{"id":2325,"date":"2013-05-08T14:39:10","date_gmt":"2013-05-08T19:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scquest.org\/?p=2325"},"modified":"2013-05-10T15:00:55","modified_gmt":"2013-05-10T20:00:55","slug":"essential-components-of-a-new-testament-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.scquest.org\/?p=2325","title":{"rendered":"Why you don’t just “do” church: Essential Components of a New Testament Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u201cMy family and I are our own church.\u201d \u201cI will be having church with my buddies on the golf course this Sunday!\u201d \u201cI am the church.\u201d \u201cI am going to church.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0All of these statements reveal something about what an individual believes a church to be.<\/p>\n

Many believe that a church is defined by a building – so they go to church. Some would suggest that a church is such because it has been given that title by the government, or some other entity. Some would call any gathering of believers a church. Others see the universal church as the only reality, and therefore any visible local gathering is just an extra.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2085\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But is this the picture that the New Testament paints?<\/p>\n

I would suggest that there are certain components which must be part of any assembly which would call itself a biblical \u201cchurch.\u201d<\/strong> Without these you cannot have a church:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Gospel believing individuals<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Baptized in demonstration of their conversion<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Recognizably covenanting together<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. Regularly meeting around God\u2019s Word<\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. Under legitimate leadership<\/strong><\/li>\n
  6. Administering Baptism and the Lord\u2019s Table\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    I would like to go to one passage to demonstrate the existence of these. The dangerous part of this endeavor is that I am selecting a passage that shows the church in it\u2019s seminal form. At this point the seed has just burst, and the seedling is beginning to grow. As of yet the branches, leaves, and fruit cannot be clearly distinguished. I believe, however, that this early description of the church points us in the right direction as we continue to study the New Testament.<\/p>\n

    Acts 2:37-47: “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ 38\u00a0And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39\u00a0For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.’ 40\u00a0And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, \u201cSave yourselves from this crooked generation.\u201d 41\u00a0So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.\u00a042\u00a0And they devoted themselves to the apostles\u2019 teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43\u00a0And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44\u00a0And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45\u00a0And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46\u00a0And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47\u00a0praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Who is the \u201cthey\u201d in vs 42? Those who had believed the Gospel (37-41)<\/li>\n
    2. What had they done following their belief? They were baptized (41)<\/li>\n
    3. How did they view themselves? As being added to a group (41)<\/li>\n
    4. What was their focus? The apostles\u2019 teaching (42)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      What we don\u2019t find specifically mentioned here are the final two components: legitimate leadership and administering the Lord\u2019s ordinances. If we look further, however, I believe there is reason to believe they are present.<\/p>\n

      In the context, who is exercising leadership by teaching? The apostles. We see as well in chapter 6 that the apostles were in leadership over the growing church. A complaint came to them, they were involved in preaching the word of God, and they led the rest of the believers to make a decision.<\/p>\n

      What was a common practice of the early church? fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. The reference to the breaking of bread is not restricted to the Lord\u2019s Table, but is most likely includes it. We also have seen in this passage the administration of baptism.<\/p>\n

      These are the six components of a local church. You can have one of these, and still not have a church. You need each of them.<\/strong><\/p>\n

      This is not to say that every element must be present at every gathering<\/strong>. For example, if there is no baptism or celebration of the Lord\u2019s Table at a given gathering, the assembly does not cease to be a church. So also when a church loses a pastor, it does not cease to be a church. But to continue without these, and the intention of once again returning to them, the church quickly becomes simply a Bible study group.<\/p>\n

      It also does not mean that these components look the same in every context.<\/strong> In North America, membership is often a written record. In persecuted cultures, however, this is extremely unwise and dangerous.\u00a0In my situation, a building is often associated with the congregation, but I have a feeling that will change in the coming years.<\/p>\n

      What is this all suppose to mean? I want to clarify the essential components of a local church so you can be sure to be part of a key factor in your sanctification. This will be expanded upon in future posts.<\/p>\n

      What do you think?\u00a0<\/em>Would you add any or subtract any as you understand the New Testament?<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      \u00a0\u201cMy family and I are our own church.\u201d \u201cI will be having church with my buddies on the golf course this Sunday!\u201d \u201cI am the church.\u201d \u201cI am going to church.\u201d\u00a0All of these statements reveal something about what an individual … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[56,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-ministry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34kFn-Bv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2325"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2329,"href":"http:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2325\/revisions\/2329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}