The church is not a building, an institution, or a hot new band. It is the body of people who have made a turning point by asking Jesus to forgive them of their life of sin, and who reflect Jesus and the teaching of scripture in their lives. The church can be understood in two ways.

The Church of Christ is the body or community of redeemed/ saved people. The church is realized in two spheres: (a) The local/ visible realm and (b) the universal/invisible realm. Think of a gigantic loaf of wheat bread that is 200 feet long. One slice of bread is bread in its every respect just as the whole loaf is bread. Back to the church, the local church is a like a slice of bread being still bread on its own and belong to a larger body of bread, the loaf. The universal/ invisible church is the whole loaf.

The universal church is body of all saved believers of the Jesus Christ. This is the population of all who will be in heaven including those who have lived and died and believed, those who are still living and believe, and those who haven’t been born yet and will believe.

What does scripture say?

• The church is empowered by the Holy Spirit and He, the Spirit indwells in every member of the church. (Acts 1:8 ; John 14:26)
• Each person of the church has been blessed with at least one spiritual gift to build up believers and to spread the good news of Jesus the savior. (Ephesians 4:12-13 ; 1 Corinthians 12:7)
• The local church practices the ordinances (not sacraments) of the Lord’s Supper and Baptism. (Matthew 28:19-20 ; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26)
• The head of the church is the Jesus Christ. (Colossians 1:18 ; Ephesians 5:23)
• The church primarily exists to worship the Lord. They share the good news of the Jesus Christ who can save and rescue us from sin and its due death, destruction, and hell. (Romans 10:9 ; Matthew 28:19-20)
• The church was founded by Jesus Christ after he rose from the dead proving that he indeed is the son of God and that he truly can deliver man from sin and death. (Acts 1 and 2)
• The church does not consist of groups who preach or believe another message of Jesus Christ that is not found in the Bible (e.g.: Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, or other religions). (Galatians 1: 6-9 ; John 14:6)
• The local church is autonomous body (Acts 13:3 ; 20:28 ; Hebrews 13:17)
  

The church is the community of people who have been saved from their sin by Jesus Christ the Son of God. The church exists to worship God, build up one another so that the church can share the necessary news of the Jesus, the only one who can save man from his sin and impending danger, destruction, and death which is stored in hell where there is eternal suffering.