The Local Church E-Book

Edward Klink

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

How God Ministers to His People and the World through the Local Church The church is more than coffee with friends—it's a meaningful gathering of Christians that involves fellowship and growing in biblical truth. Given the rise of the internet and the availability of streaming church services, many ministry leaders and church members are asking questions about the purpose and mission of the local church: What is the church? Why does the church exist? How does the church function? What is the connection between the Christian and the church? Pastor and trusted scholar Edward Klink III addresses these questions and more with a thoughtful assessment of what the Bible has to say about God's intention for the local church body. Klink stresses its importance as God's way of revealing his presence, displaying his power, fulfilling his purposes, and manifesting his activity in the world. In today's hyperindividualized culture, this book not only demonstrates why it's vital for individuals to connect to a local church, but also reveals why it's vital to God's work in the world.

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“Misconceptions about the nature, purpose, mission, and value of the church abound. Combining a scholar’s mind and a pastor’s heart, Klink reminds us afresh of what the church is and why the local church matters. This book is profoundly biblical, refreshingly accessible, and deeply practical. It is a needed, warmhearted clarion call to understand and embrace God’s purpose for the church in a world that desperately needs the church to be the church.”

Matthew S. Harmon, Professor of New Testament Studies, Grace College and Theological Seminary; author, Asking the Right Questions

“I can’t think of a better person to write a book on the local church than my friend Edward Klink. Combining a scholar’s head with a pastor’s heart, Klink makes an accessible yet compelling case for the indispensability of the local church in the life of every Christian. This is a marvelous tonic for anyone suffering from ecclesial doldrums. Let it elevate your vision of life together within your local congregation. Highly recommended!”

Todd Wilson, President, Center for Pastor Theologians; author, Real Christian and The Pastor Theologian

“Full of biblical insight and pastoral wisdom, The Local Church ties together Jesus and his church. Why do we need the church? What should churches do? How should we behave within her walls? Klink tackles all these questions and more with a theologian’s rigor and a pastor’s heart. A welcome primer for new believers and seasoned pastors alike.”

Jonty Rhodes, Minister, Christ Church Central Leeds, United Kingdom; author, Covenants Made Simple and Man of Sorrows, King of Glory

The Local Church

The Local Church

What It Is and Why It Matters for Every Christian

Edward W. Klink III

The Local Church: What It Is and Why It Matters for Every Christian

Copyright © 2021 by Edward W. Klink III

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Darren Welch

First printing 2021

Printed in the United States of America

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-7136-7 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-7139-8 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-7137-4 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-7138-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Klink, Edward W., III, 1975– author.

Title: The local church : what it is and why it matters for every Christian / Edward W. Klink, III.

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. 

Identifiers: LCCN 2021004125 (print) | LCCN 2021004126 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433571367 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433571374 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433571381 (mobipocket) | ISBN 9781433571398 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Church. | Church membership.

Classification: LCC BV601.7 .K57 2021 (print) | LCC BV601.7 (ebook) | DDC 254/.2—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021004125

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021004126

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2021-09-22 09:28:18 AM

To my children,

Jake, Ben, and Ruthie

Contents

Preface

Introduction

1  What Isn’t the Church? (Problem)

2  What Is the Church? (Principle)

3  Why Does the Church Exist? (Purpose)

4  How Does the Church Function? (Process)

5  What Is the Connection between a Christian and a Church? (Participation)

6  Twenty Common Questions about the Local Church (Practice)

General Index

Scripture Index

Preface

I love the local church. I left a tenured position as an associate professor of New Testament in 2014 to become the senior pastor at a church on the north side of the city in which I was born and raised in northern Illinois. I believe in the academy’s importance and have seen the ways it serves and supports the church, but I embraced my Christian liberty and followed my desire to serve on the front lines—behind a pulpit, not a podium. This book is born from that passion for the local church.

