What is a New Testament church
By Bro David Petersen
Meaning Of The Word "Church"
In the Bible the word ‘church’ never refers to a building. In fact early churches did not even have buildings, but instead met in private homes and public places (Acts 5:42).
The word church always refers to local bodies of saved, scripturally baptized believers meeting together to carry out the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The English word "church" in the New Testament comes from the Greek word "Ekklesia" which is composed of the preposition "ek", meaning "out" and "kaleo", "to call". Thus the word ekklesia means a called out assembly, a local body of people. The primary use of the word among the Greeks was to refer to political assemblies that were called out to conduct local affairs of government. Jesus used this word to refer to his own called-out assembly of saved, baptized believers. But his assembly had a spiritual rather than a political purpose.
When Did The First Church Start and Who Started It?
After his temptation, Jesus began his personal ministry and started his church by calling out those who had been saved and baptized by John the Baptist:
Matthew 4:17-22:
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
As we mentioned above, the word "church" comes from the New Testament Greek word "ekklesia" which means a called-out assembly. This is where the first church started with Jesus "calling out" his local assembly.
John The Baptist
Please note that John The Baptist did not start any church, baptist or otherwise. His mission was to prepare people who would later become charter members of the Lord's first called out assembly. This was declared by the angel Gabriel in his prophecy:
"And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Luke 1:17.
The men whom Jesus called out to his assembly had first been disciples of John The Baptist:
"Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus." John 1:35-37.
"One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother." John 1:40.
John prepared a people for the Lord by telling his disciples to repent and to believe in the one who would come after him, that is Jesus:
"I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." Matt 3:11.
Having been baptized by John, these who were called out to the first church by Jesus already had scriptural baptism and there is no record anywhere in the scripture of any apostle ever being bapized again.
So John The Baptist did not start the first church, but instead prepared the people for it.
The Church Did NOT Start On The Day of Pentecost
A common misconception is that the church started on the day of Pentecost. The account of Pentecost is described in the Book of Acts, Chapter 2. In Acts 2 we see that new members "were added unto" the church which already existed:
Acts 2:41:
41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
Acts 2:41 says thet there were "added unto them" about three thousand souls. How can you add to something (the church) that did not exist beforehand?
Before the day of Pentecost, the church was already in operation and had at least 120 members:
Acts 1:15:
15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty).
In Acts Chapter 1, the church conducted a business meeting before the day of Pentecost where it elected Mattias.
During his personal ministry, Jesus told his local, called out assembly (i.e. the church) to practice church discipline:
Matt 18:17:
"And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican."
How could they "tell it" to something that didn't yet exist? Why didn't someone reply: "Lord, WHAT church?". Was Jesus joking?
What Did Jesus Name The Church He Started?
Matt 16:18:
"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Jesus did not name his assembly, but simply called it ‘my church’. So you cannot go by the name of a church in order to determine if it is a true, scriptural New Testament church or not. Yes, many false "churches" exist today which bear little resemblence to the assembly that Jesus called out. Instead, you have to look for the marks of a New Testament church <see below>. The term 'my church' also indicates ownership. The Lord's churches recognize him only as their head. Jesus did not appoint a head for his church on earth. He did not assign a subsitute to rule over his bride in his absence. How many of you husbands assign a substitute husband to your wife when you are away?
Calling a church "non-denominational" doesn't help either. Using the designation non-denominational is a method to get people who are turned off by denominationalism. It broadens a church's potential market. At best it means the church is some type of traditional denomination without the label. At worst it means that the church doesn't stand for anything.
Why Baptists Are Not Protestants
All church denomination names are man-made including the name "Baptist". As we mentioned earlier Baptist churches do not get their name from John The Baptist. As Baptists we trace our history back to the church that Jesus started. Churches that were essentially Baptist in faith and practice emminated directly from the church that Jesus built and were never part of the Catholic church. Therefore Baptists are not Protestants.
The name Baptist was originally a derogatory name imposed upon the scriptural churches by those who persecuted them. Their detractors called them by many different names throughout the centuries including Donatists, Montanists, Albigenses, Waldenses and Ana-baptists. The histories that you can read on these groups are often less than flattering because they were usually written by their persecutors.
