Christians & the Church
What is the Church? People sometimes ask whether we go to church, or what church we belong to, but what is the church?
What the Church isn’t
The church is not a building. That is the place where believers meet. It is not defined by a country, like ‘The Church of England’ or ‘The Church of Scotland’. If you look at some organisations that call themselves the church you will see that what they are cannot be found anywhere in the Bible. Those organisations cannot be the church can they?
What the Church is
The Bible speaks of a church as a group of people who gather together to worship the God of the Bible. These people have turned away from their sin and put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. They believe that He lived the life they should have lived, and that He died the death they deserve to die. They have received Him as their Saviour.
These people normally get baptised to show that they have already been washed from their sin, and that they have begun a new and clean life.
They then find other believers and meet with them. These believers commit to each other and encourage each other. They have pastors who teach them from the Bible. They meet normally on Sunday, because it is the day when they celebrate that their Saviour is alive. Their meetings are simple and serious. They pray, sing songs of praise to God, listen to the Bible being read and they listen to the Bible being taught. They then go into their working week to live out their lives by being good people, good workman, good family members and good neighbours.
Do all Christians go to Church?
In the Bible it says that believers should not avoid meeting together because the reason we do this is to worship the Lord and to encourage each other. Some people think they can call themselves Christian but they never meet with other believers. You can search the Bible from beginning to end and you will not find anyone who like that. True Christians are part of the church, and they gather into local churches. It is what the Lord wants us to do.
It is the safest way for us to grow as Christians. We can worship and witness together like a family.
