Missional Ecclesiology series: Click | View Series

Dr. Gregg Allison is teaching a course on Missional Ecclesiology at the Resurgence Training Center this fall. Find out more at ReTrain.org.

Church Structure

As structured by its divine head, Jesus Christ, the church is directed by specific human leaders in two offices—the eldership and the deaconate. Elders (or pastors), qualified men who meet the requirements for their office (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9), have the responsibility to do the following things:

• Teach (1 Tim. 3:2; 5:17; Titus 1:7)
• Lead (1 Tim. 3:5; 5:17; 1 Thess. 5:12)
• Pray (James 5:13-15)
• Shepherd the church (1 Pet. 5:2-3; Eph. 4:11; Heb. 13:13, 17; Acts 20:28-31)

Deacons, qualified men and women who meet the requirements for their office (1 Tim. 3:8-13), serve Jesus Christ through involvement in all the ministries of the church other than those for which the elders are responsible. Church governments are structured according to various historic (episcopalian, presbyterian, congregational) and contemporary (e.g., multi-site) models.

Baptism

Jesus Christ gave two ordinances to his church, seals of the new covenant relationship he enjoys with his people and tangible, powerful symbols of spiritual realities. Baptism, or the immersion in water of new believers following their credible profession of faith in the gospel, is the sign of entrance into the new covenant relationship with God and into the covenant community, the church (Acts 2:38-47). It vividly portrays:

• association with the triune God (Matt. 28:19)
• identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:3-5; Gal. 3:26-28)
• forgiveness and cleansing from sin (Acts 2:38; 26:16)
• escape from divine judgment (1 Pet. 3:20-21)

The Lord’s Supper

The Lord’s Supper, instituted by Jesus Christ at his last supper with his disciples (Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-23), is the sign of the ongoing new covenant relationship with God and the covenant community, the church. It is celebrated by the church when it gathers together through the breaking of bread and the drinking of a cup of wine (or grape juice) as the elements are distributed to its members. It vividly portrays the broken body and shed blood of Christ and thus:

• proclaims the Lord’s death (1 Cor. 11:26)
• effects participation with his body and blood (1 Cor. 10:16)
• fosters the unity of the church (1 Cor. 10:17)
• expresses the church’s hope that one day it will celebrate the Supper in the presence of the Lord (Matt. 26:29; Mark 14:25; Luke 22:16, 18; 1 Cor. 11:26)

The Expansion of the Missional Church

As the church described above is faithful and obedient to its missional identity, it is expansive, contextually sensitive, and (potentially) catholic or universal. The expansion of the missional church extends from its beginning in Jerusalem to church planting endeavors around the globe today.

As this centrifugal movement propels the church into different cultures, a contextually sensitive adaptation of the gospel and the church is demanded. The church indiscriminately preaches the gospel and, when people respond to its message, it expands into all lands. Certainly, the divine goal for the church in terms of extension is that one day it will exist among all people groups throughout the entire world (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Rev. 5:9). The missional church yearns for complete universality, so it presses on to enter into every corner of the humanly populated world.

Check out some of Dr. Allison’s books:

• Getting Deep: Understand What You Believe About God and Why
• Jesusology: Understand What You Believe About Jesus and Why
• A Theology for Christian Education

He also has two new books coming out in 2010: one on the doctrine of the church and the other a historical theology which will be the companion to Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology.

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Missional Ecclesiology series: Click | View Series

Dr. Gregg Allison is teaching a course on Missional Ecclesiology at the Resurgence Training Center this fall. Find out more at ReTrain.org.

From the seven essential characteristics of the church (discussed in Part 1 and Part 2) flow the ministries of the church: The church worships the triune God; proclaims the Word of God; engages non-Christians; disciples its members; cares for people through prayer, giving, support of its pastors, and assistance for its members; and stands both for and against the world.

The Church Advancing

As it engages in these ministries, the church moves forward “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). This movement is away from immaturity—“children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Eph. 4:14)—and toward maturity—“we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Eph. 4:15).

Divine and Human Work

Furthermore, this movement must be born of divine grace and assisted each step of the way by divine grace, but it also demands intense effort from each and every member of the church. So Christ, “from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Eph. 4:15-16).

