December 15, 2004, Vol.3, No.24.

The Local Church

Keith Sharp

The divine organization of the church, the local congregation, is under attack from all sides. Many corrupt it by attaching human institutions to it, adding human offices to the offices of divine appointment, and changing the work of those offices God ordained. Others fail to put the divine pattern into place in the local church. Some deny its very existence.

We need to understand what the local congregation, as revealed in the New Testament, is. What are the scriptural characteristics of a local church of Christ?

When Saul of Tarsus came to Jerusalem, "he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple." (Acts 9:26) Barnabas had to prove to the other disciples that Saul was faithful; then he was accepted as one of them (Acts 9:27-28). Each local band of disciples determines their own fellowship. The sole basis upon which they may accept or reject one who seeks to join is by determining if that one is a faithful disciple or not. Thus, a local church is a group of disciples who agree to have fellowship with each other.

A local church is a group of disciples in a given locality (1 Corinthians 1:2). But how local? When Paul sent greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, he also greeted "the church ... in their house." (Romans 16:3-5) The church assembled in their house. A congregation is local enough that its members come together to worship.

The church at Corinth came "together as a church" to worship.

Paul distinguished between the work of the local church as a collective whole and the individual work of its members (1 Timothy 5:16). The church primarily does its collective work by the use of funds contributed by its members each first day of the week (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). The local congregation is a band of disciples who function collectively.

A mature church is composed of bishops, deacons, and saints (Philippians 1:1). Bishops are also called "elders" or "pastors." (Acts 20:17,28) Each congregation is to strive to develop and appoint a plurality of qualified men to this office (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5). They rule the local church within the confines of God's word and care for the members spiritually (1 Peter 5:1-4). The deacons ("servants") serve the church (cf. Acts 6:1-6). The church also has fellowship with evangelists by supporting them in their work of preaching (Philippians 4:15-16). Thus, each local church is to seek to be scripturally organized.

The elders of each local church oversee the congregation where they are members (1 Peter 5:1-2). No part of the work of the local church is to be under the oversight of elders of another congregation or the directors of a human organization. Each local church is independent and autonomous (self-governing).

The local congregation as revealed in the New Testament is a group of Christians in a given locality who agree to worship together regularly and to do the Lord's work collectively as an organized body independent of any other organization. This is the only organization God has given His church. This pattern is to the glory of God (Ephesians 3:10,20-21), and we dare not violate it (2 John 9).