Although much of my writing thus far has been for scholars or the trained pastor, this book was written with the layperson in view, the average Christian. That does not mean it avoids all meat, for I certainly intended to push readers to broaden their biblical and theological categories as they think about the Christian life and the church. Yet I spend time in the book explaining key concepts and practices, and even include analogies and stories to help make the material more accessible. This book was written with the pastoral intention of offering a resource for “catechizing” Christians by explaining the church to them. It is an introduction to the local church. My hope is that God will use this book for his glory and for the good of local churches.

A book is written for people, but it is also written with people. I finished this book as I was finishing my sixth year of pastoral ministry at Hope Evangelical Free Church in Roscoe, Illinois. I am so thankful for the wonderful Christians in this local church and consider it an honor to be one of their pastor-elders. There are so many people I need to thank for their help and encouragement. I want to begin by thanking the pastor-elders at my church for supporting and encouraging me to minister beyond our congregation as a pastor-theologian: Ed Titcomb, Ed Kipp, Tom Whitford, Greg Lynas, Casey Ehlers, Brad Schreiner, Olle Larson, Doug Juhlin, Neal Neyer, Bryan Ott, and Marshall Newhouse. I also want to thank our church staff, a gifted and fun-loving team of servants: Julia Moore, Jamie Anderson, Vera Juhlin, Jim and Melissa Curtis, Glenna Easton, Thomas Karenke, Katie Rudy, Debbie Moore, Dawn Schreier, Geneva Helland, Sam Lynas, and Shannon Nordgren. My local church has been blessed with gifted and God-fearing pastor-elders and staff, all of whom I love dearly. I also need to thank the ministry colleagues and friends who interacted with some form of this book and provided feedback and encouragement along the way: Haddon Anderson, Chris Brauns, Casey Ehlers, Alberta Grossen, Jeff Korleski, Bruce McKanna, Shannon Nordgren, Katie Rudy, Brad Schreiner, Fana Timoti, Larry Elliott, and finally Olle Larson, who skillfully served as a research assistant for this project. I am honored to publish this book with Crossway and owe my thanks to Justin Taylor for accepting this project, Thom Notaro for his skilled editing, and the whole Crossway team for helping me bring it to completion. Finally, this book would not exist without the constant support and sacrifice of my wife, Laura.

This book is dedicated to my three children: Jacob Edward Klink, Benjamin Russell Klink, and Ruth Elizabeth Klink. Thank you for your encouragement, along with many moments of silliness and fun, as I worked on this book. You are each a gift to your mom and me, and a constant source of joy. May your love for Christ develop and grow into a love for his people, your local church, bringing delight to your dad and glory to your heavenly Father.

Introduction

The evening began as a social gathering of college students from my former local church in Orange County, Southern California. A hospitable family opened their home, and, most importantly, their kitchen and backyard pool, to over thirty young adults who quickly filled the space with conversation and play. While such gatherings usually have no planned teaching time, they always seem to give birth to off-the-cuff discussions between individuals or in small groups regarding important topics for the Christian life. On this night that was especially true.

Around an hour into the evening, a sharply dressed young man whom I had only met and seen on a few other occasions came in and called out to me, the leader of the group, from across the room. At the time I was serving as a professor of New Testament at Biola University, and this bright young man came to this young adult gathering with a theological challenge he wanted to throw at me in public. After cornering me in an open area in the kitchen, with voice raised, hands waving, and rhetorical skills on full display, he said for all to hear: “Dr. Klink, can you give me any good reason why a Christian needs the church?”

The question was loaded; so much so that I did not immediately respond. This young man filled the gap. “In fact, Dr. Klink, I can give you several reasons why church is unnecessary or even harmful for the cause of Christ.” He then asked questions about things like finances (do not the costs of running a church waste funds that should go to really ministering to people?), fellowship (how does sitting in a room for an hour each week do anything more than can be accomplished when Christian friends meet with intentionality and purpose?), and even faith (can I not grow spiritually through many means outside a church?). Like a prosecuting attorney, this young man concluded with this jabbing statement: “I honestly believe that this generation needs to see that the church as we know it is unnecessary. Since you work for a church, Dr. Klink, how do you respond to what I am saying?” The room once filled with conversation and play was completely silent, and all eyes were looking straight at me.

