The Church
Church is a term that should not be confused with a temple, which is the place where believers meet or congregate to praise and/or worship God. As Christians there are thousands of churches of different denominations but they are all assemblies or congregations. The mission of the churches is to prepare the way for believers for the final establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.
If we are members of any church we have a duty to cultivate the attributes found in Christ our Lord and spread them to others wherever we find ourselves living. All of us from the beginning of our faith begin to change our lives by adopting Christ in our hearts. Within each church there will be active and prepared members who make the congregations grow by evangelizing.
The church is universal so that it can be organized in any place on earth where there are two or more believers and its members are free to call themselves as long as they follow the principles of the Gospel in the New Testament and have, the Holy Scriptures as the text inspired by God himself as the source of all truth.
The origin of the Christian church comes from Christ himself who chose the apostles after having spent forty days in the desert, having been tempted by Satan and, knowing that John was imprisoned, He started his ministry. “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1: 14-15 ESV “And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him.” Mark 1 17-18 ESV
In this way the church began with Simon, called Peter and Andrew who were fishermen and who left everything to follow Jesus, and all the initial work of them and others who joined was to make known the message of Christ. “And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit...” “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowsip, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Acts 2:38 and 42 ESV
In addition, the Scriptures were recited, psalms and hymns were sung, and the Lord was praised with joy.
In the early church, houses served as meeting places for groups gathered to praise and worship the Lord. In the New Testament it is said that in these houses believers often gathered to listen to the reading of an apostolic epistle read aloud. An example of this is in Colossians 4:16 which tells us: “And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.”
As we have seen, the church is fundamentally a gathering of believers dedicated to praising, worshiping God, reading the Holy Scriptures and supporting each other in the Christian faith. It is a universal meaning that no Christian can ignore.
May God bless you.
