God has clearly expressed his purpose for the Church in the Bible and these purposes are unchanging throughout the ages. God's purpose for the Church can be expressed in the following statements:
Made to Praise
Together to Grow
Created to Serve
Empowered to Declare
Made to Praise
1 Pet 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Together to Grow
Eph 4:16
From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Created to Serve
Eph 2:10
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Empowered to Declare
Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Church, therefore, should be a vibrant community that loves to express, in a variety of ways, our thankfulness and love to God. It should be a community that helps one another to live up to our full potential and bring the very best out of each other. It should be a community committed to sharing its life changing message with others in relevant ways and it should be a community that seeks to serve other people because they matter. |