Apologetics Courses

The corporate church

It is not surprising that since the meaning of the word church is the “congregation”, or the “body of believers in Christ”, that the church was intended to meet together. This coming together or working together is sometimes referred to as the corporate church. What then should the church be doing when it meets together?

Breaking of Bread
The Breaking of Bread involves the meeting together of those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, to remember him by the taking of bread and wine. This may also be known in some churches as the Communion, Lord’s Supper or love feast.

The Lord Jesus Christ, whilst meeting with his disciples to eat the meal to celebrate the Passover festival in Israel, gave his disciples a new instruction. The record of this event which is found in Luke 22:7 – 38, records of Jesus, “And he took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you.” – (Luke 22:19,20)

Whilst Jesus referred to the bread as being his body, and the wine as being his blood, he intended these to be symbolic. The bread as he says, was intended to symbolise his body that was soon afterwards to be beaten and crucified as a sacrifice to pay the penalty for peoples sins. (Hebrews 10:8 – 10) However, the wine was intended to symbolise his blood that was going to be shed when he was crucified. The shedding of blood was necessary to receive forgiveness for sins. (Hebrews 9:22) In the Old Testament animals were regularly sacrificed to gain God’s forgiveness for sins. However, when Jesus died on the cross, he took the place of the animal sacrifices. Furthermore his sacrifice was sufficient for all time, and therefore unlike Old Testament times it did not need to be repeated. (Hebrews 9:26)

Although Jesus instructed his followers to remember him through the Breaking of Bread, he did not say when this was to be done, or how frequently. Some people today assume that because Acts 20:7 refers to how some in the early church had gathered together on the Sunday for the Breaking of Bread, that this must therefore mean that Sunday is the day that this should take place now. However this is only an assumption. Furthermore some also assume that today this must be done in a church. Yet, the early church did not have church buildings and actually met in people’s homes, so again this is an unfounded opinion. (Acts 2:46)

In 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 Paul gives instructions of how the Breaking of Bread is to be conducted. In these verses Paul repeats Jesus instructions to break the bread and share it, then to pass the cup of wine amongst them. However, Paul adds an additional instruction. This instruction is found in 1 Corinthians 11:28 and says, “A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup”. What Paul is saying is that a person should consider whether their lives are right with God and others. If not, then that person should try to put these matters right before they participate in the Breaking of Bread.

Prayer
Speaking to God in Prayer is an essential part of the Christian life. This without doubt is one of the reasons that Paul does not write, “pray regularly”, but “pray continually”. (1 Thessalonians 5:17) What God is saying through Paul, is that prayer should be as natural to us as breathing. Yet many of us know from our personal experiences, that this opportunity to speak to God is often under used.

Although the Bible tells us that we are to pray for one another, (James 5:16) we do not actually read anywhere in the Bible a command to prayer with one another. However, this does not mean that we should not do so, but rather that it was probably expected anyway. The disciples certainly prayed collectively on occasions as is seen for example when they appoint Matthias to replace Judas. (Acts 1:24) Furthermore, the early church is recorded as having met together for prayer. (Acts 12:12) Indeed it should not be forgotten that many of the New Testament letters instructing on prayer, were not written to individuals, but to whole churches. Therefore it seems likely that the absence of the instruction to meet together for prayer was due to the fact that the church was already doing it, and that it could be taken for granted that this would continue.

Prayer is a personal act, which should be regarded as an essential rather than important part of the Christian life. Although there should be times of personal prayer, the New Testament Church clearly recognised the benefits of meeting together for corporate prayer, and we should do likewise.

Singing
One of the churches main functions of the church is to worship and praise God. This can be done in a variety of ways such as prayer, and even through the way that we conduct our lives. However, another way of worshiping and praising God together is through the singing of hymns. When we sing hymns to God, we are expressing praise to God through music.

Although the purpose of hymn singing is to worship God, we should not forget that joining together in the singing of hymns is also instructed in the Bible. Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians, “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:19) We might not believe ourselves to be talented, however God not only hears the noise from our mouths, but He also hears the melody of our hearts.

Fellowship
The term fellowship can be used in several different ways. For example it can be used to mean meeting together. It can also be used to describe sharing with others. In Acts 2:42 we read of the early church that, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” The early church was committed to fellowship. They met together daily, (Acts 2:46) and shared their possessions and money with those in need. (Acts 2:45) They obviously loved God, but also one another. However there is another reason for coming together and that is to encourage one another.

The writer to the Hebrews writes, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25) This therefore means that one of the purposes of fellowship is to encourage one another.