Why is There a Local Church - Part Two

Of all the names the New Testament uses for the local church, the one I like best is the family of God. When we are born again into the family of God, we become brothers and sisters in Christ, joined not by the bloodline of our parents, but by the shed blood of Christ. Then we begin functioning like a family - a spiritual family, We begin functioning in much the same way as our flesh and blood families functioned.

You can see this in Acts 2:44-47,

"Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."

That's Jesus building His church. And they loved each other. They took care of each other. They acted like family. And the local church made a stronger family for them than their own flesh and blood brothers and sisters, parents, or even children in some cases who often turned on them when they trusted Christ. When their flesh and blood families disowned them, their spiritual family took them in.

So as you can see, the church is a mystical, spiritual entity. It exists over space and time made up of spiritually regenerated people. But we can't see the universal church. We can't minister through the universal church. We can't fellowship with something that is ethereal. We need a place with real flesh and blood people.

That's why local churches have been in existence since the day of Pentecost as groups of believers banded together to form local congregations for mutual fellowship and encouragement. Wherever the apostles went, they would form local churches. Each city would have its own with its own leadership, and there would be numerous churches throughout a country or throughout a region. So the universal church has always existed as local churches. So we can think of the universal church as a concept, but we have to have a local church to be a part of. I trust you have made a commitment to join and serve through a local church.