Questions and Answers

Q: Do you think that God still uses churches to share the good news of Jesus and to help believers grow in their faith?

Let’s define “church.” 

The church is the ekklēsía, the universal body of believers in Jesus Christ who are of genuine God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ via dying with Christ to sin and walking in obedience to his commands, by the grace of God. It is also the assembly (congregation, gatherings) of those whose lives are committed to following the Lord Jesus in obedience to his commands. The ekklēsía (church) are the people of God who are called out from the world  and to God, i.e. all those belonging to God who follow him in his ways.

Let’s define “the good news of Jesus.”

The “good news of Jesus” is the gospel of Christ, the gospel of our salvation, which teaches us that, by God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in the Lord we must be crucified with him in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but now as servants of righteousness who walk in obedience to the Lord’s commands, in practice. It is not all those who merely give lip service to the Lord. For if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, and not in walks of obedience to our Lord, according to Jesus and his apostles, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

Let’s define “believers in Christ.”

Belief in Jesus Christ is the persuasion of God in our lives as to his holiness and righteousness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to deny self, die with him to sin daily, by the Spirit, and to walk with him in obedience to his commands, in practice, by the grace of God. Faith = obedience, and disobedience = unbelief. And this faith is authored by Jesus Christ, it comes from God, it is persuaded of God, and it is gifted to us by God. It is not of our own doing – not of our own fleshly “good works” – so we don’t get to define what faith is. God’s word does. But it results in us doing the good works which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2]  

So much of what is called “church” today is NOT the ekklēsía, but they are businesses created in the minds of human beings being marketed to the world like any other business, with the aim being to attract the world to their products. And from my experiences, and based on many years of research and listening to people and reading their stuff, I would estimate that such “churches” as this are in the majority here in America, and that the pure ekklēsía biblical gatherings of the church are rare and very hard to find.

And so many of these market-driven “churches,” incorporated under the state, in trying to attract the world to their gatherings, have altered the character of God/Christ, of his church, and of his gospel message to make them more attractive and acceptable to the ungodly and to human flesh. I don’t know of any which are teaching “the whole counsel of God,” and many have cut the gospel in half, purposefully leaving out certain Scriptures and teaching others out of context in order to teach lies, and not the truth.

Thus many of them are teaching that all we have to do is make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and now we are “saved” and on our way to heaven, but regardless of how we live. Others teach that to believe in Jesus we do not have to repent of (turn from) our sins, and we do not have to obey God, for they call that “works salvation.” And very few teach that if sin is what we practice, and not righteousness, and not obedience to God, that we will not inherit eternal life with God. But that is part of the gospel message, too.

Q: Do you think that God still calls people to Pastor churches?

Let’s define “pastor” and the biblical role of the pastor (shepherd) and the biblical qualifications for someone to be a pastor of a church.

“Pastors” is only used once, that I am aware of, in Ephesians 4:11, in a list which includes apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service (ministry), to the building up of the body of Christ. So their purpose is to spiritually equip and train us, the body of Christ, to do the work of the ministry, and to exercise our body parts and our spiritual gifts within the gatherings of the church for the exhortation and encouragement and spiritual growth of the church, as a whole.

So they are not to be the only ones doing the preaching/teaching, and they also need to be those who meet the biblical qualifications of overseers, if their position is one of shepherd and overseer of the body of believers in Christ. If they do not meet the biblical qualifications, which are pretty strict, then they shouldn’t be serving as overseers over the body of Christ. And in the New Testament church, it appears that these overseers served in positions over the church in the whole city, so they may not have been at every gathering of the church, much of which went on in people’s homes.

Yes, someone needs to be in charge, but he must meet the biblical qualifications of overseer, and he is to help the body of believers to do the work of the ministry. He is not the whole show, in other words. And his words need to be being tested by others in the congregation who are men of God who know and live the Scriptures to make certain that what he is teaching is biblical truth and not lies (half-truths intended to appease human flesh). And he is to shepherd the sheep, not as lording it over those allotted to his charge, but proving to be an example to the flock, in lifestyle.

See: [Titus 1:5-9; 1 Timothy 3:1-7; 1 Peter 5:1-4]

Q: Do you think the church as a whole would be better off to stop meeting together in church buildings?

Let’s define “church buildings.”

“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” (Matthew 16:18)

“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.” (1 Corinthians 3:10)

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19-22)

The ”building” built physically by human hands is NOT “the church.” We who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, who are no longer living in sin, but who are walking in obedience to the Lord, in practice, are that building, which is spiritual, not physical. Where we meet together can be anywhere on any day of the week at any time of day or night, and it doesn’t even have to be in a physical location. It may be via a phone call or a letter or a text message or a social media or blog post on the internet.

Let’s define “the church meeting together.”

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)

“But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:13)

“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into 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.” (Ephesians 4:15-16

The location, the day of the week, or time of day is irrelevant. We can meet anywhere appropriate to having genuine fellowship with one another where we, as the body parts, are given opportunity to use our spiritual gifts, given to us of the Spirit, where we can function in our body parts (our assignments from God for within the body of Christ) in encouraging, in exhorting, and in speaking the truth, in love, to one another so that none of us is led astray by false doctrines and by deceitful men and by the deceitfulness of sin. And this happens when “each part is working properly.” This is how we grow together.

Q: If so, what do you think the better solution would be?

The better solution, in place of these institutional partnered with the government (incorporated under the state) market-driven (called) “churches,” is what the Scriptures teach about “church,” and about the “gatherings of the church,” and what they should look like, and how they should operate, and where, when, and how often. All noted above.

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Lu 6:27-28; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Ac 1:8; Ac 2:14-18; Ac 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Gal 6:1; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:11-27; Eph 6:10-20; Php 2:1-8; Col 1:9; Col 3:12-16; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; Jas 5:19-20; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6; Jude 1:22-23]  

An Original Work / April 1, 2025 

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love