The nature of the Church
Dr. Roberto Miranda
(Audio: Spanish)
SUMMARY: The church of Jesus Christ exists to worship and work for the glory of God, proclaim the Gospel, preserve the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, and make disciples. The church is a community of men and women who have been called to be saved by the blood of Jesus and exemplify the values of the Kingdom of God. As a worshiping community, the church exists to give glory and honor to the Lord. The church also has a responsibility to defend and preserve the revelation of God in the Scriptures, and to make disciples by instructing and preparing the saints for the service of the Gospel.
The church has multiple functions, including equipping the saints for ministry, transforming society, testifying to principalities and powers, modeling a redeemed humanity, and providing fellowship and support for believers. The church is not just a place to attend once a week, but a school, hospital, and training ground for effective witnesses of Jesus Christ. The church is called to change the structures of society and confront injustice, immorality, war, poverty, and disease. Christians must be involved in all areas of society and be agents of transformation. The church must model a redeemed humanity before the world, living in community and exemplifying the best values of the word of God. Finally, the church should provide fellowship and support for believers, creating a family-like environment where people love and support each other.
There are two models of the church: one focuses on being a holy, pure community and emphasizes doctrine, while the other is an evangelistic community that adapts to attract new members. The speaker subscribes to the second model and believes that the church should be flexible, contextualize the Gospel, and be accessible and transparent to attract new members. He cites Paul's example of adapting to different audiences to win as many people as possible to Jesus Christ. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of embodying the integrity of the Gospel and living a simple, easy, and accessible life to attract people to the Lord.
The church should be a community that reflects the complexity of the Gospel in all its facets. It should be zealous for the glory and holiness of God, active in its community, multigenerational, flexible to attract the unsaved, and have a pastoral heart with a long-term vision for people. The church should be a prophetic presence in the world, confronting evil and injustice, and moving with authority and realism. It should be a robust, heavy, strong, and real institution that incarnates in the world, dealing with history, time, space, institutions, laws, governments, and finances. The church must be a community of worship, holiness, evangelism, giving and generous service to God.
The church has multiple functions, including equipping the saints for ministry, transforming society, testifying to principalities and powers, modeling a redeemed humanity, and providing fellowship and support for believers. The church is not just a place to attend once a week, but a school, hospital, and training ground for effective witnesses of Jesus Christ. The church is called to change the structures of society and confront injustice, immorality, war, poverty, and disease. Christians must be involved in all areas of society and be agents of transformation. The church must model a redeemed humanity before the world, living in community and exemplifying the best values of the word of God. Finally, the church should provide fellowship and support for believers, creating a family-like environment where people love and support each other.
There are two models of the church: one focuses on being a holy, pure community and emphasizes doctrine, while the other is an evangelistic community that adapts to attract new members. The speaker subscribes to the second model and believes that the church should be flexible, contextualize the Gospel, and be accessible and transparent to attract new members. He cites Paul's example of adapting to different audiences to win as many people as possible to Jesus Christ. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of embodying the integrity of the Gospel and living a simple, easy, and accessible life to attract people to the Lord.
The church should be a community that reflects the complexity of the Gospel in all its facets. It should be zealous for the glory and holiness of God, active in its community, multigenerational, flexible to attract the unsaved, and have a pastoral heart with a long-term vision for people. The church should be a prophetic presence in the world, confronting evil and injustice, and moving with authority and realism. It should be a robust, heavy, strong, and real institution that incarnates in the world, dealing with history, time, space, institutions, laws, governments, and finances. The church must be a community of worship, holiness, evangelism, giving and generous service to God.
I remind you that we are taking time on these Sundays to meditate on aspects that define our Congregation, they are issues that help us understand the type of church we attend. Why do we believe what we believe? Why many times we are a church that has its complexities and that, as I said last Sunday, we unite and unite different elements that today are seen in different sectors of the body of Jesus Christ.
We believe that God has given his revelation through the centuries and even in our time to different segments of the church, the Pentecostal segment, the evangelical segment, and many other biblical Christian groups, and that we do well to learn a little from each of them. those segments of the church and unite them all in a spirituality that reflects those complexities of the church.
We believe that God has given his revelation through the centuries and even in our time to different segments of the church, the Pentecostal segment, the evangelical segment, and many other biblical Christian groups, and that we do well to learn a little from each of them. those segments of the church and unite them all in a spirituality that reflects those complexities of the church.
