The Church -- The Ivory Tower?
Christianity has so many diverse compositions to it sometimes one can get confused over the very nature and essence of its reality. It really makes one wonder, if we can't internally define who we are, we can't externally witness about what we are? That being said I want to proceed to make some sense of and express some clarity to the origin and nature of the church. The church of Jesus Christ has progressed from a small group of Jewish believers to a diverse world-wide body of Christians echoing the message of the kingdom of God to a lost world. The fact that sometimes we forget or try to ignore our Jewish roots doesn't help. Actually what the church has experienced for over two millenniums is ethic, religious, and class profiling.
So let's explore some basic principles for insight. The essentials to consider as to the composition of what a church consist of:
Its Origin
Its Mission
These two factors offer close insight as to the intention of the church. Origin is defined as the point at which something comes into existence, dealing with the basic qualities of its character, and distinguishing the essence of its beginning. From there we derive a history. Origin then relates to basic character. Many uninformed people have expressed their misunderstanding of a church and their definitions are either incorrect or inadequate while missing the revelation of what the church really is.
The most common perception of a church is a building; either implied or spoken to those outside of the corporate structure of the church or those members who are partakers of the fellowship. It is easy to see how one can mistake the building or the meeting place as the church. It's imperative that we do not forget that there were churches long before there were buildings. The Early Church understood the concept as a mystical entity. That being the case, the first church buildings were not constructed until near the end of the second century (290 A.D.). The New Testament describes the church as the body of Christ composed of all the redeemed of all the ages and at no time does this usage refer to a specific body of people or a geographical place (1Cor.12:12-13; Eph.2:19-22).
The Greek word, Ecclesia is "an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting; whether in a city or a home this makeup constitutes a company of people united into one body, defined as a civil body of called or elected people".
The term mission indicates "the divine activity of sending intermediaries, whether supernatural or human, to speak or do God's Will that His purposes for judgment or redemption are furthered." The biblical concept is expressed by the use of verbs meaning "to send," with God as the expressed subject. The Hebrew verb is "salah" and the Greek word "apostello". The emphasis is the authoritative commissioning relationship involved.
The scriptures also employ the cognate's apostolos ("apostle" the one sent), apostole ("apostleship" the function of being sent), indicating the one sent and his function. In modern times we want to use the root words like "apostle" to define position rather than function. In reality, a missionary is in fact the modern example of the ancient term. Not only were these people sent out but many were martyred for the Faith.
The biblical concept for "mission" is to understand:
The authority of the one who sends (Jesus Christ)
The obedience of the ones sent (Missionaries)
The task to be accomplished (Evangelism)
The power to accomplish the task (The Holy Spirit)
All of this is done within the moral structure of God's promise of judgment and redemption. The primary mission in the early church was to clarify its purpose and its nature. Those appointed are sent forth with this burden. As the apostles reflected on the Savior the Father commissioned (Jesus Christ), they highlighted the motive, context, task, and result of His mission.
Read More:
So let's explore some basic principles for insight. The essentials to consider as to the composition of what a church consist of:
Its Origin
Its Mission
These two factors offer close insight as to the intention of the church. Origin is defined as the point at which something comes into existence, dealing with the basic qualities of its character, and distinguishing the essence of its beginning. From there we derive a history. Origin then relates to basic character. Many uninformed people have expressed their misunderstanding of a church and their definitions are either incorrect or inadequate while missing the revelation of what the church really is.
The most common perception of a church is a building; either implied or spoken to those outside of the corporate structure of the church or those members who are partakers of the fellowship. It is easy to see how one can mistake the building or the meeting place as the church. It's imperative that we do not forget that there were churches long before there were buildings. The Early Church understood the concept as a mystical entity. That being the case, the first church buildings were not constructed until near the end of the second century (290 A.D.). The New Testament describes the church as the body of Christ composed of all the redeemed of all the ages and at no time does this usage refer to a specific body of people or a geographical place (1Cor.12:12-13; Eph.2:19-22).
The Greek word, Ecclesia is "an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting; whether in a city or a home this makeup constitutes a company of people united into one body, defined as a civil body of called or elected people".
The term mission indicates "the divine activity of sending intermediaries, whether supernatural or human, to speak or do God's Will that His purposes for judgment or redemption are furthered." The biblical concept is expressed by the use of verbs meaning "to send," with God as the expressed subject. The Hebrew verb is "salah" and the Greek word "apostello". The emphasis is the authoritative commissioning relationship involved.
The scriptures also employ the cognate's apostolos ("apostle" the one sent), apostole ("apostleship" the function of being sent), indicating the one sent and his function. In modern times we want to use the root words like "apostle" to define position rather than function. In reality, a missionary is in fact the modern example of the ancient term. Not only were these people sent out but many were martyred for the Faith.
The biblical concept for "mission" is to understand:
The authority of the one who sends (Jesus Christ)
The obedience of the ones sent (Missionaries)
The task to be accomplished (Evangelism)
The power to accomplish the task (The Holy Spirit)
All of this is done within the moral structure of God's promise of judgment and redemption. The primary mission in the early church was to clarify its purpose and its nature. Those appointed are sent forth with this burden. As the apostles reflected on the Savior the Father commissioned (Jesus Christ), they highlighted the motive, context, task, and result of His mission.
Read More:
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