What is the church?

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It is vitally important to understand how the church was established. Man did not initiate the beginning of the church; Christ did. In fact, it is the only organization Jesus ever started. 

Christ established it.

 “Christ is the head of the Church, which is His body. He is the first of all who rise from the dead, so he is first in everything” (Colossians 1:18 NLT).

Christ purchased it

“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28).

Christ will bless and maintain it.

“On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

At spiritual rebirth, we are made a part of this wonderful gathering of believers that Jesus Himself established, purchased, leads, and protects. Even more, God has a purpose for each of us individually in this great plan of His.

Tragically, many churches today are shrinking in number. Some have faced horrible and divisive splits. To make matters worse, a number of people have stopped attending church altogether because they have become disillusioned with the hypocrisy they see.

Don’t forget—the church is not made up of perfect people. It is made up of people like you and me who make mistakes, and even sin. The church is not a museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners.

If you really want to walk with the Lord and grow spiritually, involvement in the church is an absolute necessity. It is not an option! “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 

And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:23–25). 

While it appears that many people have an increasing hunger for the spiritual, few are looking to the church for help in their quest. Instead, many are leaving churches in record numbers, or not even going in the first place. Perhaps it comes from a prevailing misunderstanding of what the church should be.

Why does the church exist? Is it here to help meet the needs of you and your family? Is it here to win the world for Christ? Is it here to right the world of social wrongs? You might be surprised by the Bible’s answer.

According to Scripture, the church has a three-fold purpose: the exaltation of God, the edification of the saints, and the evangelization of the world.

The exaltation of God

God has called us to live “for the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:12). We are here to glorify and know the God who created us. “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

The edification of the saints

Paul said that his own goal was not merely to evangelize, but to “present every person [mature] in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).

“He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ” (Ephesians 4:11–15).

The evangelization of the world

If we are glorifying God and edifying the saints, we will naturally want to share the hope of salvation with others. We will also want to obey the Lord. 

Since Jesus has specifically told us to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15), we should do just that.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19–20).

We must keep these principles in their proper balance. We are not to emphasize one at the expense of another.