While looking at the New Testament Church I started off with a few basic assumptions (the Church consists of People, the Church’s existence is based on specific historical requirements and the Church’s leadership is divine). Flowing from these assumptions I pointed out a goal of the Church tied directly to the purpose of the sent Holy Spirit (firstly to edify the Church by teaching and comforting and secondly to convict the World of sin, righteousness and judgment).
As such, I specified seven markers which outlined the boundaries of the Church: (1) the Lord’s Supper, (2) baptizing disciples, (3) loving one another, (4) disciplining its own members, (5) pure worship practices, (6) pure moral practices and (7) preaching the Word. The question now arises: can a church (small c) count as such if it fails in any of these seven boundary markers?
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Tags: church, parachurch
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