Matthew 28:18-20
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.”
Over the past decade or so, maybe a bit longer, there has been a rise in the ‘multi’ campus churches. These so-called churches have campuses all over the world sometimes. Here in Ontario, for instance, we have a division of the Elevation church; they have campuses in New York and other regions. Sadly, one of the breakdowns in modern Christianity has been the importance and scriptural position of the local church. Most people do not have a Biblical understanding of what a local church is, and I deliberately use the term ‘a local church.’ There is no such thing as ‘the local church.’ For sure, there is no scriptural support for the Universal church.
Of course, many Protestant ‘church’ groups came out of the Reformation and, as such, took on the Catholic view of church and churches. True ana-Baptists have never identified with Rome and, as such, are not Protestant; we already observed the doctrines that Luther espoused. The very word Catholic means Universal; thus, the view is that of the universal church that is subject to the head, the Pope. Many people do not know that, for the most part, you can attend a Catholic ‘church’ assembly anywhere in the world, and the lesson for that day, that time period, will be the same no matter what country or language you are in. Each individual congregation does not teach a lesson as the Lord leads for the benefit of the local group.
Sadly, many people do not understand the idea or the doctrine of the local church. Jesus established a local church; He called out a group of men (there were also ladies; read Luke 8) who funded a lot of His ministry, and He taught them the doctrines of the Old Testament. He empowered them to go out on short-term missions two by two. He had them come back and report their endeavors. He continued to fine-tune them, and then as He was leaving, He left them with what we call The Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20.
As we venture into the New Testament, we will find churches at locations such as Ephesus, Philippi, Corinth, Rome, and the like. These all looked like the church in Jerusalem as far as doctrine was concerned, but they all had their own pastors and elders, sent out missionaries, and conducted business.
The word that we get church from is ‘Ekklesia’; this is a called-out (out from within the city) assembly with a purpose. Ironically, one of the best examples of this is in the book of Ruth. In Ruth 4: 1-4,
“Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there; and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken came by. So, Boaz said, ‘Come aside, friend, sit down here.’ So, he came aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, ‘Sit down here.’ So, they sat down. Then he said to the close relative, ‘Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. And I thought to inform you, saying, ‘Buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know; for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.’ And he said, “I will redeem it.”
Here, Boaz is about to perform the duty of the Kinsman Redeemer; as such, he called together a city council of ten men. These men had the purpose of witnessing the redemption of Ruth and Naomi’s property and Boaz taking Ruth as his wife. These men are assembled, they have a purpose, and they conduct the business of the city. A local church is exactly the same; we assemble from within the city, and we conduct the business of the Kingdom of God on behalf of that city. Our purpose is Matthew 28:18-20, and this is the business that we do. In the same way, we are overseeing the work of Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus, who came to buy back and redeem us from Satan.
This may seem like a trivial thing, but consider that one of the issues that plagued the first church in Jerusalem was that of people not spreading out. God allowed persecution to come under the supervision of the Pharisees headed by Saul of Tarsus, and the Christians scattered and carried the Gospel to other cities. Thus, we have churches established throughout Asia Minor, Northern Africa, and into Europe. The Jerusalem church did have some initial ‘control’ over these other churches, but that was more oversight than anything else.
Eventually these churches had to live and breathe on their own, so to speak, and learn to obey the Lord and His leadership. A close look at the seven churches of Revelation will show us Jesus directly communicating with the ‘angels’ of these churches; we come to learn that the angels are the elders or, in our modern term, the pastors. Jesus led each individual church and either upbraided or commended them based on their obedience to Him. Jesus then established Himself as the Head of each local body. The pastor is never the head of a local church; he is an ‘under-shepherd’ and serves under Jesus who is the Head; see 1 Peter 5: 2-4:
“Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.”
Imagine if these ‘super’ churches, instead of bleeding thousands out of communities, established local assemblies that conducted the Lord’s business, and instead of one super church, we had a congregation of 10,000 now split into 20 churches of 500 serving a local community with the authority of the sending church to do church in-service to their community. What if they had 30 churches of 300 in 30 communities serving those communities? And on we could go.
A local church, in many cases in North America, is between 75-100 and can be financially self-supporting and also support missionaries. But then pastors of 100 or so are not celebrity pastors, and no one offers them book contracts. When we get this way, church becomes a job and not a calling. Jesus called the apostles to be ‘fishers of men.’ He trained them and empowered them to do the work, and it was a lifetime calling (see John 21 and Jesus calling Peter back to the work of the Kingdom).
Pastor friend, if you are in obedience to the call of God — if you are leading the church you serve to obey Jesus, live like Jesus, follow Jesus, and obey the Great Commission, and you protect and preserve the simplicity of the Gospel — you are already famous with Jesus, the Chief Shepherd, and that should be enough. Lord, help it to be enough for me.
God bless you,
Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario