The Church, its meaning, its organisation, its discipline

What does the word “Church” mean? And how should a local Christian community live, be led and protect itself? These are the questions of ecclesiology.

The meaning of the word

“Church” translates the Greek ekklesia, formed from ek, “out of”, and kaleô, “to call”. In its general sense, the word refers to an assembly. Its Hebrew equivalent is qahal, the assembly of Israel.

Today the word can refer to three realities:

• the building where people meet;
• the universal Church, all the Christians of the world;
• the local Church, a community gathered in one place.

The meaning varies between traditions. A Catholic will think first of the universal Church, linked to the bishops. Many Protestants will think first of the local community. It is the local community that this lesson is about.

The purpose of the local Church

The calling of a local Church can be summed up in six words:

• Worship: a place to worship God (Psalm 117), through prayer, song, conduct and seeking God.
• Fellowship: a true brotherhood, where people ask after one another, encourage one another and visit one another. The first Christians “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).
• Teaching: balanced teaching, faithful to Christ and in dialogue with the knowledge of our time (Matthew 11:1).
• Sharing: proclaiming the good news (Mark 16:15), with respect for each person’s freedom, for God forces no one.
• Holiness: seeking to become like Christ, despite our imperfections (Leviticus 20:26).
• Participation: everyone exercises their gifts in the service of God and of others (Romans 12:4-8).

If one of these dimensions is missing, the Christian life becomes unbalanced. You can pray alone at home, but fellowship requires meeting together.

Leaders

The New Testament shows organised Churches. Paul and Barnabas appoint elders in every Church (Acts 14:23). The Greek verb used, cheirotoneô, originally means “to raise the hand”, as in a vote. Paul asks Titus to appoint elders in Crete (Titus 1:5). The Church in Philippi has overseers and deacons (Philippians 1:1).

Elders or overseers. The Greek word episkopos means “overseer”, the one who watches over. It is used as a synonym of presbyteros, “elder” (Acts 20:17, 28; Titus 1:5-7). According to H. L. Willmington, the first word refers rather to the function and the second to maturity. 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 give their qualities: above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, hospitable, able to teach, neither violent nor quarrelsome, not greedy for gain, managing his household well, not a recent convert, well thought of by outsiders. Their role is to pray, to study and preach the Word, to warn, to exhort, to keep watch over themselves and over the flock, and to be examples (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2-3).

The position of this course is that this office is entrusted to men, and that the expression “the husband of one wife” excludes polygamy and divorce. Both points are debated among Christians. Other Churches understand these texts as describing the situation of the time, or as concerning marital faithfulness rather than marital status, and open this office to women or to divorced people.

Deacons. The word diakonos means “servant”. The Bible does not specify all their functions. This office seems to have arisen to meet the needs of a fast-growing Church (Acts 6:1-7). Women can be deaconesses, like Phoebe (Romans 16:1). A deacon is expected to have a servant’s heart, zeal, a good testimony, to be, like the seven of Acts 6:3, “full of the Spirit and of wisdom”, and to work in conjunction with the leaders.

Pastors. The word poimên means “shepherd” (Ephesians 4:11). The shepherd keeps the flock; this is the role entrusted to the elders (1 Peter 5:1-2). The pastor is therefore first of all an elder. The pastoral office as we know it developed over time. Today the pastor is often expected to do everything, including administration and maintenance work. But his primary role is to care for the spiritual life of the members. Caring for one another, for example visiting the sick, is everyone’s business.

Discipline in the Church

God is a God of order, and the Church must be orderly too. The Bible warns against those who cause divisions (Romans 16:17-18), those who live in disorder (2 Thessalonians 3:6, 11), those who deny the central truths of the faith (Titus 3:10; 2 John 10) and those who live in immorality (1 Corinthians 5:1-5).

The process follows steps (Matthew 18:15-17):

1. warn the person one to one;
2. if nothing changes, go back with one or two witnesses;
3. then bring the matter before the Church;
4. in the event of a persistent refusal to repent, exclude them from fellowship (1 Corinthians 5:5).

The attitude matters as much as the procedure: acting “in a spirit of gentleness” (Galatians 6:1), treating the person as a brother and not as an enemy (2 Thessalonians 3:15), with sorrow and without mockery, and being ready to forgive (2 Corinthians 2:7).

The aim is to preserve the Church’s witness before the world (Matthew 5:13-16), to prevent evil from spreading (1 Corinthians 5:6-7) and to help the guilty person to find fellowship with God again (2 Corinthians 2:6-8).

Two often misunderstood texts

The wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43). Some conclude from it that we should never seek to keep the Church pure. But Jesus explains that “the field is the world” (v. 38). As D. A. Carson points out, the parable speaks of the mixing of believers and unbelievers in the world until the judgement, not of discipline in the Church.

“Judge not” (Matthew 7:1-5). This text condemns hypocritical judgement. It does not forbid discernment: a few verses later, Jesus asks us to recognise false prophets by their fruit (Matthew 7:15-16). Paul entrusts the Church with judging those who are inside it (1 Corinthians 5:12-13). This discernment is exercised within the proper framework, with respect for the established leaders and in unity, for “every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste” (Luke 11:17).