Church – What Is It, and Should I Be an Active Part of a Local Church?
What is church, and should you be an active part of a local church? The Bible’s answer starts with friendship with the Father – and leads to family.
(Acts 17:11: Please learn to do your own Bible studies like this one – here.)
A part of normal, biblical, original Jesus-style discipleship.
The Simplest Way to Answer
To keep this really simple. If you are or imagine being a parent – would you then rather have your child as your good friend and to have a really deep and loving fellowship with them – or would you like them to first just do what you say and follow your good principles for a good life?
Church – if it is to be truly healthy – should not come out of obligation or rules to go to church – but out of us first having a foundation of true wholehearted soft and tender personal friendship with the Father. This leads us to naturally want to have fellowship with others who have fellowship with Him.
All the commands of God are good, loving, perfect, and will help us. But His primary desire for us is that we are wholeheartedly knowing we are relationally deeply truly loved – before we have done anything to deserve that love. Are there good principles to live by to truly live loving? Yes. Love is also truth, justice, patience, forgiveness, creativity etc. Please see a list of many of the character traits of God here.
Word Definitions
Church
Church in the Bible is never a building. It is Ecclesia (Greek: Strong’s G1577).
Church: Ecclesia – “people called out from the world and to God” – called out into fellowship with God and to each other.
First thing is not: GO TO CHURCH! First thing is: You are fully loved and accepted. Then healthy fun family parties are a 100% natural part of it. Love – healthy love has rules. Healthy love has all of this.
A Biblical Church also has people who go from house to house teaching, leading, loving, serving, equipping all for the work of the ministry.
- Deacons: topical study / Greek: Strong’s G1249
- Episkopos (overseers): Greek: Strong’s G1985 / Strong’s concordance
- Elders / Presbyters: Greek: Strong’s G4245 / topical study
- 5-fold ministry gifts: Ephesians 4:11-13
Ephesians 4:11-16 (NASB) – And He gave some [as] apostles, and some [as] prophets, and some [as] evangelists, and some [as] pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all [aspects] into Him who is the head, [even] Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Rhema Trayner has a lot of insight into these things.
The Character and Personality of God
See the full “Periodic Table” of the eternal character traits of the personality of God here: The Names, Personality, and Character of God.
God is love and it is proven in personal individual action (the cross just for you). He is relationship – 3-in-one (Tri-unity / Trinity). He is family (Father & Son & Holy Spirit).
Father – Son – Holy Spirit That Has Motherly Characteristics
In the image of God – He created both male and female.
So, from the very being of God emanates creation of family, of togetherness, unity, in love, honor, and patience. This is church. Based on freedom of choice. Whoever wants can choose to believe, receive, to humble themselves and say, I was wrong, God is not against me, He is for me – so I will “retaliate”, pay back and be FOR God now.
We are made in the image of God. So, we were made for fellowship with God – and with the family of God.
Will you now choose to align with this good eternal truth or not?
Scriptures on the Church
Jesus on the church
Matthew 16:15-19 (NASB) – He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal [this] to you, but My Father who is in heaven. “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. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
On each “individual’s confession of faith in me” I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Does this church have responsible leadership? Yes
Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.
Acts 20:28
Do not forsake the assembling
…not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:25
A great summary description of an ideal church
Acts 2:42-47 (NKJV) – And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Church is to represent the fullness of the Word of God, the fullness of the Spirit, the fullness of Jesus Christ, the Fullness of The Father!
- Family of God. Church is relationship with God, others, and ourselves.
- Kingdom of God. He is King. We are co-regents – co-kings under and with Him.
- Leaders – Elders, Deacons, 5-fold ministry gifts, leading.
- Mothers, Fathers, children being raised up to be all God called them to be in the right timing.
- Church is Bride and He is the Groom. We are His bride – to be married to Him.
- Church is a warship that worships. Church is a battle-ship and a hospital ship. But it is also a Shabbat relaxation cruise ship by grace – not doing good works to please God, but doing good works for the extreme pure love of God is ours – and must be given to all.
The Universal Church and the Local Church – With Thoughts on Unity
Universal: All believers are part of the universal church by faith in Jesus and are born again by the Holy Spirit of God. All believers are the church. All are the temple of God. All are living stones in the building of God. All are saints in the Kingdom of God. All born-again Christians are going to Heaven where we will all be one big family.
