How Do I Find the Lord’s Church?
The challenge we have in living thousands of years since the Lord and His apostles were here is
practicing Christianity the way they did. One thing they taught that is foreign to us is that the Lord has only
one church (“one body,” Eph. 4:4). This seems impossible to us since we were born into a world of
division, with a different kind of church on every corner. Nevertheless, “from the beginning it was not so”!
Jesus said He would build His church (Matt. 16:18), and accomplished as much in Jerusalem by the fiftieth
day after His crucifixion. This is recorded in Acts 2. The chapter ends with the realization that “the Lord
added to the church daily those who were being saved” (v. 47). The rest of the New Testament explains in
detail how that church was organized and in what ways it functioned.
As the gospel spread throughout the world (Acts 8:5), people in other parts of the world were also
saved and added to the Lord’s church. They didn’t return to Jerusalem to be members of that congregation.
Instead, they gathered with other Christians in their area to form a local church that was patterned after the
Lord’s will (11:19-26). Thus, a distinction is seen in the term church in the New Testament. At times it
refers to the one body of Christ, but at other times it refers to a specific location of saints (Rom. 16:16; 1
Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:1). The challenge we have is in understanding they were arranged and instructed after the
same pattern (Col. 4:16). They were all members of the Lord’s church, but were gathered in various
locations; and were instructed to follow the same teachings (1 Cor. 1:10; 4:17).
Lord willing, I will use my next several newspaper articles to examine the New Testament church,
to help us in our faith (2 Cor. 13:5). They will be available at beaverdamchurch.com. –Mike Thomas
Radio Program on Sundays at 10:15 a.m. on 99.9 F.M.
Beaver Dam Church of Christ
www.beaverdamchurch.com