Author	Thread: What is the church and why do we go?
Admin	What is the church and why do we go? Posted : 10 May, 2020 06:32 PM Is it a building you go to to hear people sing, shout, pray, preach and lift their hands up to the Lord? No. The church is not a building. It's not just a place that you worship or learn the word of God. The church is the people. God's children are the church. And the church is His bride. Church isn't about man getting up to read from a book. It's about the Holy Spirit filling that man up to get up and preach the word of God. It's about fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus. We can be saved anywhere, we can worship anywhere, we can pray anywhere, we can read His word anywhere. But for many, especially myself, church is the one place I can fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ. If we're saved I believe we want to fellowship with them and be around them. I don't know about anyone else, but I do. Post Reply
T0TH3M4X View Profile History	What is the church and why do we go? Posted : 15 May, 2020 05:50 AM David, When have I attacked you? I've always had a decent amount of respect for you, and don't know that if I've ever blatantly tried to "attack" you. Sorry you feel that way. Post Reply
Quiznos View Profile History	What is the church and why do we go? Posted : 15 May, 2020 06:23 AM Toth, The way i see it,Davey cannot stand that the Holy Spirit reveals the Scriptures to people that are not calvanists. Maybe the reason is that calvanists do not believe what Messiah says about the function of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers. John 14 25 All this I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you. Post Reply
View Profile History	What is the church and why do we go? Posted : 15 May, 2020 11:23 AM I'm sorry Quiznos, but church is more than just a business. I would explain myself, but you'll most likely come up with a ridiculous counter argument, and somebody else will come up with a counter argument against that counter argument, so let's just agree to disagree. Post Reply
Quiznos View Profile History	What is the church and why do we go? Posted : 15 May, 2020 08:20 PM Morgan, With the SCRIPTURES, not your feelimgs; show what the so called ' church '. The ' christians ' use this to justify the English word ' church '. Matthew 16 18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Greek: ekklesia English: Assembly 1577. ekklésia ► Strong's Concordance ekklésia: an assembly, a (religious) congregation Original Word: ἐκκλησία, ας, ἡ Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: ekklésia Phonetic Spelling: (ek-klay-see'-ah) Definition: an assembly, a (religious) congregation Usage: an assembly, congregation, , the whole body of believers. HELPS Word-studies 1577 ekklēsía(from 1537 /ek, "out from and to" and 2564 /kaléō, "to call") – properly, people called out from the world and to God, (the mystical body of Christ) – i.e. the universal (total) body of believers whom God calls out from the world and into His eternal kingdom. [The English word "church" comes from the Greek word kyriakos, "belonging to the Lord" (kyrios). 1577 /ekklēsía ("church") is the root of the terms "ecclesiology" and "ecclesiastical."] Post Reply
RetroMillennial^ View Profile History	What is the church and why do we go? Posted : 17 May, 2020 11:08 AM From the days after God sent Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, regardless of what you wish to call it, there have been structures made to provide a place to meet, to reach out to God, to learn about God, to Worship God. Exodus goes on for pages giving specific directions for how such a structure should be made and what purpose it should serve. There have been places to meet with others to worship God for all this time. Some are permanent like the temples where Jesus verbally sparred with the pharisees, others are improvised like where 5000 men (not counting women and children) gathered to hear Jesus teach and be fed by the miraculous multiplication of a boy’s sack lunch. After Jesus’ resurrection, the church spread and developed its own problems, leading to the letters that Paul wrote (e.g. to the Corinthian and the Philippian churches). The church has always been a place to worship, give back to God, atone for sins, and have fellowship with like-minded people. When the church was driven underground by persecution, people still gathered as a church to worship covertly. Why would people have risked death and persecution to assemble as a church if the church itself has no value? Why would churches in various places in the world where it’s still persecuted in this manner risk tipping off those who seek to destroy them by assembling in this manner? It seems to me that in an ideal world, the church would basically be a microcosm of Heaven itself. It would be a place where you congregate with friends and family to worship and serve God. One who enters it would look around and see people worshipping, communing with God, pooling resources to cooperatively reach those nearby and abroad and help them in life’s struggles, and simply having fellowship with one another and reflecting the love of Jesus Christ to each other. Upon seeing these things, one who enters the ideal church should be able to say to themselves, “ah, so this is what Heaven would be like!” The problem is we are not in an ideal world. We all fall woefully short of the Glory of God, and so our churches also fall short of this idealized model. Therefore, is it any wonder that when compared to this ideal model, every church will appear to be like a failure? Quiznos is right that there are many people who come just to be entertained. They bring their kids to VBS so that they don’t have to hire a babysitter for a week. There was a large church I heard about who spent more than $100,000/year on a praise band. The pastor looked at his large congregation one day and wondered how many of them could do the job just for the joy of worshipping God and he realized he wasn’t teaching his congregation anything of substance, so he fired the band, put together groups of volunteers, and included more detail and substance in his sermons so that they became longer than the 10 minute feel-good messages he was giving. The first thing that happened was his suggestion boxes overflowed with complaints that the music was lousy and the service was boring, and he lost thousands of members, but he stuck to his guns because he realized that he wasn’t doing anyone any good by placating the bored elements of the congregation. This doesn’t mean that services HAVE to be as dull as a funeral dirge, but care must be taken to ensure that fending off boredom doesn’t become the church’s mission. The west is a very feel-good and feelings-oriented society, and the path of least resistance for the church is to comply with such demands. However, just because people don’t approach the church in the proper frame of mind does not mean that it shouldn’t exist, that it serves no purpose, or that God cannot use it. One of the church’s greatest vulnerabilities is that it contains centralized power. Centralized power attracts the corrupt, self-righteous, and those who covet power like flies to dead flesh. As such, that power is guaranteed to be misused at times. Likewise, the church does have some similarities to a business. It too has bills to pay. If its congregation meets in a building, it has lights to keep on, heat and air conditioning to keep running, maybe a sound system to maintain, and hired leaders and workers who need to be able to provide for themselves and their families too. I can go on and on about how centralized power has been misused in the church. We don’t have far to look to see such corruption even here, on this forum; for it too has centralized power. It’s supposed to be a place where we can share ideas and have fellowship, but someone who fancies themself the smartest in the land of cyber space can filibuster any forum topic they choose and roost over it like the dragon, Smaug over his treasure trove, verbally obliterating anyone who dares to challenge him or even present an alternate viewpoint. This continues until some enterprising dragon slayer manages to drive him off and then take his place as the new dragon. Do these things mean that the church has no value? No. She can still serve God’s purposes and Jesus still loves her as His bride. Her members can still reflect His love to each other and the world and make great differences in the lives of people it tries to help. God is good at helping flawed people to fulfill His plans. Post Reply
LittleDavid View Profile History	What is the church and why do we go? Posted : 18 May, 2020 08:21 AM EXCELLENT!!! Very well written!! Rare on this forum!! Post Reply
RetroMillennial^ View Profile History	What is the church and why do we go? Posted : 17 Jun, 2020 06:42 AM I know this is very late in coming, but I just want to say thank you, David. I really appreciate your comment! Post Reply

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