Local: Then there is the local expression. The assembly of the called-out ones. The family meetings and the larger family party gatherings. Here we have the local gathering in homes, in bigger buildings, and the outreaches and us just being the church. Here there are fathers, mothers, children, youth. Here there is structure and freedom.
Jesus built the local fellowship and even had circles of 1 (John – leaning against His chest, John 13:23-26), 3 Peter, James & John (Matthew 17:1 + Matthew 26:37 + others), 12 (disciples), the hang-around 70+, and the crowds. He also had dear friends like Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (John 11:1-5).
We also see Paul and the others minister and travel in teams.
Unity: All born-again believers will be together one day in Heaven. We are all His bride – his wife to be. We, who are believers, are betrothed now to our Groom (2 Corinthians 11:2). All are part of the universal church. Jesus in the book of Revelation addresses speeches to “the church in Ephesus” for instance. And back then – there was just one single gathering of the Christians in each city.
Unity is very blessed by God (see Psalm 133). For He is One – and when we are truly One – we reflect who He is, and we can achieve so much more together than as individuals.
We can achieve a lot individually – and we should – and together as a unified body – we can achieve much more. How can we achieve unity? Fear of losing salary and influence and fear of competition has to be replaced by confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. Confidence in the calling of Jesus.
Confidence that He will provide.
Ingredients to unity are humility, having planks sticking out of our own eyes and always first removing them, it is brokenness, it is patience, deep repentance, realism that we are not ourselves perfect – but imperfect (yet absolutely perfect in the eyes of God).
It is also the willingness to methodically, diligently, maturely, and humbly follow Matthew 18:15-17 if we see something in others – also in leaders’ words, priorities, and actions, also theology that is not healthy. And the confrontation starts with ourselves judging ourselves accurately as well (John 7:24, 1 Corinthians 11:31, Matthew 7:5, 1 Corinthians 6:2-3).
Please read my Bible study on Matthew 18:15-17 here so we as Christians get more mature and start practicing this area of obedience to Jesus and how to handle when someone doesn’t quite treat us or others right:
What Practical Things Define What a Called-Out-to-God Group of Believers (a Church) Does?
(Assignment for you, the reader – to find Scripture on all of this.)
- Faith, hope, and love (1 Corinthians 13).
- Breaking of bread
- Baptism
- Family
- Leadership – not lording it over others – but leaders who actually lead serve and lift up others for others to succeed fully, truly, and that others step fully into their calling – and as we ALL do that – then all succeed (take the Scriptures about that)
- Fathers + Mothers + children
- Free will and therefore responsibility
- Freedom to be free
- Teaching from the Bible
- Reading from the Bible
- Learning to read the Bible
- Questions and answers of faith
- Fellowship
- Prayer
- Worship
- Finances
- Humility
- Honor
- Trust
- Freedom
- Faith
- Bible
- Discipline and rebukes
- Patience
- Reading of Scripture
- All contribute – also in the supernatural ministry and the services – no spectators
- 1 Corinthians 14:26 – each one has a psalm, a prophecy etc.
- Passion
- Order
- Fruit of the Spirit
- Gifts of the Spirit
- Miracles
- Baptism in the Holy Spirit
- Responsibility
- Evangelism
- Care
- Hearing from God individually and together
Called Out – a Family of Faith
The word, church, comes from the word in Greek, Ecclesia, which means, gathering of people who are called out.
So, we are called out of sin – out of living like the world – into living in community, in unity, in holiness, in love, in forgiveness, in patience, in humility, in honor.
As a Christian you are a new Creation. You ARE a new definition. You ARE the family of God. You are now my brother or sister. And healthy families meet up, they get together, they have fun, they speak life and faith to each other. They also lovingly correct each other. They help each other. They do life together. Lift each other up. That is a good healthy family – and that is how we should be to others – first. And then things will go well.
As a family of faith: church hurt, wounds, and wrongs done in the name of church and Jesus need to be healed. If the actions of church and church people do not resemble the character traits of love – then it was never from God. Why did it happen, when God could have stopped it? God is not “in control” – the devil is – due to human rebellion and demonic rebellion and the corruption of creation. God will through our faith judge the evil and injustice.
