What is the Mission of the Church? Part 2

In the last post I sort of got side-tracked, but I thought that is was necessary to lay out a clear definition of the Church. If you remember the definition from the New Testament Greek Lexicon, the church is a gathering and an assembly---the definition also carries the idea of being "called out". The church is a called out body of believers that gather and assemble together to worship God.

Since God from before time began---called out or chose a people for Himself (the church) it is incumbent then for us to determine what God wants us (church) to do (mission).    

 Let me share some of my own personal experiences that I've had with the church, and they have been as varied as a bag of skittles. I've been involved with the church close to 35 years. I was raised a Roman Catholic. My journey then took me to various Charismatic Churches, to an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist Church, to a House Church, and to several Independent Evangelical churches. 

From my experiences with churches, I've met some of the coolest people ever: One family that I can recall were so instrumental in helping Michele and I by giving us the necessary child rearing tools to help us in our new journey to raise a family, looking back we don't know how we would have done it without their Godly influence (thank you Lee&Marianne). 

We made life long friends with those that we crossed our paths with in the church world. Many helped us in our times of financial hardships, or when we struggled with our son who came way too early (two months). There were those that wept with us and who rejoiced with us. 

This is the body of Christ. God's people loving, caring, and praying for each other. This is the CHURCH. This is what the Church looks like.


So that is all the good stuff; and there is much more, but due to time I need to move on. I would like to share some of my negative experiences with you concerning the church. Looking back on these negative experiences, I can now make a pretty good assessment on WHY I had negative experiences with the Church.

When the church starts to be run like a corporation, when the church becomes program centered, and not people centered, when the church becomes church centered and not Christ centered; it is then that the Church has lost its mission.



So then what exactly should the Church be doing? How can the Church go back when she wanders off track? Now keep in mind that the Church is the body of Christ---assembled together for worship, preaching, and teaching God's truth.

With all that necessary introduction, I would like to examine the Great Commission texts found in the Bible (Matt.28:16-20; Mark.13:10; 14:9; Luke. 24:44-40; Acts.1:8). These texts tell us exactly what the Mission of the Church is (or how to get back on track).

In our next blog, we will flesh out some of the MISSION contained in these texts. See ya later!