The church was Jesus’ idea; he is her founder.  Jesus said he would build it.  He bought it with his own blood and promised that it will transcend time. The apostles proclaimed Jesus as Lord and Messiah and people received the message and were baptized into Christ, then they were added to the number of followers.  This is how the church began in the first century.  Two months after the death of Jesus, the church was established.  The church is the gathering of those who profess faith in Jesus. 

You and I face challenges in every area of our lives.  As long as you live, you will have to battle against things in order to accomplish your goals.  You will come against obstacles, barriers on your way to accomplishing your goals.  In the Christian race you are running, you will be challenged to quit.  Growing in Christ is no walk in the park, it requires determination and hard work.  The church of Christ will face a great many challenges in her attempts to fulfill Christ’s mission.

Our church is going through the election of elders and ministry leaders.  Which get appointed every three years.  In most evangelical churches today, you hear the word elders to refer to the leadership of the church. It’s clear to me that there are still people who don’t understand the role or function of elders.  We made a pamphlet to guide you and remind you of the biblical qualifications for elders.  The Bible also tells us what they did, and we will be looking at a passage in which there are three words to help us understand the biblical functions of elders.

The church was Jesus’ idea; he is her founder.  Jesus said he would build it.  He bought it by his own blood and promised that it will transcend time.  Last week we talked about how the church began at the preaching of the apostles in Jerusalem.  The proclaimed Jesus as Lord and Messiah and people accepted this message and were baptized into Christ, then they were added to the number of followers.  The church is the gathering of those who profess faith in Jesus.  Christ’s church is made up of local congregations throughout the world.  Have you ever wondered what it means to be member of Christ’s church?

You can be very religious and not know what or who you worship. There are lots of people in our world today who worship something or someone, but they don’t quite know the object of their worship. Then you have people whose gods are made up, they want their gods to conform to their desires. Their gods need to fit in their preconceived notions for them to believe in them. You may have a form of religion and even practice it, but still not know God.

Sometimes, you hear people label churches as contemporary, traditional, purpose-driven; seeker sensitive; fellowship or service driven, charismatic and so forth. People label churches based on what they see happening in those communities. All these labels don’t matter for a church if the community is not centered on Jesus. If you’d like to know what a Christ-centered church looks like, just take a look at the Antioch church in the first century.