THE CHURCH
In John’s account of Jesus’ life, he recalls Jesus telling his disciples two very important things:
“As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples…” (John 13:34–35).
Then in a prayer that Jesus prays to his Father before his arrest,
“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:23).
That is to say, by the way God’s people are seen to behave with one another, the world will come to know… and so our witness as the church depends on the health of our relationships with one another. And so we take our responsibility to be the body of Christ very seriously.
The church is not a service to attend. The church is not its leaders. The church is not a building. The church is not it’s network or denomination. The church is its members, and together we are the body of Christ. As Jesus’ body, our mission is to make Jesus known in what we say and how we relate, to represent all his divine qualities which include his compassion and care, and his justice and righteous love.
Every true church has Jesus as its head, was establish by the Word of God, and continues to be a true church by building on that same foundation. Of all that could be said of the church, we are God’s people, saved by God’s Son, united by God’s Spirit as he guides by his Word. The church makes Jesus known by sharing the good news of who he is and what he’s done, and he makes himself known through us as we reflect his character by the way we unite together as one in love.
