Recently our church participated in a combined worship service with two other churches here in town, and in the same week, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes club at the high school met with 25 or so high schoolers gathering to hang out and hear a devotional from a student. It got me thinking about this question: what is a church? How do we define when a gathering of believers is a church? When 3 churches meet together, is that a church in and of itself? When a bunch of Christian kids gather on their school campus is that a church? What are the necessary elements to have a Biblically defined church?
Let’s assume for our discussion that we are talking about true believers. But I think you’ll be a bit surprised to find out what constitutes a church in the New Testament. Because in the eyes of God you do not need bylaws or a building in order to be a church.
First, there needs to be Biblically defined leadership. Elders are the leaders of the church (1 Tim 3:5) and they are discussed in almost every book of the New Testament. They are gifted by the Lord to His church (Eph 4:11) and they need to be appointed in every church (Titus 1:5). You can’t have a church without Biblically defined leadership. With this necessary element, the three church meeting would qualify (since elders were leading) but the FCA meeting would not, since they have student leadership and not Biblically defined leadership. You can’t have a church without Biblical leadership.
Second, there needs to be the preaching of the Word. New Testament ministers in the church are required to equip the saints for the work of the ministry (Eph 4:12) and they are also commanded to preach the Word (2 Tim 4:2). Sound doctrine and Biblical exposition is the bedrock of the church and a non-negotiable. While FCA was disqualified for being considered a church for lack of Biblical leadership, they do teach God’s Word there regularly, and so they would pass this requirement as would the combined church meeting.
The third necessary element is the conducting of the ordinances. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper were both instituted by the Lord and the church is commanded to practice them. The administering of the ordinances would disqualify both the combined service and FCA from being considered a church because neither one engages in the keeping of the ordinances.
The final element is what I would call accountability. There is an expectation amongst the people of a church to live a Christlike life and obey the Scripture. Why else would there be so many commands and instructions in the Bible about how to live and behave? Why else would we preach messages on how to live differently, if we weren’t to actually do it? To join a church is to agree to covenant with one another to pray for and challenge one another to be faithful to Scripture. This is also why the need for Biblical shepherds is so important, as they hold their members accountable too. I believe God’s people welcome this kind of accountability because they really do want to live rightly in God’s eyes. With this final element, both the combined service and FCA would not qualify as a church since they are gatherings without this level of further accountability outside of the meeting.
Now, now one is saying that the combined service and the FCA meeting are trying to be churches, but with the Covid pandemic, the redefinition of church happened without us knowing it. Some people watch an online service of a church hundreds or even thousands of miles away and call that their ‘church.’ They’ve never set foot inside the church or even talked to the pastor. But that cannot be your church as you are not under the Biblical leadership, you are not participating in the ordinances, and there is no accountability to right living. That can be a helpful tool for your spiritual life, but it is not your church.
The same can be said for those who attend one of these Christian meetings and assume it counts as their church. A club on campus cannot be your church, just like youth group cannot be your church, or even a community service cannot be your church...if they do not have these necessary elements.
My sincere prayer is for a renewed passion and commitment to the church. To submit to Biblical leadership is God-honoring. To hear the Word is God-honoring. To regularly take the Lord’s Supper and observe baptisms is God-honoring. And to be held accountable for Christian behavior is God-honoring as well. They are all God-honoring because these are the necessary elements to have a church.