I answered the young man’s challenge regarding the role and necessity of the church for close to an hour. We went back and forth as I countered his rejection of the local church and shared what I believed biblically to be the essential ministry of the local church in the life and mission of every Christian. The young man listened and wanted to continue our discussion further, but ultimately left our conversation unconvinced. I left with the conviction that the purpose, practices, and priority of the local church needed a fresh presentation in this generation—not only to those outside the church but even to those already affiliated with the church by their faith in Christ.

It is not a stretch to suggest that the thoughts and feelings of this bright young man would resonate with the thinking, and even the practices, of many who claim the name of Christ in this generation. Certainly in our contemporary culture, but even among Christians of every persuasion, Christianity now needs to explain, and in some cases to make an argument for, “the church.” Whether this need is prompted by bad press related to sex abuse and financial corruption or simply by the perceived irrelevance of what seems to be an outdated institution and its practices, the church needs to explain and even defend its existence and purpose. The explanation required is no longer simply in regard to what it does (i.e., message, ministries, or management), but also in what it is—why the church is even necessary at all. In fact, there is a growing church-free movement in Christendom, reflected in books like Kelly Bean’s How to Be a Christian without Going to Church, that promotes and encourages a commitment to Christ with purposeful distinction and separation from his church.1

Several key questions are lurking behind the attitudes and behaviors of Christians who have misplaced or displaced the local church in their Christian lives and practices. What is the church (principle)? Why does the church exist (purpose)? How does the church function (process)? And what is the connection between a Christian and a church (participation)? These are biblical-theological questions that require the whole biblical story to present a sufficient answer. And, sadly, it is no longer just those outside the church who question its validity and relevance; now more than ever committed Christians are unhitching themselves from the formal church. We even have special titles for such people: the “spiritual but not religious,” the “dones,” or the “de-churched.”2 In sharp contrast, it is my conviction that the local church is how God ministers to his people and to the world. This is no minor claim. In order to substantiate such a claim, I will first explain the problem behind the assumptions and practices of those who separate a Christian from a church (chap. 1), then we will explore the biblical descriptions and prescriptions of the church in principle (chap. 2), purpose (chap. 3), process (chap. 4), participation (chap. 5), and practice (chap. 6). The goal is to address the questions the average Christian might have about the local church and to offer answers to such questions that God has provided us through Scripture.

To speak more forthrightly and even pastorally, my concern is that the separation (in part or full) between the Christian and the local church is not simply unbiblical—if that were not bad enough—but detrimental to the life of every Christian and to the message and work of Christianity in the world. This concern does not deny what Christ himself proclaimed: “I will build my church” (Matt 16:18). In fact, raising such a concern springs from such a promise. In essence, this book hopes to present from Scripture Christ’s generous promises and loving commands to his people regarding his church.

This book is the culmination of what I want to say to the young man who challenged me at a gathering nearly fifteen years ago. Even more, this book is what I as a pastor in a local church want to say to my congregants as they navigate the purpose and place of the church in their commitment to Christ. But most of all, my hope is that this book provides a biblical restatement of what God wants to say about his church and its role in the life of Christians and the world today.

1  Kelly Bean, How to Be a Christian without Going to Church: The Unofficial Guide to Alternative Forms of Christian Community (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2014).

2  There is an ever-increasing “de-churched” movement, which has produced its own genre on the subject. Several examples are worth noting: Herbert E. Hoefer, Churchless Christianity (Pasadena, CA: William Carey, 2001); Alan Jamieson, A Churchless Faith: Faith Journeys beyond the Churches (London: SPCK, 2002); Diana Butler Bass, Christianity after Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening (New York: HarperOne, 2012); Martin Zender, How to Quit Church without Quitting God: Why Going to Church Today Is Unbiblical, Un-Christlike, and Spiritually Risky (Canton, OH: Starke & Hartmann, 2014); and Richard Jacobson, Unchurching: Christianity without Churchianity (n.p.: Unchurching Books, 2016).

