What is the Mission of the Church? Part 1

                                                                   

 You may say, "sounds like a pretty straight forward question," and on the surface it is, but if we dig a little deeper it really is an extremely deep and controversial question. 

You might ask, "is it even important?" you might even further ask, "how is it relevant to my life?" You might even say, " who cares!" But since the Bible has so much to say about the mission of the Church it automatically becomes important. So here we go.

Let's start with a quick definition of the church: First, the church is not a building with steeples and bells.

The definition of the church has to be looked at from two different angles: The VISIBLE and the INVISIBLE. You are probably saying what is this guy talking about? Well, the VISIBLE Church is made up of all those who profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible calls them the body of Christ (Eph.4:12; Rom. 12:5). Physically they can be seen as they gather for worship in buildings on Sunday mornings. 

Another important way that the Bible talks about the Church; is that the Church is made up of all those whom God has chosen before time even began (INVISIBLE), all believers who have ever lived, who are living now, and who are yet to live (Eph.1:4; Rom. 11:29).

The New Testament Greek Lexicon defines the Greek word church (ekklesia): as a gathering or assembly http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=1577 . 

So let me put together a workable definition: The Church consists of all of those whom God has chosen from before time began who are at present time assembling and gathering together for fellowship and worship, phew I'm tired!            

Now that we have a workable definition of the Church; we can try to answer the question what is the mission of the Church? But due to time we'll have to wait for another blog, sorry folks.