Sometimes it is helpful to be able to define what is a local church, especially in the context of rapidly expanding church planting operations that sometimes take place in areas where the Holy Spirit is gathering a mass harvest of souls. The following is my attempt to do just that.
Jesus said that where two are three are gathered in his name, he is with them.
For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” Matthew 18: 20 (NLT)
Our Lord could have chosen any number, such as ten or twenty, but he chose two or three. He made it clear that small groups are a valid expression of the church. We should not think that only larger churches are legitimate models of church life and ministry. Jesus deliberately emphasized smallness. Not surprisingly, most churches are small, especially in areas of persecution.
However, the greater point he made was that his presence will be where people gather in his name.
The first defining characteristic of a local church is the presence of the Lord.
Paul said that our gatherings should allow for the Holy Spirit to direct ministry.
Well, my brothers and sisters, let’s summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you. 1 Corinthians 14:26 (NLT)
From this passage, we understand that a gathering of disciples should include worship, Bible teaching, the gifts of the Spirit, and sharing what God is revealing to various individuals. The goal behind these expressions of Christ’s ministry is to strengthen his people. We are only able to give away to others what we have. Unless the church is strong in the Lord, it will have nothing with which to assist those who are struggling.
The second defining characteristic of a local church is Spirit-led ministry that builds up the people of the church.
The members of the church are referred to by our Lord as sheep. All sheep need a shepherd, which is why God assigns some with the responsibility of watching over the flock.
So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders. Acts 20:28 (NLT)
Therefore, another defining characteristic of a local church is the governmental and pastoral ministry of elders or shepherds, even if they are called by another name.
These shepherds feed and protect God’s people under the guidance and direction of the “Chief Shepherd,” our Lord Jesus.
And now, a word to you who are elders in the churches. I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ. And I, too, will share in his glory when he is revealed to the whole world. As a fellow elder, I appeal to you: 2 Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. 3 Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example. 4 And when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor. 5 In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:1–5 (NLT)
In a healthy church, the congregation will honor, respect, and follow those God has raised up to shepherd them. Part of their responsibility is to discipline the sheep when needed.
I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 2 Timothy 4:1–2 (NASB95)
A healthy church will maintain proper church discipline that reflects the love and authority of the Lord, not heavy-handed manipulation and control.
Now I call upon God as my witness that I am telling the truth. The reason I didn’t return to Corinth was to spare you from a severe rebuke. 24 But that does not mean we want to dominate you by telling you how to put your faith into practice. We want to work together with you so you will be full of joy, for it is by your own faith that you stand firm. 2 Corinthians 1:23–24 (NLT)
Jesus left us with two ordinances which should be carried out by the local church: water baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
He did not give us specifics regarding the exact way these ordinances should be carried out. I believe that water baptism should be done as soon after conversion as possible. Different churches have various ways they do communion. The important thing is for the local church to faithfully carry these out.
The local church is where the Word of God is taught, the gifts of the Spirit operate, worship takes place, disciples made, the saints affirmed, equipped, and encouraged, the ordinances of baptism and communion are observed, prayer and personal ministry takes place, financial assistance is offered when needed, discipline is administered as necessary, and people find love, acceptance, and forgiveness.
Some Helpful Analogies
It can be beneficial to think of the church in terms of a family, a train, a hospital, a boot camp, and a missional team. None of these are perfect but can give us insight into the nature of the church.
The Body of Christ
One of the best-known word pictures of the church is the body of Christ. This analogy provides us with two important truths regarding God’s people. The body is an integrated whole consisting of a wide variety of parts. Some of the parts are considered “vital” in that we cannot live without them. Others are extremely important to us, but we can live without them. No part of our body is despised or considered worthless.
Therefore, the analogy of the body of Christ teaches us that every person is important in the kingdom of God and should be treated as such.
A vital organ such as the head or heart may have a sense of superiority over a hand or foot, since a body can live without the latter two, but not without the first two. Nevertheless, a handless or footless body will experience a noticeable decline in quality of life and perhaps even die because of a lack of ability to provide for itself.
Every part of the body should strive to acknowledge and honor every other part.