1

What Isn’t the Church?

(Problem)

I remember entering the office of my doctoral supervisor to discuss with him the first written work I had produced as a PhD student in New Testament. In the British educational system, a professor takes a handful of doctoral students and serves as their Doktorvater (doctoral father), something like a Jedi Knight training Padawan learners in Star Wars. My professor had accepted me to work with him on a project in the Gospel of John, and I was excited to have him engage with what I had begun to do. After he asked if I wanted tea (also very British), my excitement turned to shock when his first words to me were these: “Mr. Klink, do you know how to read?” I was silent; I did not know exactly how to respond to such a question. My Doktorvater continued by explaining how good students read, and how too many students (and I presume me, based on this lecture) had poor reading habits or lacked skill in properly engaging, understanding, and utilizing the books and articles they read. Like a coach or trainer pushing an athlete, my Doktorvater exhorted me meeting after meeting to read more closely, to engage more critically, or to think more deeply on the material at hand. In short, there are good and bad habits and practices a student can display, and I was to avoid what is bad and practice what is good.

One would think this challenge would be given to a new or first-year student, not a doctoral student with an undergraduate degree and two master degrees. What I came to learn, however, is that my Doktorvater would first teach me what not to do before he would teach me what I should do. In other words, as in a construction site for a new building, the first task was deconstruction, clearing away obstacles and leveling the ground, before any construction could begin. And if deconstruction is needed in order to properly study Christianity, certainly it might be needed to properly practice Christianity as well.

In a very similar way, any talk of “the church” needs to begin with some deconstruction—the removal of bad definitions and understandings—before any good definitions and understandings can be appropriately built. But like me, most people might be surprised to hear this. Most people are not church beginners; they might have many years of Christian experience and church life in their past. In fact, it might even be offensive to be asked, Do you know what the church is? But just as students often need to be asked about proper reading and thinking, many Christians need to be asked about proper “churching”—that is, the what, why, and how of the church as taught in Scripture.

Misconceptions about “the Church”

We must begin by asking, What isn’t the church? The answer involves four common misconceptions of the church that I will address below. Each of these bad definitions or understandings has some biblical truth, but in theory or practice they all distort important aspects of what the Bible teaches about the church. It is important to realize that some of these misconceptions might not be articulated in words by the average Christian, but they reveal themselves in practices and habits. In short, the following four inaccurate definitions and understandings of the church are either explicit or implicit in contemporary Christianity. I’ll state them in terms of what the church is not.

The Church Is Not a Metaphor

For many Christians, “the church” is tossed around like the things of legend—a beautiful image that sounds more like a story of castles and Camelot than like any local church they have attended. The church is spoken of in theoretical language, as some spiritual ideal that exists in vague or mystical ways. That is, too often the way Christians speak of the church is really a metaphorical way of speaking of something else: community relationships between brothers and sisters in Christ or practices that help people grow in Christ. As much as a church does facilitate and organize relationships and practices, the church is more than a means to an end, a utilitarian resource for an individual Christian’s needs. To say it another way: the church is not a metaphor.

Two factors may have contributed to the dilution of “church” into a mystical metaphor. The first factor is the growing dominance of “spiritual” language. Over the last century “spirituality” has exploded across the globe. The term “spiritual” or “spirituality” began to arise in the fifth century but did not become normalized until the Middle Ages. The term began to morph in meaning around the eleventh century to describe the mental aspect of life (theoretical), in contrast to the material (physical). It even narrowed to refer to the realm of the inner life: motives, affections, inner dispositions, feelings, and a “spiritual life.” While the term is clearly biblical, most commonly utilized by the apostle Paul, it is never used in the Bible to separate the spiritual from the natural or physical, as it is now commonly used. The term “spiritual” in the Bible refers to a life (a person)—both body and soul—infused with and empowered by theSpirit of God.

