The church, its nature and purpose

Initial questions.

1. What is the church? This question asks of its being, nature, or essence. It is an ontological question.[i] 
2. What does the church do? This question asks of its duty, purpose, or work. It is a functional question.[ii] 

Ontological question.

The church is a specific assembly of people.[iii] The people are born again believers, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, baptized upon the profession of their faith. A church is not an imaginary invisible body that none can see or hear. A church is not a denominational group or organizational hierarchy. The church begins with those who are born again by the Holy Spirit (John 3:7; 1 Peter 1:23),[iv] baptized upon the profession of their faith (Acts 8:37-38), and covenanted together to gather in Jesus’s name (Matthew 18:20). The church is not just an expression of some mystical invisible church, but is made up of baptized believers gathering together (1 Corinthians 11:18; 14:23; Hebrews 10:25), is in the world as an ambassage representing Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20), and can be identified locally/geographically as an expression of Christ's kingdom (the church at Corinth, the churches of Galatia, the seven churches of Asia, etc.).

Functional question.

A correct answer to the “functional” question of what the church does will harmonize with the “ontological” question of what the church is. It will do what assemblies of believers do.[v] Too often an answer regarding what church is supposed “to do” does not take in to account what the church “is.” Many answers are simply pragmatic postures of human innovation. Other answers are mystical nonsense. In neither of these do we see something that resembles how the church functions in the New Testament.[vi]

What the church does can be characterized as assembling and dispersing, gathering and going, worship and witness. What the church does, based on biblical faith and practice, includes: preaching/teaching the word of God, administering the ordinances, evangelizing the lost, aiding the poor (including widows and orphans), encouraging the weak, exhorting the doubters, and in general exercising the gifts of the Spirit for the edification of the assembly. These things are seen in the function of the New Testament churches, doing what they are commanded to do, and functioning based on what they are.[vii]

Final thoughts.

If we do not know what a church is, we also will not know what a church is supposed to do. It becomes anything, everything, and nothing. Often we end up with “Frankenchurch,” a monster assembled by quack doctors using various unharmonious bits and pieces. It may transform into something similar to what was described in a recent Facebook post:

“A lot of churches today are cemeteries with air conditioning; the worship teams are entertainers; the pastors avoid truth; and the congregation sleepwalks through the motions; and people call that faithfulness. No, it is spiritual death dressed in Sunday’s best.”[viii]

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[i] Ontological, adjective. Of or relating to ontology, the study of the nature or essence of existence or being as such.
[ii] Functional, adjective. Of or connected to design or specific use; serving the purpose for which a thing is designed.
[iii] In prospect, it may be viewed as a general assembly of all firstborn, gathered together in Christ, in eternity. Cf.  Hebrew 12:22-23; Revelation 21:1-14. In the present, the church is a covenanted congregation of baptized believers.
[iv] This position is often called “regenerate church membership.”
[v] As seen in the Bible in what they are commanded to do (e.g. Matthew 28:18-20), and in what they are represented as doing. Cf., for example, Matthew 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-47; Acts 8:1; Acts 12:5, 12; Acts 13:1ff.; Acts 14:27; Acts 20:27-28; 1 Corinthians 5:3-5; 1 Corinthians 11:7-34; 1 Corinthians 12:4; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 9:1-7; Colossians 3:16; 1 Thessalonians 4:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:18; 2 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Timothy 3:1-15; 1 Peter 5:1-4, 14; 1 John 1:3; 3 John 1:5-8.
[vi] Which is our rule of faith and practice.
[vii] Both the nature of the church and the sufficiency of Scripture for all matters of faith and practice insist that our congregational gatherings be restricted to those elements that Scripture requires – praying, thanksgiving, praising, singing, Scripture reading, preaching/teaching, giving, observing the ordinances, ordination and sending, testimonies, greetings, reporting the Lord’s work, decision-making, and church discipline. Any element must be understood from a command, approved example, or necessary implication of Scripture.
[viii] This was posted (in a video) on Facebook by a man who goes by the name “Topher.”