Friday, January 2, 2009

The True Church

The true church is not held together by any structure man creates;
it is not an organization.

It is alive, its life breathed into it by a sovereign God.
Its heart beats with God's heart.
It is one with Him and moves as His Spirit moves -
where He chooses and often against the designs of man.

The life function of this living organism is to love the God who created it -
to care for others out of obedience to Christ,
to heal those who are hurt,
to take away fear,
to restore community,
to belong to one another,
to proclaim the Good News while living it out.

The church is the invisible made visible.

excerpt from "Loving God" by Charles Colson

1 comment:

Unknown said...

You are so right. When we trust in Jesus alone and His finished work on the cross, we are instantly quickened, baptized into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit and are made alive in Christ. No Church building or denomination has anything to do with it. Amen