Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. (Heb. 10:23-25)
As Christians we are to “consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some” (Heb. 10:24-25). Choosing a good Bible church is not simply for fellowship, but for prayer, worship, and above all, learning Scripture. We learn how to pray because the Bible teaches us. We learn good Christian fellowship because the Bible reveals what good Christian fellowship really is. We learn to worship because the Bible teaches us what genuine worship ought to be. The Bible alone provides the necessary information to live the Christian life, and if we close its pages, we know nothing. Even what we think about God comes from what He has revealed about Himself in Scripture. A good Bible church will place a priority on learning the Bible, because Scripture alone provides the necessary information that makes the other activities meaningful and proper. Without a biblical basis, the church is just another social club.
A person becomes a member of the body of Christ—the church—when he believes in Jesus for salvation (Gal. 3:26-28; Eph. 1:22-23). The church was not known in the OT but was revealed to the apostles in the New Testament (Eph. 3:1-12; 5:32; Col. 1:25-27). The local church was identified geographically (1 Cor. 1:2; Col. 1:2; Rev. 2-3), and local churches met in people’s homes.
The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house. (1 Cor. 16:19)
Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church that is in her house. (Col. 4:15-16)
Biblically the church is ALWAYS an assembly of believers and NEVER a building! Too often we say “we’re going to church” as though the church is located down the street. A more correct way would be to say “the church meets” at such and such a location. You can change the location, but the church, as the body of Christ, always consists of Christians who assemble for worship.
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42)
Biblically, the church’s emphasis should always be on: 1) learning Scripture, 2) having quality fellowship, 3) partaking of the Lord’s Supper, and 4) praying together. Certainly there can be other activities, but these four should be present and prioritized in every church. Scripture never puts an emphasis on the quantity of members or the attractiveness of the facilities. Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy a clean facility and I am not against numbers, I just don’t measure a church by those things. Mormons have large congregations that meet in beautiful facilities; yet they’re spiritually dead because they’ve trusted in a false savior, having been led astray by a false prophet named Joseph Smith (Gal. 1:8-9).
It is a real blessing to get into a Bible church where the pastor teaches Scripture verse by verse, paying attention to the original languages of Hebrew and Greek when necessary, explaining the history and culture behind the text, and always giving the plain sense of the passage as the author intended it for his original audience. A good pastor will bridge the language and historical gap, communicating the text in freshness with conviction. Some characteristics of a good Bible church include:
- Expositional Bible teaching (Eph. 4:11-16).
- Love for one another (1 Thess. 3:11-12; 4:9; 1 Pet. 4:8; 1 Jo. 3:11, 23; 4:7, 11).
- Willingness to meet the needs of others (Phil. 2:3-4).
- Encouraging one another (1 Thess. 5:11).
- Edifying one another (Rom. 15:1-2; Eph. 4:29).
- Serving one another (Gal. 5:13).
- Being kind and forgiving one another (Eph. 4:32).
There are no perfect churches but there are mature ones in which mature believers place an emphasis on learning Scripture, showing love and grace, and striving to glorify God in all they do. The growing church looks upward to God in faith, outward to others with the gospel, and inward to Christians with love (Col. 3:1-16). The joy of good Christian fellowship is rewarding in so many ways as the growing believer benefits from, and adds to the spiritual prosperity of a church.
This article is an excerpt from The Christian Life, pages 121-124.
Also, read my article, The Church – Then and Now.
Steven R. Cook, D.Min.
Amen! The church is the body of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is made up of those followers that trusted Him by believing all that He has said in the holy scriptures. The church is not an organization, it is a living organism growing and maturing in its Lord as He is the head of his body. John 1:17 tells us that Jesus is grace and truth working perfectly together in and through him and his church. That is a wonderful and mysterious miracle that only takes place when the church is in active submission to his Lordship!
What if the pastor teaches Reformed Theology and lordship salvation? Teaching that we are under the.law which he says started in Gen 3, and gives Gal 4: 4-7 as why we are under law. He gets the basics wrong although he does express the Gospel at times. The man graduated from Seminary (Covenant Theological Seminary). It seems all I do Sunday is discernment and then correcting afterwards my teens. I have brought it all to the Lord.
Thank you for your question. It can be discouraging to sit under teaching that repeatedly misrepresents key doctrines, especially when it blends the gospel with distortions about the believer’s relationship to the Law. When a pastor claims we are “under the Law” from Genesis 3 onward and uses Galatians 4:4-7 to support that, he is missing Paul’s point—that Christ came to redeem those under the Mosaic Law and to bring all who believe into the full rights of sonship, free from bondage to the Law as a rule of life (Rom 6:14; Gal 5:1). The Law was given through Moses, not Adam (John 1:17), and while it reveals God’s holiness and exposes sin (Rom 3:20), it was never designed as the believer’s means of sanctification. The Christian life is lived in the power of the Spirit, under the Law of Christ, not the Law of Moses (Gal 6:2). If your Sundays are spent filtering truth from error and guiding your teens through what is biblical and what is not, you are doing exactly what a faithful parent should do—protecting them from confusion and pointing them to sound doctrine (2 Tim 4:2-5). Bringing it before the Lord is essential, because He can guide you in knowing when to endure, when to speak up, and when it may be wise to seek teaching that consistently aligns with Scripture. Your vigilance is not wasted—it’s shaping your teens to be Bereans, testing everything by God’s Word (Acts 17:11).