A major assault of the change agents is against the nature of the Lord's church. Every Christian needs to keep fresh in his/her mind they following facts regarding the church.

I. That Christ has a church on the earth is indisputable.

• He promised to build it (Matt. 16:18).
• He purchased it with his blood, shed in his death on the cross (Acts 20:7).
• He guided his apostles in establishing it, following his resurrection and ascension (Acts 1:8-9).
• He is head over all things to his church (Eph. 1:22).
• He adds all who are saved to his church (Acts 2:47; I Cor. 12:13).
• He is savior of his church (Eph. 5:23).
• He will deliver his church/kingdom up to the Father in the last day (I Cor. 15:24).

II. The nature of Christ's church is revealed in God's Word.

• The church of Christ is his kingdom on earth (Matt. 16:18).
• In his church/kingdom Christ is king with all power and authority (Matt. 28:18; I Tim. 1:17).
• For his church, the will of Christ the king is revealed exclusively in his New Testament.
• Thus the New Testament is the only standard for the faith worship and practice of the church (Matt. 28:20; II John 9).
• The New Testament of Christ is to be understood and accepted as a heaven-given pattern for Christians to follow (II Tim. 1:13; Heb. 8:5).
• Christ's church is a spiritual kingdom unlike any earth kingdom (John 18:36). Thus it does not depend on possession of land or worldly dominion. It consists of the loyal, obedient followers of Christ in every nation on the earth (Luke 17:21; John 14:15).
• It is not spread, maintained or defended by military or political power (Matt. 26:52).
• The church gains converts through teaching the gospel and by the godly influence of her members (Mark 16:15; Rom. 1:16; Matt. 5:16).

The church of Christ is the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:22-25, 32). This speaks of the special relationship and love that prevails between Christ and his church.

• The church is precious to Jesus and must be to us as well.
• This precludes the thought of separating Christ from his church. It forbids the idea that one can accept Jesus but not his church and expect to be saved.
• It also militates against the mistaken doctrine that all the various denominational churches are acceptable to Christ. Each of them with their own name, their own message of salvation, their own form of government, their own doctrine and worship cannot possibly be the one bride of Christ. Remember that Christ expressly prayed that such divisions not happen (John 17:2-21). Christ in no polygamist!

The church is God's family (I Tim. 3:15). All of God's children are in his church family. He adds all the saved to his church (Acts 2:47). He translates them into his kingdom (Col. 1:13). Their baptism places them into a saving relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). Those not in Christ's church are not among the saved. They may be moral, religious and devout in their lives, but to get into Christ's family, one must be baptized into Christ (Gal. 3:27).

The church is God's saved people.

• It is not a material building of wood or stone (I Cor. 3:16). Some 300 years passed before church building such as we know them became common among Christians. All that while God's saved people worship and served him and spread his message throughout the Mediterranean world. "The kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21).
  It is not a human institution founded by men or governed by men.
• Christ's church has a distinct mission.
  Her first responsibility is to glorify Christ in all things (Eph. 3:21).
  She is commissioned to take Christ's message of salvation to citizen of every nation (Mark 16:15).
  She is God's helping hand to the sick and unfortunate of the world (Jas.1:27; Gal. 6:10)
  She is charged with helping God's children grow to spiritual maturity (Eph. 4:11-15).

• She is to be a beacon of holiness and truth, pointing lost humanity to the Savior and his way (Matt. 5:14; Phil. 2:15-16).

III. The church of Christ is essentially and intentionally one.

• Jesus founded a single church (Matt. 16:18). All must concede this historical fact.
• Just as there is but one Holy Spirit, One Lord Jesus and One God the Father there is but one church with divine approval (Eph. 4:4-5).
• Jesus prayed for our unity and oneness (John 17:20-21). His word demands unity of his people (I Cor. 1:10-17).
• The party spirit of denominationalism is condemned in no uncertain terms (I Cor. 3:1-4).
• The concept of many different kinds of churches, believing, worshiping and serving in their own way is not only unknown to Scripture, it is clearly contrary to it.
• Those who endeavor to make Christ's one church a denomination are guilty of a grave sin against the sacred and holy church founded by the Master.

IV. Christ has ordained for his church the faith she is to hold and the worship she is to offer to God.

• We are his friends if we do what he has commanded (John 15:14).
• We are to obey all things that he commanded (Matt. 28:20) and teach new converts the same.
• He sent the Holy Spirit to lead the apostles into all the truth (John 16:13) and they in turn committed that truth to us (II Tim. 2:2).
• When we read the words of the apostles, we are hearing the commandments of the Lord (I Cor. 14:37).
• The faith of the Church is "all things that Christ commanded" (Matt. 28:20). It is the New Testament of Christ, not the Old Covenant God made with the Hebrew nation (Heb. 8:6-8,13).
• While the church studies, believes and learns great lessons from the Old Testament and counts it as truly the Word of God, she is not bound by its institutions and ordinances, nor can its practices supplant the teachings of Christ (Rom. 15:4).
• The aspects of worship which Christ ordained for his church are few and simple.
  • It must be in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
  • It must be from pure hearts and lives (Jas. 4:8).
  • It must be from disciples whose lives are daily offered up as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:2)
  • It centers around the Lord's Supper observed each Lord's Day as a memorial to Christ's suffering and death (I Cor. 11: 23-26; Acts 20:7).
  • It involves the congregation offering praise to God with the fruit of their lips, singing and making melody in their hearts (Eph. 5:19; Heb. 13:15).
    It includes offering up prayers to God by the men of the church (I Tim. 2:1-3, 8).
  • It calls for worshipers to bring their free-will gifts and offerings to God (I Cor. 16:1-2; II Cor. 9:7).
  • It provides for preaching and instruction in God's Word (Acts 20:7; II Tim. 4:2).
  • He warns against going beyond his doctrine, adding to or taking away from his word (II John 9; Rev. 22:18-19).

V. Members of Christ's church wear his holy name.

• They glorify God in the name Christian (I Pet. 4:16).
• His church being one, does not have a specific name to denominate it from other religious bodies. Scripture refers to it as "the church;" the church of God" (I Cor. 1:2); the church of the Lord (Acts 20:28); its several congregations are called "the churches of Christ" (Rom. 16:16). The last three of these names identify to whom it belongs.

VI. Christ ordained male leadership for his church.

• While men and women are one in Christ (Gal. 3:27-28), different roles have been assigned to them in the church.
• Men are to serve as elders/bishops (I Tim. 3:1-2). They are to lead the church in prayers (I Tim. 2:8). They are to preach the gospel (II Tim. 2:2).
• Women are to keep silent in the church (I Cor. 14:34). They are not to teach or have authority over the men (I Tim. 2:12).
• They can however teach in private situations (Acts 18:26). They can teach women and children (Tit.4-5).

VII. The terms of admission to the church are the same as those for salvation.

• When the people of Jerusalem heard the gospel message and were convicted they were told to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of their sins and to receive the gift of God's Holy Spirit. As many as gladly received that word were baptized and the Lord added to the church such as were being saved (Acts 2:38-47).
• The baptism of Christ's church is immersion in water (Acts 8:36; Rom. 6:4).
• No other options for entrance are given.