This dynamic of the divine and human dimensions working together—Christ doing his part, which only he can do, in ways appropriate to his divine agency; Christians doing their parts, which only they can do, in ways appropriate to their human agency—will bring about the growth of the church. Specifically, the church works toward its own growth through the exercise of spiritual gifts, the pursuit of purity, the maintaining of unity, and church discipline.

To be continued.

Check out some of Dr. Allison’s books:

• Getting Deep: Understand What You Believe About God and Why
• Jesusology: Understand What You Believe About Jesus and Why
• A Theology for Christian Education

He also has two new books coming out in 2010: one on the doctrine of the church and the other a historical theology which will be the companion to Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology.

Rain City Hymnal

The first offering from Re:Sound is the Rain City Hymnal. Listen online and get the record from the Re:Sound website. Find out more.

Missional Ecclesiology series: Click | View Series

Dr. Gregg Allison is teaching a course on Missional Ecclesiology at the Resurgence Training Center this fall. Find out more at ReTrain.org.

As we saw in the last post, the first three attributes of the church—doxological, logocentric, and pneumadynamic—reflect the Trinity (God/Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). The other four essential attributes concern the gatheredness and sendedness of the church:

4. Covenantal: Relationship with God and Others

The church is covenantal, or gathered as members in new covenant relationship with God and in covenant relationship with each other. As for the first covenantal aspect, the new covenant:

1. is a unilateral agreement, established by God and God alone
2. creates a structured relationship between him and his covenant partners, Christ-followers “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9)
3. features binding obligations on the part of both God and his covenant partners (e.g., 2 Cor. 6:16-18; Matt. 22:37-40; 28:19-20; Gal. 6:2)
4. is sealed by two covenantal signs, baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

As for the second covenantal aspect, the new covenant places church members into relationship with one another (Eph. 4:17-5:14). This aspect may be best expressed by means of a church covenant, an agreement that binds those who affirm it to life together in the church.

5. Confessional: United by Common Faith

The church is confessional, or united by both personal confession of faith in Christ and common confession of the historic Christian faith. All church members must have a credible profession of faith in Christ as they have heard about his person and work through the gospel (Rom. 10:8-13). This aspect is the act of faith that leads to salvation.

Additionally, the church as a corporate assembly regularly makes a common confession of the Christian faith (e.g., 1 Tim. 3:15-16), professing together the sound doctrine that unites the church (Eph. 4:4-6) and brings it to maturity while keeping it from going adrift (Eph. 4:13-15). This aspect is the content of the Christian faith that marks the church throughout the ages.

6. Missional: Divinely Called and Sent

As discussed above, the church is missional, or identified as the body of divinely-called and divinely-sent ministers to proclaim the gospel and advance the kingdom of God.

7. Historical Reality, Future Hope

The church is spatio-temporal-eschatological (here and not-here, or already but not yet), or assembled as a historical reality (located in space and time) and possessing a certain hope and clear destiny (eschatology) while it lives the strangeness of its existence in the here-and-now. Christians meet together to worship God “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24) in local churches that, while they may be anywhere (that is, the location is not the issue; John 4:20-21), they are always somewhere also. This spatial characteristic means that the church takes up physical space—often a building—and prompts reflection on an important question: Does this physical space advance or obstruct what the church is seeking to be and do?

Legacy

The temporal element means that a church has a heritage that goes before the current manifestation of gathered people, and this legacy exerts a powerful influence for either good or bad on the current expression of the church. Additionally, if the Lord wills, the church will have a future that goes beyond the current manifestation of gathered people, and this hope prompts reflection on what kind of reputation this current expression of the church will bequeath to its next iteration.

Sojourners

Beyond its being “here,” the church is also “not here,” in that what the church experiences now is only a foretaste, a down payment, of a promise of yet more to come. The church lives in a “boundary epoch” between the two advents of Jesus Christ, so it is composed of strangers and aliens (1 Pet. 1:11), sojourners who are in the world and for the world, but not of the world. The eschatological church awaits a greater reality (Rev. 21-22).

These final four attributes—covenantal, confessional, missional, and spatio-temporal-eschatological—concern the gatheredness and sendedness of the church.

To be continued.