Dangers and Errors I See in Church
Tradition as God
Some churches put their devotion to a church culture or tradition over a direct relationship to the only Master Lord God Jesus Christ. Jesus sternly warned against setting tradition over God. The Pharisees killed Jesus – and were full of this.
People as God
Some Christian leaders put their devotion to a leader over a direct relationship to the only Master Lord God Jesus Christ. And it is a terrible sin to fear the opinions of people – over having what God thinks of you (and He always totally loves you) as number 1.
Wrong Priorities
Some put personal intimacy with the Father way down the list of what is important. But it is and must be primary over all other things we do – even good ministry and church things.
Low Raw Repentance & Humility Level
I see church and ministry leaders can become defensive and start attacking instead of humbly listening and admitting their own faults in humility, brokenness, honesty, and repentance. Ownership of own sin is a pre-requisite to true repentance, holiness, obedience, growth, and revival.
Hurt & Bitterness Stays
I see people getting hurt by leaders. They get disappointed. They get stepped on or looked down on – and it is not ok. But then people leave churches and fellowships. What we must all do is actually taking accurate action on Matthew 18:15-17 – see more here. I had hurt in me – and have needed to repent deeply of not going to talk with the right people about it.
Deliverance & Inner Healing of the Soul Desperately Missing
I see churches not doing deliverance and inner healing of the soul. So even both church leaders and church members need deliverance – and not doing deliverance just simply messes things up in a big way. The reasons should be desperately self-evident.
Rejection, Pride, Fear, and Counter-Rejection Going Viral
This is a really big one as well. Say you personally start bearing fruit – like people coming to faith, seeing miracles, deliverances, healings, and people filled with the Holy Spirit etc.
But your own church doesn’t train everyone to do this – but if they did – it would be part of and help create real revival.
But they are used by the enemy (to varying levels and degrees of fear and fear of man) to criticize you for things – and you feel rejected, unjustly, and unfairly treated and misunderstood. And you bear more fruit than them.
So, now that root of rejection, gossip, and division is planted in you by the enemy – along with the pride of hearing from God and bearing fruit. So you feel you have the right to now counter-attack – for they started.
But what is actually going on is fear, rejection, and pride – against fear, rejection, and pride. Just turning into 2 individuals and groups attacking each other inaccurately. To solve this – it requires a lot of humility, maturity, patience, and honor. From that will come the mutual submission and the ability to judge accurately – not throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Staying in the Same Local Fellowship Always?
Is it hard sometimes, yes! Do people mess it up? Yes. Do people in leadership always repent and live humbly? No. Do we have to stay in the same local fellowship always? No. God will lead you on at times. Sometimes a local church fellowship is so unhealthy and un-repentant that it is destructive.
But Matthew 18:15-17 must be followed accurately – addressing the sins correctly and immediately with the right attitude to the right people at the right time in the right step by step procedure.
We also need to practice all the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23): love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Also, the love chapter (1 Corinthians 13) must be practiced as well as Matthew 5:23-24:
“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”
Matthew 5:23-24
The Permanent Non-Existent Perfection of People
But also realize: No fellowship is perfect. No people are perfect. You cannot join the perfect church – with you it would be imperfect. The only perfect church is in Heaven. On Earth it will always be imperfect. Jesus constantly dealt with imperfect disciples, cultures, family.
Even after He trained them, filled them with the Holy Spirit and they had seen the dead raised etc. – they still made huge theological and behavioral mistakes and had sharp internal disputes (Galatians 2:11, Acts 10:15, Acts 15:29 in the context of Mark 7:19, 1 Corinthians 15:29, Acts 15:36-41).
We Are Family – and We Need Each Other to Be as Strong in the Faith as We Need to Be
So – I do – strongly – believe in being a part of a local group of believers – who are equipped and shepherded by a group of servant leaders – who are 5-fold ministry gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
That Talented Leaders Become Unobtainable Superstars
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
Ephesians 4:11-14
Reading this with Luke 10:1-24 – where Jesus literally sends out 70 “others” whom we to this day do not know who were – to do exactly what He Himself did – and they came back and it worked – tells us that Jesus wants us all to be apprentices directly under Him – who knows how to do what He did – including healing, deliverance, prophecy, baptism in the Holy Spirit, water, finding the person of peace, leading people to repentance to the goodness of God etc.
That is for all of us.
Hurt by Church Leaders, Church Structure, Church People?
