1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

What exactly is the church?

Discussion in 'Evangelism, Missions & Witnessing' started by SaggyWoman, Jul 16, 2001.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. SaggyWoman

    SaggyWoman Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2000
    Messages:
    17,933
    Likes Received:
    10
    Is the church a building or is the church a body of believers??

    If the church is a body of believers, then the building can be used for a variety of things, to include things with leading the lost to Christ.

    If the building is the church, do the lost really belong there?
     
  2. preacher

    preacher New Member

    Joined:
    May 9, 2001
    Messages:
    1,784
    Likes Received:
    0
    Saggy:
    The word "church" in the original meaning is
    " a calling out". Thus the body of believers is the church. The building we choose to meet in, be it a million dollar structure,
    or someones home is ( or mabey I should say
    should be), set aside for the worship of our
    Father. We have to be careful about how we treat it. It should be Holy to us, but then too each of our homes should be set apart for God, thus nothing that could bring reproach to his name should ever enter, or take place in our home, or what we happen to call the churchhouse. I know we don't even have to use a building to "gather together",
    but even if it's in a pasture then that ought to be considered Holy Ground! [​IMG]
    And YES... the lost most assuredly belong
    there. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word. How shall they hear without a preacher?

    [ July 16, 2001: Message edited by: preacher ]
     
  3. Barnabas H.

    Barnabas H. <b>Oldtimer</b>

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2000
    Messages:
    6,807
    Likes Received:
    0
    Faith:
    Baptist
    <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> SaggyWoman writes: “What exactly is the church? Is the church a building or is the church a body of believers??” <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

    The Discipleship Series Bible Study book has the following information on this subject: “People have all kinds of ideas as to what a church really is. Some people think it is a building (a cathedral, or some place of worship). Others think of a church as a denomination (a human organization) and speak of the “Catholic Church,” the “Presbyterian Church,” the “Baptist Church,” etc. Some Christians conceive the “Church” as consisting of all born-again believers in the world, a kind of “invisible, universal” church.”

    “Look up Matthew 16:18. This is the first mention of the Church in the Bible. This institution, the local New Testament church, was built upon Jesus Christ. It is new and is not to be confused with the nation of Israel. The Old Testament is primarily addressed to Israel, and the New Testament is mainly written to churches. Don’t confuse these two institutions (church and nation). The Bible distinguishes the two in 1 Corinthians 10:32.”

    “The word ‘church’ (or churches) is found 114 times in the New Testament, and is translated from the Greek word ‘ekklesia.’ This word ‘ekklesia’ means – ‘a company of people called out for a specific purpose.’ It has its roots in the democracies of the Greek city-states, when the town crier would call out the citizens to a meeting to conduct business. In Matthew 16:18, the Lord Jesus did not change the meaning of ‘ekklesia,’ but He distinguished it from other assemblies of the day with the personal pronoun ‘my.’ Thus, a New Testament church is the ‘Lord’s Assembly’.” [​IMG]

    [ July 16, 2001: Message edited by: B. J. Halo ]
     
  4. SaggyWoman

    SaggyWoman Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2000
    Messages:
    17,933
    Likes Received:
    10
    How long is the holy ground holy--all the time, or just when the church meets there--like in a cow pasture. Should we block cows from trampling?
     
  5. Paul from Antioch

    Paul from Antioch Active Member

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2021
    Messages:
    506
    Likes Received:
    43
    Faith:
    Baptist
     
  6. Paul from Antioch

    Paul from Antioch Active Member

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2021
    Messages:
    506
    Likes Received:
    43
    Faith:
    Baptist
    And I see "ekkesia" also as a very LOCALIZED body of Scriptually Baptized believers whose mission is clearly laid on in the Gospels & Acts. Most of the rest of our NT addresses things that pertain to this LOCALIZED assembly, not some unknown conglomeration of people with any number of false notions of what God's Word in context has indicated. They call it the "Invisible" Church because you won't SEE it in the NT.
     
  7. Squire Robertsson

    Squire Robertsson Administrator
    Administrator

    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2000
    Messages:
    15,371
    Likes Received:
    2,405
    Faith:
    Baptist
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
Loading...