Church

The church is the gathered people of God. It is not a building, a denomination, or a voluntary religious association. It is the community that belongs to Christ, called by him, gathered around his word, and sent by him into the world. The word the New Testament uses, ekklesia, means “assembly” or “gathering” and was used in the Old Testament Greek translation for Israel assembled before Yahweh.

This continuity with Israel is deliberate. The church is not a replacement for Israel but the fulfilment and expansion of the one people of God. Gentiles who trust in Christ are, as Paul writes in Galatians 3, “Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.” The dividing wall between Jew and Gentile has been broken down in Christ. The church is the one new humanity drawn from every nation, gathered into the one body of Christ.

The church’s life is shaped by the word of God and the sacraments Christ instituted. Where the word is faithfully preached and the sacraments rightly administered, there is the church. Its purpose is not primarily cultural influence or social improvement but the worship of God, the building up of believers, and the proclamation of the gospel to those who have not heard it. The articles below engage with the theme of the church through several key passages.