Can you find churches with better theology and practice of that theology than others? YES!
I have myself needed deliverance – even as a Christian – who had a theological education. Do pastors sometimes need it? Yes – 100%. Do you maybe still need it – even though you have been through some deliverance? Yes. Also, even though you do deliverance? YES.
So, no church is perfect. Because no people are perfect. Any church will hurt you – for people are not perfect. And you will hurt people – unless you disappear – but then you will hurt those who really love you.
So – if you have been hurt in church. Please listen to and read my Bible study on Matthew 18:15-17. Then forgive, but also talk to the right people about the right things in as much of a right time, with a great right humble, yet strong attitude. First going to the person, then if they will not listen and change, bring 1–2 people with you.
Should we still meet up in both homes and in large gatherings of believers regularly? YES
Jesus said a lot of things against a lot of things in his culture – but He himself went around and preached in their synagogues. He did not say – stop meeting in your synagogues. He used those gatherings as opportunities. The same in the Book of Acts – they met in the School of Tyrannus (Acts 19:9) and in the Temple in Jerusalem. As well as in homes.
But He also brought the Kingdom of God to houses. To His house in Capernaum – to others houses – to country-sides – to the poor and the rich. To the esteemed and non-esteemed.
Please Read and Study These Insights
- Homes of Discipleship – Miracles and Outreach (HDMO) – a “Shape of Revival”: a biblical idea and structure for Acts 2:42-47 “from home to home” fellowships displaying the fullness of Christ.
- Fullness of Christ & the Word – structure of weekly large public gatherings of disciples from many homes of healing & outreach, as well as larger yearly church camps
- Coming: Gatherings of 5-fold ministers, deacons, elders – for multiplication of home fellowships, and making disciples who make disciples
- Principles: Disciple Making Movement (DMM) Observations – Making Disciples Like Jesus Did – Who Make Disciples Like Jesus Did, Who… This is revival!! Hottest topic here!! To be explored, tried, experimented, tested, and done!! If this nut can be cracked – it is revival!! This is the foundation, template, framework, and model for all the other things!!
- Victor John – Materials Online – Overview
- DBS – Discovery Bible Study – Simple Effective Obedient Discipleship
- Core Theology and Practice of Love for Western Individuals
- We Believe Statement Including Friendly Accountability (work in progress)
Being an Active Part of a Local Healthy Group of Believers
Do I believe in it? YES – 100%. Should you help the leaders there to grow into the fullness of Christ? Yes. Should you yourself live it out first? And bear fruit of it? Yes.
Be an active family member by getting together in small intimate fellowships in the homes. Meet up daily with Christian brothers and sisters. And come together to the big parties.
Help arrange the family get togethers and make room for more. Contribute and make it strong. Bring your time, talent, and treasure to lift up others.
Serving in Church – Should We Do That?
Yes – of course. We should all bring – not either talent, treasure, and time – but all of us should contribute what we can from where we are at – and we can do different things depending on what we know, how strong we are, how disciplined we are, how free we are, what other obligations we have, how much energy we have etc.
How to Choose a Good Local Church
Here are further studies and definitions of both what it means to be an apprentice of Jesus today and how gatherings of Christians that resemble the example of Jesus should aim to look like. We first have to look at and take care of and repent and bear much fruit in our own lives:
When that is done – here are some good questions to ask of a local assembly of believers:
- Is there a genuine love among the people for each other and others outside the fellowship?
- Does this gathering believe the Bible is the Word of God – and does it believe in obeying all the commands of Jesus – and do they actually take steps to obey?
- Is it caught up in the past traditions – or are they speaking and behaving in a normal way with normal modern traditions, words, clothing, songs, and behavior?
- Do they believe discipleship is that everyone is a disciple directly under the original Jesus of the Bible?
- Do they practice and demonstrate and train all the believers to do all the supernatural things – including training all practically to do healing, deliverance, prophecy, baptism in the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues, and baptism as a believer?
- Does it believe in the 5-fold ministry gifts of Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher – and on purpose get educated, demonstration, teaching from servant 5-fold ministers?
- Does it release all people to be all they are called by Jesus to be?
To read positive life changing and selfish life breaking teaching – see All Bible Studies of Peter Skov of Action Christianity. Let God lead you to what to engage with first.
And here is my YouTube course on the very minimum foundations of normal discipleship.
