TILL HE COMES Blog

For several years now, I have been mulling over a nagging question: “What constitutes church?”  How do you know the difference between a Bible study and church? Is there a difference? I am at seminary right now, and we have daily chapel. The seminary tells us that this does not qualify as church. But we have singing, teaching, prayer, fellowship groups, and occasionally take communion. Why is this not church?

Or, take the recent introduction of the online church. Can you really be involved with and “attend” a church from your computer at work or at home in your pajamas? If not, why not?

How many people need to be present? Can one believer in prison cell in China have their own church service, or does there need to be a minimum of 2 or 3? And what are these 2 or 3 supposed to do, how often, and where? In a recent book by George Barna (Revolution), he implies that a group of four men can be a church out on the golf course if they encourage and edify one another spiritually. If this is true, why can’t we go to church while shopping at the mall, or camping at the lake? Maybe we can.

I am about to embark on a series of posts that attempt to begin to answer some of these questions, and maybe some others as they crop up. I would value and appreciate your input through the comments.

Here is my preliminary hypothesis which I want to investigate through Scripture:

The church is the universal and spiritual body of believers in Jesus Christ: 
     -which began on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2
     -and gathers together in various physical locations for:
           -exaltation of God by glorifyinig Him through a life lived in worship
           -edifcation of one another through teaching, fellowship, and prayer
           -evangelism of the world through social and spiritual acts of service

So, what do you think? Even before we begin to break this down and look at Biblical passages related to it, are there things you feel I should add or take out? What are the ramifications of such a definition for the way churches are today?

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