The Purpose of the Church
I have been spending alot of time thinking about the church recently, and more specifically the purpose of the church.
At RPTS I was told that the purpose of the New Testament Church, was to worship. Even in seminary, I saw some flaws in this understanding. Over the last year I have become more convince that worship is not the purpose of the church. Here is why I do not see the worship as the purpose of the church, it presupposes that the culmination of Chris’t kingdom has already happened. While, I do think it is appropriate to say that we were created with the purpose of worshipping God, making this the purpose of the church does not take into account the impact of sin, and the plan of redemption. Please don’t think that I trying to remove the importance of worship in the life of the church.
Some theologians have spoken about the importance of recognizing the already and the not yet. Christ’s kingdom has already come, though it is not yet fulfilled. We have already been redeemed by Christ’s work, but we have not yet been made perfect. To suppose that the current purpose of the church is worship, wrongly assumes that the not yet has already come, when it has not.
I think it would be more appropriate to see that the primary purpose of the church is mission, while remembering that a major component of mission is coming together to worship God and celebrate how he has been at work.
As it is a somewhat nebulous term, some might wonder how I would define mission. I would define mission as the commanded response to bring the redemption that Christ accomplished to a broken world.
It is important to see the connection between Christ’s work of Redemption, and the mission on which he as sent his Church. While Christ has completed plan of redemption, the application of that redemptions has not yet fully been realized. God has decide that he will use the church to help bring about that application, and this is what sets the church on mission.
Some verses that have shaped my thinking:
2 Corinthians 4:15, 1 Peter 2:11, Matthew 28:18-20, Ephesians 2:19-22
I’ve been thinking about the purpose of the Church, as well. I wasn’t aware that the RPCNA teaches that worship is the purpose of the Church, but it’s not surprising as we place so much emphasis on corporate worship.
Would James 1:27 (Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.) support your idea that the Church’s missional purpose?
Does “religion” = the Church, or is it a word used to describe the institutionalized habits of men in a religious context?
Sam, have you read John Piper’s “Let the Nations Be Glad?” Part of his thesis is that the goal of evangelism is to bring people into relationship with God so that they can worship him.
http://tollelege.wordpress.com/2008/01/16/missions-exists-because-worship-doesn%E2%80%99t-by-john-piper/
http://www.wtsbooks.com/product-exec/product_id/1977/nm/Let+the+Nations+Be+Glad!,+2nd+ed:+The+Supremacy+of+God+in+Missions_?utm_source=nroark&utm_medium=blogpartners
Yeah I agree with that premise. I guess the distinction I would make, is that until heaven we are on the move, and what supposed to be doing. The goal is to make worshipers, but the NT church has a mission, a purpose -”to proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” The end goal is worship, but its not the end yet.
The New Testament Church: The Scriptures teach that the Church of Jesus Christ is distinct from Israel. It was inaugurated at Pentecost and will be completed at the Rapture. The church must be considered in two aspects; the Body of Christ (all saints from Pentecost to the Rapture) and the Local Church. (Acts 2; 11:15)
1) The Body of Christ:
This group is made up of all individuals who have been born again from the day of Pentecost to the moment of the Rapture of the Church and have been placed by the Holy Spirit (through means of the baptism of the Holy Spirit) into the universal church. Christ is the head of the body therefore Christ is the only supreme authority of the church. (Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 12:12-13; Eph. 1:22-23, 3:10; Col. 1:18; Heb. 12:23)
2) The Local Church:
The local New Testament church is an organized body of believers, baptized by immersion upon a credible testimony of their personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is congregational in government, and is set aside for God’s work, worship, and edification, observance of the ordinances (baptism and Lord’s Supper) and the fulfillment of the great commission by propagating the Gospel throughout the world. The unifying purpose of the local church is to glorify God. (Matt. 28:18-20; Luke 22:19; Acts 1:8; 2:14; 41-47; 1 Cor. 11; Eph. 3:10, 21; 1 Tim. 4:6; 2 Tim. 2:2; 3:16)
In Summary: The The unifying purpose of the local church is to glorify God!
@Jonathan I think you’ve thrown a few unsubstantiated earmarks into your comment.
You are right in that the Church is spoken of as the Body of Christ. And it is true that the New Testament Church started at Pentecost, and ends when Christ’s returns. The question is are there any things unique purposes in our current position.
You ask: “Are there any things unique purposes in our current position.”
A Believer first must look to the Bible and understand the Ultimate purpose of the church before ever looking at the practice in which it carries out.
The base premise of the Church today must be: to Glorify God.
Where the church is lost today is looking at everything else but this and exalting it above God.
When you say “unique purposes”, what are you relating this to? What the church is to carry out?
Great thoughts man.
We tend to separate mission from worship by putting them in different boxes and programs. What we do Mon-Sat is mission while we are at the workplace, but on Sunday we go to church. But we are the church and we do mission in both. Mission, as I understand it, is proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to a hurting world. I find that this understanding helps me see both the “missionary” and the “worship” callings of the church in tight tandem. At the same time I affirm that worship must be evangelistic (doxological evangelism as Clowney put it).
In saying all of that – how would you place corporate worship in the context of mission?
I like how you said that “we are on the move.” Great imagery there brother.
Perhaps it depends on how you define worship. If you define “worship” as seeking to glorify God – to make Him look great, then wouldn’t your definition of “mission” be an act of worship (even though it’s not a traditional worship service)?
You say that mission is “the commanded response to bring the redemption that Christ accomplished to a broken world.” Isn’t to bring glory to God the only valid motive and purpose to want to do such a thing? So maybe mission is ultimately in fact a way to worship.
Yeah Jon you are right, I was responding in the lines of a worship service.