The danger of a “spiritual life,” when defined in opposition to the physical world, is that such language can divorce Christian faith and practices from the real world. In a hyper-individualized culture, it is no wonder that so many Christians have lost sight of the ways their “spiritual lives” connect to real life, or more specifically, how their “spiritual lives” connect to the life of a local church. The error of a spiritual life disconnected from the physical world is that it fails to account for the full story the Bible tells and does not deal with the full person who eats, works, loves, and, if biblical, is intimately connected to a real, concrete local (located) church. The danger of a “spiritual life” is that it distorts both the spiritual and physical aspects of life.

The second factor is the mistaken emphasis on the “invisible” church. Pastors and theologians throughout the centuries have relied on the helpful categories of thevisible and the invisible church in order to view churches in the present alongside the holy, universal (catholic) church throughout all time. Stated simply, the visible church is the church as we see it, and the invisible church is the church as God sees it. The distinction between the visible and the invisible church finds biblical grounding in Jesus’s prayer of dedication in John 17, a prayer heard by a local “gathering” and yet extended throughout all time and divisions. This prayer will be fully realized only when the chief Shepherd returns to finally “gather” his true and total church. This twofold category of the church was never an invitation for a Christian to affirm the church in its invisible sense alone (the church as God alone sees it) while ignoring the visible church (the church as we see it). Rather, its purpose was to help the Christian see the fullness of God’s people as told by the biblical story, even from the limited perspective of the local church in their own place and time.

Even though this distinction goes back all the way to Augustine, the Protestant Reformers regularly utilized it for pastoral purposes. John Calvin provides a helpful example in book 4 of his Institutes of the Christian Religion. Calvin invokes these categories to give his readers spectacles not only to see the whole church—the visible (“the saints presently living”) and the invisible (“all the elect from the beginning of the world”)—but also to see their own church, which alongside the true children of God may also be “mingled” with “many hypocrites who have nothing of Christ but the name and outward appearance.”1Pastorally, then, this category helps Christians deal with the hypocrisy they see in their own churches, without giving them warrant to reject or disregard the church. Even more, the Reformers used the distinction to unite the Christian to the church, not to allow for disassociation of any sorts. Calvin’s pastoral exhortation is worthy of note: “Just as we must believe, therefore, that the former church, invisible to us, is visible to the eyes of God alone, so we are commanded to revere and keep communion with the latter, which is called ‘church’ in respect to men.”2

This practical application of the visible and invisible church needs to be heard among Christians today. Too many Christians speak of “the church” in abstraction, in its invisible, mystical, and metaphorical sense, and not in a way that matches the church that we can see, attend, and join. Whether driven by the cultural emphasis on a mystical “spiritual life” or by the imbalanced theological leaning toward the invisible church, Christians are in great need of the located and visible church—their local church.

The Church Is Not Coffee with Friends

One of the most common inaccuracies regarding the church is actually derived from a mistaken reading of Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” For many contemporary Christians, the language in this verse suggests that a Christian gathering of more than one facilitates the ministering presence of Christ in such a way that this moment is equivalent to “church”—some generic, free-floating spirituality that involves Jesus. That is, too often the way Christians speak of the church is really another way of talking about any gathering of Christians that involves aspects of fellowship and biblical-spiritual topics. But the church is more than the cumulative collection of Christians, no matter its spiritual fruitfulness. To say it another way: the church is not coffee with friends.

In order to avoid a coffee-with-friends approach to the church, we must properly interpret Matthew 18:20. First, we must understand the larger context of Matthew 18:15–20:

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.

In light of the context, verse 20 can be correctly viewed as a summarizing statement regarding the ministry of church discipline and reconciliation among Christians in a local church. This gives further insight into the need for “two or three” Christians, since it addresses the need for a unified witness for the establishment of evidence. The context makes clear that it is not a magical number gathered together that makes Christ present but that a symptom of Christ’s authoritative presence in the church is a proper handling of sin in a local church.