Christianity is congregational. We serve and glorify God through, as a member of, the church. It\u2019s not enough just to be able to say that I am a Christian, a baptized believer. There are two vital organisms mentioned in the New Testament \u2013 The Christian and the Church. The two are inseparable, one in the same. The saved are the church (Acts 2:47). We serve and glorify God through the church (Eph 3:21). We Christians, as the church, are Christ\u2019s spiritual body\u00a0(Col 1:18; Eph 1:22).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Writing to the local church, or congregation, at Ephesus, Paul said, \u201cSpeaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up unto Him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work\u201d (Eph 4:15-16). Notice that Paul is speaking to the local church or congregation at Ephesus. Of course, what he says to the local church applies to all other congregations of the church. It goes without saying; the local church (congregation) and the universal church (all the saved) cannot meet its responsibility without the individual members all supporting and doing their part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In His infinite wisdom God designed the church for each congregation to have elders who are to watch in behalf of each member\u2019s soul (Acts 14:23; Heb 13:17), to oversee, feed, and shepherd the flock (Acts 20:28). A body is used to illustrate the church. Just as a body has different parts that serve in their own way, so the church has different members that serve in their way. Paul used this illustration in (1 Cor 12:12-31; Rom 12:3-8). This is done in individual congregations under the oversight of the elders in that congregation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In light of what the New Testament teaches, there is not to be what some would call a \u201cfloating member\u201d. This describes one with no real connection with a local church. According to God\u2019s design each Christian is to be an active, current member of a local congregation, where one is available, to be under the oversight of Elders and in close fellowship and work with other Christians. Let us not be \u201cfloating members\u201d but rather belong to a local congregation (Tanner). And as part of that congregation, let us not be content to just fill a space, but rather to fill a place. \u201cTo Him be glory in the church of Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (Eph 3:21).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christianity is congregational. We serve and glorify God through, as a member of, the church. It\u2019s not enough just to be able to say that I am a Christian, a baptized believer. There are two vital organisms mentioned in the New Testament \u2013 The Christian and the Church. The two are inseparable, one in the… Continue reading The Christian and the Church<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[178,179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulletin","category-marks-messages","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3743"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3745,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3743\/revisions\/3745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}