CHURCH
There is much confusion as to what the "church" is, who it is, why it is, its definition, its purpose, its function, its organization, etc. There are MANY groups, organizations, etc. which use "church" in their name, and so it is absolutely imperative that we understand what each one means by that so as to not be deceived. Ultimately our views on "church" MUST come from the Bible if they are to be correct views as to what is a biblical-based Christian "church". Just to (hopefully) make the point very obvious, there is a "church" which is "the church of Satan". If you are a Christian, you will stay far away from that "church". There are many other "churches", which would like to be known as "Christian", which are not. One of the many examples of this is the "Church of Jesus Christ - Latter Day Saints", which is not in fact a biblical Christian church, even though that's what there name states. (Note: you can read more about this "church" HERE). In Japan, there is a "Perfect Liberty Church", which is nothing other than a Buddhist sect. There are still many other "churches" which say they hold to Biblical Christian doctrine, but do not do so in practice, and/or have strayed from those doctrines altogether.
DEFINITION:
How is all this possible? Well, the Greek word translated into English as "church" is ecclesia, which in its simplest form means an "assembly" and does not in and of itself mean, or even imply, anything Christian. So, just to be fair, it is not really "wrong" for the groups mentioned above to refer to their "assembly" using the word "church". It is only when we have already associated that word with a Christian meaning that we get quickly upset with how others use that word. So, if ANY assembly of any kind has the "right" to use the word "church", it would hopefully be VERY evident that great discernment is needed in determining what each "church" truly believes, practices, etc. A "church" CAN be a Christian church, but it can also mean any number of other kind of assembly. So, just for the record, for a Christian, a "true church" is a biblically based assembly, or to put it another way, it is an assembly of those people who have repented of their sin, trusted Christ for His substitutionary payment of sin's death penalty and who seek to live for God in the manner HE chooses for them.
PURPOSE:
It has been said that even the "true church" has an identity crisis. A USA Today poll sometime in the early 1990's found that of the 56 percent of Americans who attended "church", 45 percent did so because "it's good for you", while 26 percent cited "peace of mind and spiritual well-being". Specific doctrines did not seem important. Interestingly, these reasons ignore what is truly the PRIMARY reason for an assembly - to WORSHIP God! (But if this "church service" is the focus of our "worship", I believe we are mistaken. See our related link on worship HERE.) It's really NOT all about US, it's all about HIM! For many, their "church" experience follows along with their consumer mentality and it's all about what pleases us, what makes us happy, and more and more we see that people are looking more for a social club where relationships with people are the focal point, rather than being influenced as to how they live and what they believe. There is a fair number of books and articles on this consumer mentality, which you can certainly do an internet search to find, but one we found helpful is "The Consumer-Driven Church" by Bruce Shelley and Marshall Shelley. "Spiritual consumers are interested not in what the church stands for but in the fulfillment it can deliver", when what really matters is Biblical fidelity.
While far from complete, and not purposing to offend, we have put together some information regarding various "Christian" churches (denominations, if you will) to help you to sort out some of the differences, distinctions, etc. of various "Christian churches". Please understand that churches today are becoming more and more "fluid", by which we mean prone to change rapidly, so that even the information presented on the link below may be outdated by the time you read it. You can link to that study by clicking HERE.
DEFINITION:
How is all this possible? Well, the Greek word translated into English as "church" is ecclesia, which in its simplest form means an "assembly" and does not in and of itself mean, or even imply, anything Christian. So, just to be fair, it is not really "wrong" for the groups mentioned above to refer to their "assembly" using the word "church". It is only when we have already associated that word with a Christian meaning that we get quickly upset with how others use that word. So, if ANY assembly of any kind has the "right" to use the word "church", it would hopefully be VERY evident that great discernment is needed in determining what each "church" truly believes, practices, etc. A "church" CAN be a Christian church, but it can also mean any number of other kind of assembly. So, just for the record, for a Christian, a "true church" is a biblically based assembly, or to put it another way, it is an assembly of those people who have repented of their sin, trusted Christ for His substitutionary payment of sin's death penalty and who seek to live for God in the manner HE chooses for them.
PURPOSE:
It has been said that even the "true church" has an identity crisis. A USA Today poll sometime in the early 1990's found that of the 56 percent of Americans who attended "church", 45 percent did so because "it's good for you", while 26 percent cited "peace of mind and spiritual well-being". Specific doctrines did not seem important. Interestingly, these reasons ignore what is truly the PRIMARY reason for an assembly - to WORSHIP God! (But if this "church service" is the focus of our "worship", I believe we are mistaken. See our related link on worship HERE.) It's really NOT all about US, it's all about HIM! For many, their "church" experience follows along with their consumer mentality and it's all about what pleases us, what makes us happy, and more and more we see that people are looking more for a social club where relationships with people are the focal point, rather than being influenced as to how they live and what they believe. There is a fair number of books and articles on this consumer mentality, which you can certainly do an internet search to find, but one we found helpful is "The Consumer-Driven Church" by Bruce Shelley and Marshall Shelley. "Spiritual consumers are interested not in what the church stands for but in the fulfillment it can deliver", when what really matters is Biblical fidelity.
While far from complete, and not purposing to offend, we have put together some information regarding various "Christian" churches (denominations, if you will) to help you to sort out some of the differences, distinctions, etc. of various "Christian churches". Please understand that churches today are becoming more and more "fluid", by which we mean prone to change rapidly, so that even the information presented on the link below may be outdated by the time you read it. You can link to that study by clicking HERE.