Excerpt:
A church may preach the gospel, teach young people, and support preaching in other places without building separate ministry structures, branded sub-organizations, or institutional networks beyond the local church. The issue is not whether evangelism and discipleship are important, but whether the New Testament authorizes the structures modern churches use to carry out that work.
The Greek word ekklesia means “called out,” and a survey of its New Testament uses shows it applied to the local congregation (in several senses), to the one universal church, and to the household assembly — but never to a denomination. Doctrine often turns on a…
Love for God is not a feeling — it is a pattern of obedience. What looks like love but does not produce obedience is not love. What produces obedience, even in the absence of feeling, is love. The normal condition of the human heart is to…
True liberty is not the freedom to do anything — it is the freedom to do what is right within the boundaries that God has set. Every servant of God, from Christ himself down to the local preacher, operates within those limits. The word “liberty” is…
The New Testament shows elders appointed in every church — at Jerusalem, Ephesus, Philippi, and the cities of Crete — always a plurality serving as shepherds and bishops in the local congregation, never one bishop ruling over many churches. “Elder” is a plain word that has…