . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph. 4:4–6). The church’s unity transcends all earthly distinctions of ethnicity, social status, or gender (Gal. 3:27–28).

                  The church is holy as its members have been set apart unto God, constituted as saints, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and consecrated to the service of God, so that they now walk in his ways. The church is catholic, or universal, in that the church is never confined to any one place or people. The Great Commission directs the church to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:18–20), and the result will be universal, as disciples “from every tribe and language and people and nation” will worship Jesus (Rev. 5:9; 7:9–10).

                  The church is apostolic in that it is founded on the apostolic preaching of the gospel as found in the NT. Indeed, the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20). The early church was devoted to the apostles’ teaching, which is associated with the Word of God (Acts 2:42; cf. 2 Tim. 1:12–14; 2:1–2; 3:10–4:8).

                  As an agent of the kingdom, the church reflects the already-and-not-yet nature of the kingdom. As such, the church is already one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Yet the church is also still incomplete in these attributes, growing in unity, holiness, catholicity, and truth.

                  Reformational churches added three marks to their definition of the church, features that distinguished true and false churches: pure preaching of the Word/gospel, proper administration of the sacraments/ordinances, and faithful exercise of church discipline. They needed these marks to distinguish their churches from those of Rome and various sects.

                    Authority and Service in the Church

                  Christians vary significantly concerning church government, but there are several common features. First and foremost, Christ is the head of the church (Matt. 16:18–19; Eph. 5:25–28). As such, he possesses ultimate authority over the church as a whole and over local congregations. Second, Christ expresses his authority through the leadership of the church (Matt. 18:15–20; Acts 6:3).

                  Third, though there is variety on this, most hold that the church has two offices. The first is that of pastors/elders/bishops. The term pastor denotes care and nurture with the Word (1 Pet 5:1–4), elder denotes maturity and wisdom (Titus 1:5–9), and bishop or overseer denotes leadership and administrative abilities (1 Tim. 3:1–7). A qualified pastor is a Christian of sound character who leads his family well, is a man of integrity in the community, and is gifted to teach the church.

                  The second office is that of deacons. Although the roles of deacons in Scripture are not entirely clear, their primary responsibilities focused on service to the church. The qualifications for deacons are similar—but not identical—to those for pastors and are found in 1 Timothy 3:8–13.

                  Fourth, spiritually gifted congregations are themselves central to fulfilling the ministries of the church. Pastors and other leaders teach and lead, but all members of the congregation bear responsibilities and are “ministers” too (Eph. 4:12–16). They actively use their diverse gifts (teaching, leadership, mercy, giving, etc.) to serve the Lord, the church, and others. Finally, decisions in church life should reflect the church’s nature, particularly its unity, holiness, truth, and love.

The Church’s Ministries and Worship

                  The church’s ministries can be summarized in four categories (Acts 2:40–47): doctrine, fellowship, worship, and witness in word and deed, including ministry to the poor. Scripture does not give any one list of things the church ought to do in worship. However, the NT gives a clear picture of what churches do in corporate worship, such as reading Scripture, preaching and teaching, praying, singing, confessing faith, baptizing, and participating in the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:40–47; 1 Cor. 11:2–16; Eph. 5:19–21; 1 Tim. 4:11). Central to this worship are the two ordinances (sacraments) that Jesus gave to his church: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. See “Ordinances and Sacraments” on p. 1698.

                    The Church’s Mission

                  God is on a mission to glorify himself by redeeming his image-bearers and renewing his good creation, restoring both to their intended shalom (peace or well-being). The church is a product and agent of this mission. As a product of God’s mission, the church is the redeemed worshiping community, the recipient of God’s gracious mission of redemption. As an agent of God’s mission, the church is to glorify God among the nations by embodying, proclaiming, and promoting the good news that God is redeeming a people for himself and bringing all things under his good rule. See “The Gospel” on p. 1707.