The second truth associated with the body analogy is that the church is able to move and accomplish much as a living organism. Our being alive not only makes great things possible, it also introduces problems. Living organisms make choices and sometimes have issues with one another. The church as a body introduces the challenge of getting along with one another.
The Church as a Building
The church is also pictured as a building, the temple of God constructed by the Spirit to house the presence of the Lord here on earth.
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2:19–22 (NKJV)
The apostle Peter called the church “living stones.”
you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:5 (NKJV)
Buildings are firmly immovable and solid, as opposed to mobile easily fractured assemblies of people engaged in activities that have the potential to increase friction among members.
The analogy of the building reminds us that we are cemented or glued together in love by the Spirit of God. The only thing that muddies this picture is the fact that the stones are alive and may decide to disconnect and move away from their places in the structure. This contributes to the challenge of watching over the flock.
Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. Colossians 3:14 (NLT)
When we are tempted to divide from others because of strife or offense, it is helpful to remind ourselves that we are a firmly secured immovable building.
If we couple the idea of the church being a moving dynamic body with that of it being a firmly secured and solid assembly of “living stones,” it will give us a more balanced understanding.
The Bride of Christ
The church as a bride is another very familiar analogy. Men readily understand Christ’s perspective of loving and wishing to protect and provide for his bride, while waiting in eager expectation for the wedding to take place. Women better understand the feminine side of things, being cherished and honored as the bride.
This analogy readily morphs into thinking of ourselves as the “wife” of Christ, as Paul describes the church in Ephesians Chapter 5 and Romans Chapter 7.
In the Ephesians passage, Paul encourages men to sacrificially love their wives as Christ loves the church and wives to honor their husbands as to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:22-25) This shows us how to apply spiritual principles to practical relationships in marriage and in the church. Paul wrote that we should honor one another above ourselves. (Philippians 2:3)
The church as Christ’s bride also refers to fruitfulness.
Just as a husband and wife naturally produce children if everything is functioning properly and no steps are being taken to prevent conception, so our love relationship with Christ will produce good fruit spiritually.
Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. Romans 7:4 (NKJV)
Fruit bearing, while being extremely important for the continuance of the church and humanity, is not the primary reason for marriage. God’s stated purpose for marriage in the beginning was to provide someone to relieve Adam’s loneliness.
Marriage is first a covenant of companionship and secondarily a means to propagate humanity. Likewise, Christ’s love relationship with the church is primary and making disciples comes in second. Both are important, but we always want to keep first things first.
Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Revelation 2:4 (NKJV)
The Bible makes it clear that God often chose barren women to further his kingdom purposes. The husbands of those women were faithful to them, despite their lack of fruitfulness. Eventually they bore miracle children. There is a spiritual lesson here. We do not abandon churches that seem to be barren. We keep loving and believing God to produce fruit in his way and time. We never want to emulate King Henry VIII who either divorced or killed several wives in search of a male heir. Instead, let’s be like Isaac who believed for Rebecca to have children.
Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. Genesis 25:21 (NKJV)
A Family of Friends
I have sometimes described the church over the years as a family of friends doing life together. Families have “blood” ties that go beyond merely liking or disliking one another. Families generally try to be there for each other when things are difficult. Friends, on the other hand, are mutually attracted to one another and genuinely enjoy one another. When family members are true friends, it is a strong bond.
Ideally, the local church is a group of unlikely people drawn together by our mutual devotion to the Lord. We are bonded and made into a family through the new birth and by the shared presence of the Spirit in our lives. We grow to love and appreciate one another and strive to be faithful friends as we share life together, which always includes encountering difficulties along the way.
Local churches ideally provide us with a loving family of friends to support and love us as we live out our days.
One of the primary purposes for marriage is to have children, to be fruitful and multiply. When God blesses a couple with offspring, they care for them, teach them how to be self-governing successful adults, and launch them to start their own families. This is a model of discipleship. A successful parent encourages his children to leave home at the appropriate time and recreate what they experienced in their parents’ home.
Churches are meant to train and equip their people and launch them to start new families of friends.
A Train
In our country people do not ride trains very often, but we understand how they operate. Perhaps we can think of shuttles that carry people to various terminals at some of our larger airports, or buses operating in or between cities. These conveyances run routes to specific destinations. We board whichever one we think we get us where we need to be.
