New Testament Church

Tom Neely

There is a great need today for a study of churches. Most Christians know that there is something wrong today with the churches, but yet it seems that very few can put their finger on the problem, and still fewer can find the solution. I know of some that seem to know what is wrong with the organized system, but have not found the right way for a church to function.
Since God has no other plan or program for the world than the true churches, it behooves us to find out what a true church is, and how it functions.

To begin with, we must decide whether or not we accept the Bible as our only and sufficient guide in this matter. It makes a lot of difference whether you start with that premise, because if you do not, then of course you can add and plan and prepare programs and do many things, to amplify what God is doing in the world. But if the Holy Spirit shows you that the New Testament is a sufficient guide for rightly conducting a church, and that anything not found there is too much, then of course this surrounds you with limitations. In other words not only is the New Testament a sufficient guide for our personal Christian lives, but also for a church. No additional thing is needed. We cannot accept such reasons as, "Times have changed", or "Young people are different", or "We have more means of communication", or "These are more modern times", or "We live in a scientific age", or any similar explanation for practices in a church. Everything must be in accord with the New Testament. And so it is very important to decide once and for all whether the New Testament tells us enough about a church. If it does, then we have to govern everything we do by what we find in the New Testament.

Some people use the term "invisible church", and we know what they mean: the general or universal church, or the church made up of believers of all times. But their choice of words is not good. The church does touch down in certain localities in what we call local groups, fellowships, churches, or assemblies, It does not matter about the term. The New Testament justifies all of these terms.