The Purpose of the Local Church

Thanks for the Page...

You're right, after a quick glance, plan to read in depth later, that looks like some great info. Thanks for posting, and I hope it grabs the attention of a lot of members...

 

Seems to me:
Purpose of the church (people) is to reach the lost.
Purpose of the church (organization) is to train the saved.

People bring those saved by their witness into the church to be trained to do the same thing, rather than bringing the lost into the church for saving then training.

 

The article triggered a couple of thoughts. I know, I'm dangerous when that happens.

First, is there any instance in the New Testament where we know that lost people were in a worship service? Or, that the service was geared to the lost?

Can we glean anything from Acts 2;48, which describes what FBC Jerusalem did when they came together?

Obviously that's not a complete list of activities, and the absence of any mention of ministering to the lost doesn't mean they didn't.

It's just helpful sometimes if we re-examine our practices in the light of the Word of God.

 

I'm sure somebody will bring up Spurgeon's Sunday night services, which were quite evangelistic in nature. So many lost or unchurched folks came that I read where he asked his members to stay home so there'd be room.

Another story I read was that during those evangelistic services, many of the members would gather in the basement (or some other part of the church) to pray.

One may ask, how does this square with your previous post?

Doesn't have to. When the Holy Spirit is operating, follow His lead.

During the two Great Awakenings, the HS was operating everywhere, inside churches and out.

 

Jesus established the local church during his earthly ministry as his unique instrument for spreading the gospel, equipping the saints for ministry, teaching and fellowship.

God may call individuals to various ministries, but neither they nor their organizations should operative independently of a local church, and should ask that local church to hold them accountable.

Many evangelistic organizations set up a board to help run it. Is the preacher really accountable to that board? If he is, why would he not want to be accountable to a church?