The name "Ana-baptist" was given to various church groups in Western Europe around the 13th to 16th centuries. Ana-baptist means "re-baptizers". The term was applied because Ana-baptists refused to accept sprinkling and infant baptism as valid. The Ana-baptists "re-baptized" any converts who had been baptized in such an unscriptural manner. (We consider this to be first valid baptism, not re-baptism.) The Ana-baptists believed that in order to be valid, baptism must be administered only to believers and that it must be done by immersion. Re-baptizing anyone who had unscriptural baptism is a sound Bible practice that was first done at the church at Corinth in Acts chapter 19:3-5. Eventually, the "Ana" prefix was dropped and the name Baptist stuck.
Click here for more on baptism.
Church Perpetuity: Jesus Promised That His True Churches Would Continue Throughout All Ages
Matt 16:18:
"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Despite Satan's best efforts to destroy them, there have always been true churches in the world since Jesus called out the first one in Galilee. This teaching is referred to as "church perpetuity". In Matthew Chapter 16, Jesus promised that his true churches would not be overpowered by Satan: 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' If Jesus was right, and we believe he was, then he has always had true churches on this earth since the first one, and always will until he returns.
Ephesians 3:21 says "Unto him be glory IN THE CHURCH by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end".
If God is to have glory "in the church" throughout all ages, then it stands to reason that there have always been true churches in the world since Jesus instituted the church during his personal ministry in Galilee as recorded in Matthew chapter 4.
We believe that there have always been true churches in the world since the time that Jesus started the first church as he walked along the Sea of Galilee and called out his assembly of scripturally baptized believers. If not, then both the Lord's and Paul's prophecies concerning church perpetuity would have failed and they would be found false prophets (Matt 16:18, Eph 3:21).
These true local assemblies down through the centuries were usually not the big institutional churches that became "universal", but were often hidden underground assemblies that were persecuted as "heretics" by the state sponsored universal churches under Satan's control. More info on Counterfeit Christianity. Remember that it's the winners who write history.
They went by many different names such as Waldenses, Montanists and Ana-baptists; but they all bore the scriptural marks of a New Testament church as given in the Bible.
For more information please refer to our Church History page which features a booklet called "The Trail Of Blood".
Marks of A Scriptural New Testament Church
A Scriptural New Testament Church:
- Uses the Bible as its only rule of faith and practice. Man-made traditions cannot overrule the scriptures. (2 Tim 3:16, 2 Pet 1:21, Matt 15:6-9).
- Has the Lord Jesus Christ as its only head and owner and has no earthly head. (Matt 16:18, Eph 5:23, Col 1:18 )
- Outwardly demonstrates the love of Christ by obeying the Lord's command to love one another. (John 13:34-25).
- Actively works to fulfill the Great Commission. (Matt 28:19-20).
- Welcomes all visitors, but has only saved, scripturally baptized believers in its membership. (Acts 2:41, Acts 8:37, Acts 10:48).
- Teaches about the personal triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in divine perfection. (Matt 28:19).
- Is local and visible, not universal and invisible. (Acts 8:1, Acts 13:1, Acts 14:23, 1 Cor. 1:2, 10:32, 11:22, Galatians 1:13, 1 Tim 3:5) .
- Has 2 offices: Bishop and Deacon to be filled by men whose qualifications are set forth in Titus and 1 Timothy.
- Teaches that man is fallen and unable to save himself. ( Rom 3:9-20, Eph 2:8-9).
- Teaches that salvation is exclusively by grace through faith without works. (Eph 2:8-9, Rom 4:5).
- Has 2 pictoral ordinances: Baptism and The Lord's Supper.
- Scriptural baptism is the immersion of penitent believers in water, administered by the authority of a New Testament church in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Lord's Supper is a memorial ordinance, restricted to the members of the church observing the ordinance (Matt. 28:19, 20; Acts 8:12, 38; Rom. 6:4; 1 Cor. 5:11-13; 1 Cor. 11:1, 2, 17-20, 26).
- Is independent and self-governing and no other ecclesiastical body exercises authority over it.
- Traces its origin directly or indirectly back to the personal ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Matt 16:18, Eph 3:21, Matt 4:17-22).
'But it shall not be so among you.'
'But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.'
'But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;'
'And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.' Matt 20:25-27
Jesus did not design his churches to be big business. Instead he described a flat organization with no middle management, no vice presidents and no CEO on this earth. True churches report directly to Jesus and recognize him as their only head and owner.