What is the Church, Really?

Welcome to another Thursday UNFILTERED blog post, the only blog that noticed that the last day of 2023 was spelled out 123123 – and that will never happen again.

On my website (via the articles since 2008) as well as in my spoken ministry (via the two podcasts and The Deeper Christian Life Network) along with some of my older books, I’ve produced a wealth of content on the church.

All together, this body of work explores how the ekklesia looks in the eyes of God, how it reveals Christ, what it looked like in the first century, and how it can be restored in our day in its pristine beauty.

This article is a supplement to that previous work.

According to the New Testament, the church – the ekklesia of God, the family of God, the body of Christ, the house of God, the bride of Christ, and the assembly of God’s people is many things.

Properly conceived and rightly functioning in a given locality, the ekklesia is a collective (corporate) woman, the most beautiful girl in the world.

In political language, she’s a colony from heaven, an alternative civilization on the planet, the new polis, the city of God that bears the culture of heaven.

In royal language, she’s the agent of God’s kingdom, where its citizens display Christ’s sovereign rule and extend it in the earth. She also exercises His authority.

In anatomical language, she is a body whose members function interdependently in unity and harmony and carry out the will of the Head. She also expresses His image.

In romantic language, she’s a bride who adores her Bridegroom faithfully and cherishes Him intimately.

In military language, she’s an army who wages war against God’s enemy on the basis of Christ’s complete victory.

In horticultural language, the church is a field with Christ as the Vine and His members as branches, producing fruit for Him to enjoy.

In ranching language, she’s a sheepfold where the Lord’s sheep are fed, find water, pasture, and security.

In building language, she’s a temple whose living stones are fitly framed together to form the house of the living God.

In familial language, she’s a family who cares for her own and produces children.

Put that all together and I come away with one conclusion.

We are still in need of a restoration of the church as God envisions it. 

Note: this article isn’t a stand-alone piece. For more on the topic where I answer common questions, go to the FAQ page here on the site and check out the “Church” category in the ARTICLES section.

Until next Thursday,

fv

Psalm 115:1

For more, check out Christian Stuff That’s Not Boring

P.S. If someone wanted to change your life and zealously forced this blog post on you, you can appease them and subscribe here. It’s gratis and comes with a dozen Super Fire Hot Wings … the kind you can only eat after you sign a set of release forms. (No lemon suckers please. They won’t understand the humor.)