The True Church?
What are the identifying marks of Jesus’ true followers? What are the indicators that a group of people are within God’s kingdom? What are the imperative characteristics of Christ’s church? Unfortunately, an all-to-common approach toward answering these questions involves proof-texting inferences from Bible verses to prove one’s position.
Instead of trying to show ourselves right and others wrong, perhaps we need to take a more honest look at what Jesus calls us to be as his people. Instead of gathering inferences, why not simply look to the explicit statements within the New Testament that describe the nature of Jesus’ genuine followers?
When we see a group of Jesus-followers gathering as a church in a community, what should we see?
A Bible-believing church.Those who are truly following Jesus place a premium upon being guided by his words. Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” (John 8:31).
A loving church. We don’t have to infer regarding what Jesus has said explicitly: “By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).
A church of people in living connection with Jesus.More than religious practices and attending meetings, Jesus’ true followers show evidence (“fruit”) of a living and personal connection with him. Speaking of the relational connection between him and his followers, Jesus said, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:8).
A church that demonstrates profound grace to others. If you find yourself in a church that does not believe in and practice grace, then you are a part of a church that has fallen from grace into a false gospel (Gal. 1:6, 5:4). The gospel’s message of grace is the foundation of the church, so if the church regularly fails to demonstrate love and grace to others, it has missed everything—no matter the validity of its other practices.
A church that is led by the Spirit. Instead of a fearful focus on following the letter of the law, Jesus’ followers pursue the spirit of the law (2 Cor. 3:6), by following the leading of the Spirit, “…we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code” (Rom. 7:6; cf. Rom. 8:14).
A church that makes every effort to prioritize unity.Unfortunately, some churches (and individuals) make every effort to find reasons to isolate themselves from others. Conversely, the Scripture directs us, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3). God’s true children are peacemakers not wall-builders (Matt. 5:9).
A church that respects and values all people regardless of social standing, ethnicity or gender.Churches and individuals that justify prejudice are a blight on Christianity. The church is a gathering of diverse people all baptized into one gathering: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).
A church that models compassion and ministry to the poor and marginalized.When Paul was planting churches, the church leaders in Jerusalem only had one directive: “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor” (Gal. 2:10). Helping the marginalized of society (along with righteous living) is the single greatest indicator of pure religion (Jas. 1:27).
A church that endures attack with gentleness and respect. Throughout history, culture has slandered Christians. When we suffer for doing good, Jesus’ true followers will continue doing good with a calm and respectful demeanor (2 Pet. 3:15-17).
The right church is not really about a specific sign in the front of a building; it’s about a people who are truly following the Savior. The church is a gathering of individual Jesus-followers, and is no better than the sum of its parts. We should each examine ourselves and our contribution to the gathering of believers and ask, “Are we the right church?” As Paula Harrington observed, “If you want to know if a group of people are Christians and a part of the right church, watch how they love the unlovable, the broken, the poor, the oppressed, and the lonely. See how they welcome the messed up and beat down. Watch how they listen to and honor those who have different stories. Observe whether they love their enemies. And then go ask the poor, lonely, oppressed, and downtrodden in their communities how well they’re loved by the right church.”
