Belonging to a church

The body of Christ

Say ‘church’ and most people picture a building. In the Bible the church is people: those whom God has called together. The first church was Jesus' followers and the people who believed the gospel, the good news of what God has done in Jesus Christ, when Peter proclaimed it. Peter was one of the apostles, the witnesses Jesus sent out.

Those who embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Acts 2:41-42

Baptism is the washing with water that marks a person as Christ's. The breaking of bread means their shared meals and the Lord's Supper, the holy meal of bread and cup the Lord gave his church. These first believers did not believe alone. From the day they believed they were added to a people, and they shared "with anyone who was in need" (Acts 2:45).

Paul pictures the church as a body. Believers are as different as hands, feet and eyes, yet they are members, or parts, of one body.

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.

1 Corinthians 12:26-27

"The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I do not need you'" (1 Corinthians 12:21). We need one another. Christ gives his church pastors and teachers, who teach his Word and care for his people, "to build up the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12). Peter calls believers "a chosen people, a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9): chosen by God's free kindness, and each of them a priest who may come to God through Christ and pray for others. To believe is to come home to God, and to come into a people.

The church we confess

The Apostles' Creed, said by many churches around the world, goes on from the Holy Spirit, who is God with the Father and the Son, to ‘the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints’. Catholic here means universal: the one church of every place and age, not of one nation or one branch. The saints are all who belong to God, and the communion of saints is their sharing of all they have received in Christ. The Nicene Creed confesses ‘one holy catholic and apostolic Church’.

The Reformed churches grew from the sixteenth-century Reformation, a movement to renew the church by Scripture, in the line of teachers such as John Calvin. Presbyterians are the best known; the Reformed churches of continental Europe are another branch, and among Baptists the Reformed Baptists confess the same faith. Their confessions, written statements of what a church believes, open this up. The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), a catechism that teaches by questions and answers, asks what we believe about the holy catholic church, and answers:

That … the Son of God, by his Spirit and Word, gathers, defends, and preserves for himself unto everlasting life, a chosen communion in the unity of the true faith; and that I am, and forever shall remain, a living member of the same.

Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 54

A communion is a people joined together. Before I ever looked for a church, Christ was gathering me into his. The next answer adds that every believer shares in Christ and all his treasures, and that each must use his gifts, the abilities God gives for serving, ‘readily and cheerfully, for the advantage and welfare of other members’ Q. 55.

How can you tell a true church? The Belgic Confession (1561) names three marks:

If the pure doctrine of the gospel is preached therein; if she maintains the pure administration of the sacraments as instituted by Christ; if church discipline is exercised in punishing of sin

Belgic Confession, art. 29

The first is preaching, the explaining of Scripture to proclaim the gospel when the church meets. The sacraments are the holy rites Christ gave his church, baptism and the Lord's Supper. Church discipline is the church's care for a member caught in sin, calling them back by God's Word; its aim, above all, is to restore: "If he listens to you, you have won your brother over" (Matthew 18:15).

The same confession teaches that every believer is bound to join this church art. 28. The Westminster Confession (1646) calls the visible church, all throughout the world who profess the true faith, with their children, ‘the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation’ 25.2. Not that one branch of the church saves: God ordinarily gives and grows faith through the Word and sacraments of his church. Calvin put it as a picture, here in Henry Beveridge's translation of 1845: "to those to whom he is a Father, the Church must also be a mother" Calvin, Institutes 4.1.

Which church, and how

Churches are led in different ways. In Presbyterian and continental Reformed churches, elders chosen by the members govern together with the pastor. In Baptist and Congregational churches the congregation, the members meeting together, makes the main decisions and calls its pastors and its deacons, who lead in practical care; the Second London Baptist Confession (1689) teaches that elders and deacons are chosen by the vote of the whole church 26.9. In Anglican, many Methodist, Catholic and Orthodox churches, bishops oversee many congregations. This course requires none of these. Rule by elders is explained in the Reformed course's Presbyterian church government, and the doctrine course's What the church is sets the three side by side.

Whatever the order, Christ alone is head of the church. Those who lead are shepherds of his flock under "the Chief Shepherd" (1 Peter 5:4), examples to the flock and not its lords. They keep watch over our souls; we follow them, and let them "lead with joy and not with grief" (Hebrews 13:17). If you are looking for a church, look for the marks above rather than its size or style.

Belonging is more than a name on a list. Hebrews urges us not to neglect meeting together but to "spur one another on to love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24). In a small group you learn one another's names and pray for one another; you serve with the gifts you have; and you give, gladly, for "God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7). You will also meet people you find hard to love. Then remember: "Carry one another's burdens" (Galatians 6:2).

The Westminster Confession is honest: ‘The purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error’ 25.5. So you may be hurt in a church. Before you think of leaving, go and speak with the person and seek to be reconciled. If you cannot settle it alone, ask your pastor or a mature Christian to help. If you have been seriously harmed, as by abuse, do not go to that person alone or carry it alone: tell someone you trust and seek trained help. See also Why do we need the church? and Why are there so many churches and denominations?

This week

Ask how to become a member. Most churches have a way in, such as a newcomers' class or a membership course. Ask the pastor, or whoever welcomes newcomers, how to become a member, and, if you have not been baptised, about a class for baptism.

Join a small group. Churches give them many names, but most have a few people who meet to read the Bible and pray together. Go once, learn one person's name, and pray for them this week. The next lesson is about baptism.

Practice