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Chapter 3: The True Purpose of the Church

Connect…

The church was born at Pentecost. Put yourself there on that day. There was no New Testament to
guide you and how to establish the church. All you had to go on was what Jesus Christ himself told you
verbally. You did not know about elders or pastors or deacons, or the qualifications for becoming
members. You knew basically nothing. What was about to unfold, the church would have to figure it
out as they went. It’s a good thing that Jesus left the apostles to help guide and gave the Holy Spirit to
every new believer. The church was in for some interesting times, as it grew so rapidly, the apostles
could barely keep up with it. And it was not long before severe persecution arose. Let’s find out more…

Objectives…

1. The student should be able explain the founding purposes of the church that are based on the word
of Jesus and describe the initial response of early believers.

2. The student should be able describe the spiritual gifts that God gave the church to prepare it to fulfill
its purposes.

3. The student should be able show how a person can find out what his spiritual gift is to be of service
to the church.

The Lesson ...

The Purpose of the Church

Within that broad and all-encompassing purpose for the church we can discern several subsequent
ones. Mark Dever summarizes them in this way: “The proper ends for a local congregation’s life and
actions are the worship of God, the edification of the church, and the evangelization of the world. These
three purposes in turn serve the glory of God.” The local church exists to glorify God through
worshipping him, edifying his people, and evangelizing the world.
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Here are some verses that will help us understand what the body of believers, the church, is to be
centered on today.

Christ’s last words to his apostles gave them their calling.

Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father

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