The Name of the Church

 

 

Introduction

Have you ever looked up at the moon at night and wondered why it doesn’t have a name? Moons of the other planets have names but ours doesn’t. It’s just known simply as The Moon.

The reason for this is that when you have one of something, you don’t need to name it because you’re not separating it from others. Just like the church that Jesus built (Mt. 16:18). The questions to ask are, if Jesus only built one church, which one is it and what is it called?

 

One of Something

When you only have one of something, you don’t need to give it more of a name that when the item is. As stated, we only have one moon so it doesn’t need a proper name. It’s the same with the church. Let’s look at Matthew 16:18, in which Jesus says, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Jesus say that he would build, “my church” which indicates he only built one. Since he built one then it doesn’t need a name. However, if it were to be given a name, it should be named after the person who built it.

If you go out into the world you see numerous churches: Lutheran church, Methodist church, Baptist church, etc. Each one of these churches are named after their founder or organization that meets there. With that in mind, we can clearly state that they are not the church that Jesus built since his name is not associated with it. He bought the church with his own blood (Acts 20:28), therefore it should be named after him. How many of the other founders died for their church?

 

Looking for the Name

Where do you find the name of the church? In the bible, of course! In Rom. 16:16, the apostle Paul writes, …The churches of Christ greet you. Some might say, “Hold on, if Jesus only built one church, why did Paul say churches?” The answer is that he was referring to the congregation.

Remember how we stated in an earlier article that the church is the actual congregation (The Called Out)? This is what Paul is referring to in his letter. Multiple congregations suggest multiple churches but all with the same doctrine (Eph. 4:5).

Some would suggest that if a church teaches the bible and nothing else, you can call it whatever you want and it would still be the “One Church”. Let’s assume this to be true for the moment. Say you are a member of The Church (called The Church of Christ) and you assemble with a congregation in Ohio. You fly out to Arizona on vacation and want to assemble with the local brethren that has the same faith and beliefs. If it is called something different from your congregation in Ohio, you’re never going to find it. This is why they are all named the same thing according to scripture.

However, there is a small matter of whether all churches of Christ follow the same pattern. This will be addressed in a future article. For now, you can be assured that if the name of the church where you attend isn’t listed in scripture, then it isn’t the one that Jesus built. It will, however, be uprooted in the end (Mt. 13:24-30; 36-43).

 

Conclusion

You’re heard people say, “choose the church of your choice”. Why not, instead, “choose the church of God’s choice”? Since there is only one church that God recognizes, and accepts, you should be looking for His church. All churches claim to worship God, but God doesn’t not accept the worship from all churches. Keep that in mind when you next attend your local assembly.