What is a church? | Rapp Report Daily 0122 | Striving for Eternity

Welcome to The Rapid Bull, Daily Edition, where we provide a quick biblical interpretations and applications.

This is a ministry of striving for eternity. As we discuss what makes a good church, we have to understand that even the word church has changed over time.

If you look at the original word, the original word for church in the Greek Ekklesia was actually started in Ephesus to refer to the way they would gather together for political purposes to take a vote.

It meant the idea of a gathering together for purpose. That was the general term for it, was just a gathering.

But after Christ, it became a little bit more specific. It became more specific to refer to the gathering together of God's people for the purpose of worshiping

God. But even that, over time, became even more specific. Because as things came up, there became a separation between what was called the visible and the invisible church.

Or what's called the local and universal. Local or visible are those that gather together.

They're not all believers, but they gather at a local assembly for the purposes of worshiping

God. The invisible or universal church are all the believers everywhere in the world, and they're only referring to believers.

But then during the Puritans, they got a little bit more specific and said, you know, there's some things that define what a church is.

And there's three elements that they ended up holding to. The three were that they would have to have the

Bible proclaimed and preached from the pulpit. There would be practicing of the ordinances, that being baptism and the

Lord's Supper. And third, the practice of church discipline. In other words, taking the seriousness of the purity of the church.

There's more we could discuss, and you can get more information in my book, What Do They Believe? This podcast is part of the

Striving for Eternity ministry. For more content, or to request a speaker or seminar to your church, go to strivingforeternity .org.