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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE CHURCH

Thomas Nelson

Contents

Introduction to the What You Need to Know Series.......................................................................vHow To Teach This Book.................................................................................................viiChapter 1: What Is the Church?.........................................................................................1Chapter 2: What Does the Church Believe?...............................................................................22Chapter 3: What Should the Character of the Church Be?.................................................................40Chapter 4: What Is the Church Supposed to Do? Part One—Worship...................................................53Chapter 5: What Is the Church Supposed to Do? Part Two—Instruction, Fellowship, and Ministry.....................67Chapter 6: Who Can Lead the Church?....................................................................................79Chapter 7: What Are the Marks of Spiritual Maturity in Church Leaders?.................................................89Chapter 8: What Are the Ordinances of the Church?......................................................................111Chapter 10: Who Needs the Church?......................................................................................136Against the World?.....................................................................................................148Bibliography...........................................................................................................176Master Review..........................................................................................................177About the Author.......................................................................................................184

Chapter One

I was born in the little village of Inwood, Indiana. It is about a half hour south of the golden dome of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, but you'll be lucky if you find it on a map. There were only about thirty homes, sheltering perhaps one hundred people, with a gas station, a small grocery store, a post office, a grain elevator, an elementary school, and one church. We lived just a block from the church, which was a large, stone-block building with stained-glass windows, solid mahogany pews and altar, and many friendly people, all of whom lived within walking distance or a short drive from the church. Sunday school began at 9:00 A.M., and at 8:55 A.M. a bell in the steeple began ringing, calling all the townspeople. Our family emerged from our house like little ducks headed toward the pond, and a few minutes later, we were in our place in church.

My earliest memories of church were warm and comforting. My family was there—not just immediate family, but aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmother. I remember all these and other people singing songs that everyone knew by heart, and before long, even I knew some of them. Occasionally the hymns would have an echo as part of the song. Sopranos, tenors, and basses would sing the stanza, and then the melody line would be echoed by the altos. Most of the altos were timid souls, but not my grandmother. Annabell Anders, matriarch of the Inwood Methodist Church, belted out the echo as though the songwriter had written it especially for her. Years later, after she had died, I was in the church again, and another alto sang the echo. I was offended! Who was this interloper singing my grandmother's part?

I attended church every Sunday until I was tall enough to look my mother in the eye. My three older sisters had left home by then, and my two older brothers had quit going, so I did, too. I didn't know why I quit. I was just going along with what everyone else seemed to be doing. Plus, my increasingly late Saturday nights made early Sunday mornings more and more difficult.

I became a Christian in college, then went away to seminary, got married, and entered the ministry. I have only been back a few times since then, but my memories of the big stone church are good ones.

Today, the church looks largely unchanged. They built it well. The stone blocks haven't aged. The stained-glass windows are as colorful as ever. The wooden pews are as beautiful and uncomfortable as ever. And friendly folk who have known each other for a lifetime still find their way into the pews each Sunday.

From my earliest days, if you were to ask me what the church is, a large, gray stone-block building would flash into my mind. That image would be followed by memories of red and blue light from the stained-glass windows falling across the hardwood floors, giving a soft glow to the interior. The rich wood tones of the pews, pulpit, and altar rail finish the timeless look of it all. That was the church, in my mind.

It came as a bit of a surprise to me when I learned many years later that, biblically speaking, that was not the church. The church was not a building. The church was people. We don't go to church. We are the church. In fact, there are Christian groups who don't call their building a church. They call the building a "meeting house." They call the people the church. In the truest sense, they are right.

It is difficult to get an accurate concept of and appreciation for the church. It is like many things in life. It is greater than it initially seems. I remember when I saw the Washington Monument for the first time. I took it for granted. It is a tall, thin, white stone pillar sticking way up above the rest of the city, the height of a fifty-story building. Building that memorial so that it wouldn't fall over in a stiff wind was a stunning achievement. If you have ever tried to stack children's blocks and had them fall over, you can imagine how difficult it would be to build the Washington Monument. Had I built it, it would be lying on its side now.

Or, in another example, take Mount Rushmore. Each of the presidential faces on that staggering monument is the size of a six-story building. Yet they really look like Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt. If you have ever had any trouble getting a sand castle to look the way you wanted, imagine the difficulty of blasting a granite mountain with dynamite and having it turn out to look like real people!

Finally, if you have ever had trouble closing your eyes and touching the first fingers of both hands out in front of you, imagine how difficult it was when the French and British dug a tunnel under the English Channel, each country starting from its own shore, and meeting in the middle under the water. Left to me, they would have passed each other in the rock and would still be digging a tunnel around the world, wondering where the other guy was.

Monumental human achievements such as these are easy to take for granted until we try to figure out how we would do them if they were our responsibility. Suddenly we realize what amazing feats they are.

The church, by comparison, is a tremendous divine achievement. It is also easy to take the church for granted, thinking less of it than we ought to because of our lack of understanding. The church is a big deal to God, and we must try to expand our understanding and appreciation of it until it is a big deal to us.

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