Summary of what is a church

[Anna Marta]

Here is a summary of the ideas shared in the previous thread. This is a great list.

preaches the real Gospel and exalts Jesus Christ relentlessly
teaching
Bible studies and Sunday schools
instruction for evangelizing
a church service
shepherding pastor

opportunity to serve through various ministries not only within the church, but there's outreach within the community
Discipleship
cell groups and meeting with one another and having fellowship
Counseling ministry
Various ministries: Women's and Men's, children and youth, seniors
takes care of their Pastor
leadership Training
walk together through the good and the bad times

a hospital for sinners

voluntary association
people collaborate
free to criticize and hold different opinions from that of the group’s leadership
no psychological pressure to conform and no atmosphere of enforced uniformity
a part of society in general involved in a group for practical and limited reasons
a completely separate family, social and professional life
democratic in practice
free to come and go
participate as they wish
Nobody fears any physical or psychological reprimand
Members put their personal needs first and are able to differentiate those from the needs of the group

pastor's job was to give the body what they needed in order to be a healthy body
Apostle oversaw the church in General seeing to the needs of the many churches by cooperating witht the leaders of those individual pastors
breakdown of the local body of believers

the people I trust enough to eat "break bread" with on a consistent basis
a sense of intimacy and trust
absolutely trustworthy servants of God as Pastors and leaders in the church.


I am wondering if the church as it is today can be salvaged or does it require a new kind of structure?

[Hope 98]

Wow!

The church that I've been attending for the past 6 years comes really close to meeting all the points on that list. I'm trying to determine if I am blessed or BLIND!

The thing that makes me believe that I'm blessed is that there is no pretention of perfection here, no air of superiority.

The other thing that seems to be part of the success of this particular church is that it is small in number and though it's growing, it intends to plant new churches as attendance demands, rather than become a megachurch.

[Elisabeth]

Wow!

The church that I've been attending for the past 6 years comes really close to meeting all the points on that list. I'm trying to determine if I am blessed or BLIND!

The thing that makes me believe that I'm blessed is that there is no pretention of perfection here, no air of superiority.

The other thing that seems to be part of the success of this particular church is that it is small in number and though it's growing, it intends to plant new churches as attendance demands, rather than become a megachurch.

Love it Hope! My church meets several points, also. A little weak on some others; but it is definately a church that worships God, values people, and there is no superiority, pretentions, or pressure.

[Jerry]

I am wondering if the church as it is today can be salvaged or does it require a new kind of structure?

I suspect that Christ had much the same thought about the "Temple" just before He whipped ass on the "Money Changers" :D