WHAT IS A CHURCH?

The New Testament congregations were fellowships of forgiven sinners. The primary proclamation of the Christian gospel was the forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:47). Men gathered together in local churches to praise God for revealing his wonderful grace to them in Christ Jesus. The power of these early Christians lay in this one overwhelming thought: “God forgives; yes, forgives even me.”

A man who believed this astounding fact found himself released from bondage of sin. He found his heart unshackled, and the chains of selfishness, pride, and passion broken. With an unimaginable love he found himself drawn irresistibly to his fellow believers. And so they met together as one body united by one head and one spirit, and they reveled in their new-found freedom and peace. Such was the early church.

What is a church today? Are members drawn together because of a new found joy in the forgiveness of sins? Or is a church a group of “Christians” who have found some particular aspect of Christian faith or practice which must be preserved against other “Christians” who do not hold to it? Are not many modern churches founded on a system of doctrine or church government? As a result the church becomes not a fellowship of forgiven sinners, but a clique of self-righteous Pharisees. And men, instead of being attracted to the church, are repelled unless they are looking for some to justify their sins rather than a means of having their sins forgiven. What is a church-fellowship or clique? —Bob Ross, Southeastern Christian College, Winchester, Ky.