The Congregation

Last updated on July 31, 2020

• • • Believers

    • Local

    • Worship

    • Ministry minded

    • Edification

It’s easy to get bogged down with definitions and often the subject material losses its intended purpose in the pursuit. The congregation is one example.  Biblically, it means a group of believers in the presence of God. Now days, a congregation tends to mean, “the Church (the one Christ left behind), in a local community (a physical location), where members (Christians), meet to cooperatively worship, learn, perform ministries and edify each other (take action)”.

Perhaps a better way to look at it is that a congregation is the Christians continuous action in a community.  In theory, a congregation being of the Church, would very much look like what the Church should like after Christ instituted it and it made the corrections given by the Apostles and honed the praise it was given.  Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.  Let’s look at what a congregation should do.

Fellowship, corporate worship, shepherd, edify, teaching, benevolence, discipleship, outreach

A congregation is involved in fellowship when it spends time getting to know other Christians.  Often the 30 seconds before service and the 3 to 5 minutes afterward are called fellowship but are really just token efforts.  You know when fellowship is happening because people are involved in small groups, special engagements, eating together and ministries.

In the Old Testament and in the early Church, corporate worship occurred only on special occasions.  It wasn’t a daily or weekly thing.  In the Old Testament, when corporate worship occurred, there was music, the reading of God’s word and animal sacrifices.

I have no idea when the weekly corporate worship actually came about.  Despite it not being a weekly event in the early Church doesn’t mean that it is not a good thing and falls into the realm of the great lateral berth Christ gives to make the Church effective.  Many times, a corporate service has turned into a ritualistic affair, which the Bible warns of.

There no longer any animal sacrifice as it has been removed from corporate worship, as Christ is the one and final sacrifice.  The church has made corporate worship look similar to the following; the singing of 3 or 4 songs, a greeting time, a communion and tithing time, the reading of the word, a sermon, and a decision time.  If time allows and if it doesn’t disrupt the flow of the service, some announcements may be given.  The order may change a little and perhaps an additional song may be tolerated, but largely, a congregation expects the same thing every week and to wrap up within an hour and a half.

The Church must shepherd its congregation.  This is a concerted effort to insure that all the congregation members are routinely contacted so that the Elders can know of any personal or spiritual problems that a member may have and an Elder(s) can then pray for them and ensure that the need is addressed.  Shepherding also helps to encourage members to be engaged in the congregational ministries and classes.

The Church is told to care for the widowed and orphaned.  HHH Things were a little different back in the first century.  Today, this has been expanded to include not just the widowed and orphaned but anyone who needs help.  A benevolence ministry should not only help financially when applicable, but also work to increase their wellbeing so that they may not need it in the future.  James 2:15-17, tells us to follow up our faith with deeds.

A congregation should disciple its members.  Though still a form of teaching, it concentrates on all things Jesus and His teachings.  It would be great if the whole Bible is learned (2 Timothy 3:16), but if you have seen Jesus, then you have seen the Father (John 14:9).  Everything revolves around Jesus.  Right now, we can’t physically be with Jesus the way the Disciples were, but we can know Jesus by studying His word, thus we can see Him and the Father.

All the above has to be in place for the real purpose of the Church to occur.  Outreach.  The Churches mandate, the Christians mandate, is to go into the world and disciples of men.

If the congregation doesn’t know the Word, if it doesn’t show love through fellowship, if it can’t edify its members and support them emotionally, physically and spiritually, and if they can’t live a Christ like life, how can they go and make disciples of men?

What good is it to go to a person and ask them to repent, and they reply what does that mean, and your reply is I don’t know?  If you are having personal problems and are sad, what can your demeanor add to sweeten the pot when you ask someone to convert?  Why would they want to be like you?  A congregation has to help itself before it can help others.

And finally, a congregation has to have ministry opportunities for its members to serve in.  When you serve, you use your gifts and talents with what you know of the Lord.  A congregation should have opportunities for everyone, et every Christian maternity level, to serve.

When a congregation is hitting on all cylinders, it is incredible.  God can really be seen doing miraculous things.  The inverse is appalling.  A lack-luster congregation seldom has anything to offer outside of “friendly” Sunday morning.

If you’re a new Christian or reestablishing yourself, I recommend that you don’t get involved in anything less than a vibrant congregation.  If you in anything less than an enthusiastic congregation, pray about it and then do what you can to invigorate it.  If it still remains passive, then you should also seek a new congregation to serve with.