People join a church because they think it is going to take them where they want to go.
Interestingly, some people join a church to try to commandeer it to go to their preferred destination. They generally remain only if they get their way; otherwise they move on. One pastor friend of mine told me he tells such people, “Remember, you joined us. We didn’t join you.”
I tell people who are looking for a church or wondering if they need to move on to keep four things in mind.
- We should join or remain in a local church that holds to solid Bible doctrine and teaching. This does not mean we have to completely agree with every point, but we should not differ in any significant core doctrine.
- We should feel that the leadership of the church is trustworthy and that we can follow their lead.
- We should be able to embrace the vision of the church. This means that whatever expression of Christ’s mission the church highlights should be something we can support, even if we are not directly involved.
- We should have a sense of the Holy Spirit directing our steps.
The train analogy relates to the third point above. We board a train to get to a destination. The vision of the church is the destination. If we wish to pursue a local church’s vision, we should get on their train. However, sometimes our personal vision may change. God may begin to lead us in a new direction. In other cases, the church’s vision may change, the leaders start taking its people to a new destination with which we may not align. In such cases, we should not get mad at the train for not taking us where we want to go. Instead, it may be time to change trains.
Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction? Amos 3:3 (NLT)
At every stop along the way, people get off the train, having reached their destination or a place to switch trains. People also choose to board the train because they want to go where the train is going. People should be allowed to freely board the train and freely get off. If the people preparing to board see that the train will not let those wanting to deboard get off, it should be a major “red flag.” We never want to board a train that does not let people get off; neither should we join a church that tries to stop people from leaving.
Churches should probably make it easier for people to leave than to join.
It is counterproductive to attack people who want to leave. Let them depart with a blessing, if possible.
It is better for us to leave on good terms than to stay past the “expiration date” and depart in anger or frustration.
If we wait too long, the latter is likely to happen. While “church hopping” is never a good thing, staying put when we are frustrated might be worse. Our discontent will likely begin to affect others, and we should try never be a negative influence.
I remember several years ago that a certain man wanted to join our church. I met with him to discuss the matter. During the conversation, I discovered that he had been a part of a huge number of churches in our area over the years, only to find some fault with each of them and move on. I told him we did not want to become another short-term stay and told him I did not think he should join us.
When people leave a church, especially when they have been a part for a long time, it creates a “hole,” so to speak. We build relationships in our local church, and if we leave it may create hurt and confusion among some of the other members. They may wonder why we left. What was wrong? Is there a problem in the church that I don’t know about? We should understand this and not take leaving a church lightly. However, if we need to leave, we should do it the right way. We should inform the leadership of our decision and hopefully part with a blessing from the church.
Churches do well to accept that sometimes people need or want to move and try to bless them on their way.
However, if people leave because they are in rebellion or sin and refuse to be corrected, that is another matter altogether.
A Hospital
A hospital is a place where very sick people go to get better. In some cases, they may need to stay quite a while, especially if rehab is needed, but it is never our goal to make the hospital our permanent home. That is, unless we are part of the staff.
If we think of the church as a hospital, we understand the some are part of the staff and others come for a while, get better, and then leave.
When they leave, we are glad for them, not resentful. Those who are part of the staff understand the bed space needs to be opened so that new hurting people can benefit from their services.
Boot Camp
If we think of the church as a boot camp, we understand that we are preparing soldiers to be launched into combat. We try to prepare and equip them to be successful. About the time that the drill sergeant whips his men into shape, it is time for them to leave.
The purpose of boot camp is to prepare men for battle and send them out, and then repeat the process.
Churches are disciple training centers. Our job is to prepare and equip people to go and make disciples. We are to equip and launch. If boot camps try to retain those they train, they violate their mission and purpose.
Missional Team
The great commission is the stated purpose of the church. Every local church is commissioned to prepare and encourage its members to pursue the great commission in an appropriate manner, realizing that there is great diversity in how this is done. The church can support its members in the way they do this. When people serve together on mission, it can develop something missiologists call “communitas,” a deep bond of friendship and loyalty, similar to what men in combat experience.