Check out some of Dr. Allison’s books:

• Getting Deep: Understand What You Believe About God and Why
• Jesusology: Understand What You Believe About Jesus and Why
• A Theology for Christian Education

He also has two new books coming out in 2010: one on the doctrine of the church and the other a historical theology which will be the companion to Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology.

Religion Saves

Check out Pastor Mark Driscoll's newest book: Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions. Find out more.

Missional Ecclesiology series: Click | View Series

Dr. Gregg Allison is teaching a course on Missional Ecclesiology at the Resurgence Training Center this fall. Find out more at ReTrain.org.

The Missional Church

“Missional Ecclesiology” takes its cue from Jesus’ words to his disciples: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21). By this pronouncement, Jesus commissioned and launched the missional church as the community of divinely-called and divinely-sent ministers to proclaim the gospel and advance the kingdom of God.

The Father sent the Son, and the Son willingly and obediently came, that the world would be saved through him. Jesus accomplished salvation through his sinless and holy life, three-year Spirit-empowered ministry, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension. As the Son was commissioned by the Father with this mission, so the Son commissioned his disciples with that mission. The church announces the salvation accomplished by the Son through its proclamation of the gospel while working and praying for the advancement of God’s kingdom. This is the missional church.

Of course, the identity of the church is not limited to this missional attribute. Six other essential characteristics constitute the church. The first three are reflective of the Trinity:

1. Doxological: Oriented to the Glory of God

The church is doxological, or oriented to the glory of God. Like everything else that God has created—the heavens and the earth (Ps. 19:1; 108:5), the angelic realm (Ps. 29:1-2), and human beings as the divine image-bearers (Ps. 8:5), the church is characterized by an orientation to give God glory (Eph. 3:21).

Specifically, the church is to be orthodoxological, or oriented to the proper (Gr. ortho) glory (Gr. doxa) of God. Implied in this imperative is the possibility for the church to engage in false glory giving, or idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14; 1 John 5:20-21; 2 Cor. 11:1-4). Manifestations of the church’s false gods include money, power, societal approbation, its pastor or its programs, political persuasion, size, and the like. The church must avoid such idolatry and be oriented to the proper glory of God.

2. Logocentric: Focused on the Word

The church is logocentric, or focused on the logos, the Word, understood in two senses to refer to Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God, and Scripture, the inspired Word of God. As for the first sense, the eternal Word of God, the second person of the Trinity, took on the fullness of human nature and became the incarnate God-man, Jesus Christ (John 1:1, 14). He promised, “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18), and he is its cornerstone (Eph. 2:20) and its head (Eph. 1:20-23). The church is centered on this incarnate Word of God.

In the second sense of logos, the church is Word-centered in that it focuses on Scripture, the inspired Word of God. This inspired, sufficient, necessary, truthful (inerrant), clear, authoritative, and productive Word announces salvation (2 Thess. 2:13-14), brings new birth (1 Pet. 1:23), ignites faith (Rom. 10:13-17), presents sound doctrine and equips the church for good works (2 Tim. 3:16-17) and, while providing cohesion and nourishment for the church, also destabilizes it by confronting its many sins. The church is centered on this inspired Word of God.

3. Pneumadynamic: Empowered by the Spirit

The church is pneumadynamic, or created, gathered, gifted, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. He inaugurated the first church on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-5), and this church in Jerusalem multiplied and expanded through the evangelistic centrifugal movement orchestrated by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). In these churches, the Spirit distributes spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:11) for “the common good” (1 Cor. 12:7), while also being the creator and sustainer of unity (Eph. 4:3) by supplying genuine love among church members (Rom. 15:30; Col 1:8) and fostering an atmosphere of righteousness, peace, and joy (Rom. 14:17). Certain members are installed as leaders in the church by the appointment of the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:28; 13:2-3). Thus, the church is Spirit-activated.

These first three attributes of the church—doxological, logocentric, and pneumadynamic—are reflective of the Trinity (God/Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).

To be continued.

Check out some of Dr. Allison’s books:

• Getting Deep: Understand What You Believe About God and Why
• Jesusology: Understand What You Believe About Jesus and Why
• A Theology for Christian Education

He also has two new books coming out in 2010: one on the doctrine of the church and the other a historical theology which will be the companion to Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology.

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