Which Church Should I Join?

by T.W. Fullerton, Melbourne, Australia | Category: General | Feb 1983

This question is often asked by young believers. Those who have accepted Christ as their Saviour and desire to own Him as Lord in their lives are often perplexed about it. They are frequently advised to join some evangelical body or group that holds firmly to the Deity of Christ, the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, the necessity of the new birth, and a life lived in moral conformity with the teachings of the Word of God. As to the four things enumerated we are fully in agreement, but the advice to "join some evangelical body" is rather vague and leaves the questioner to choose for himself.

Were we living in early apostolic days there would have been no necessity to ask this question. The same form of teaching was given to all who by faith received the divine proclamation that "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried; and that He hath been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:1-4). It was God's purpose to have a kingdom on earth to replace the kingdom entrusted to Israel which had been taken from them ('Matt. 21:43). The new kingdom would be composed of obedient disciples whose hearts had been won by the love of God manifest in the gospel, and who had been saved by divine grace. In the mercy of God towards Israel, His ancient people, it was His will that the gospel should first be proclaimed in the city where His Son had been rejected and slain. The result was that after the Word of God had been proclaimed there, a company of people numbering about three thousand were obedient to the faith. Their confession of faith in Christ was seen in their baptism, which signified their death, burial, and resurrection with Christ, and consequently their separation from the nation. They continued in the teaching of the apostles, which is briefly summarized in the words of Acts 2:41, 42. Here was the first church of God, conforming to a pattern which was followed elsewhere among both Jews and Gentiles as the Word of the Lord spread to other parts of Judea and throughout the Roman Empire.

There was divinely ordered unity throughout all the churches of God which then came into existence. All were taught the same pattern of doctrine. Shepherds (overseers) of the one flock were appointed in every church; these were responsible and spiritually minded men, whose work was to care for the people of the Lord in the fellowship of churches, referred to in 1 Corinthians 1:9, as "the Fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." It was the responsibility of such overseers to maintain unity among themselves in all matters of doctrine and practice. How this was done is described in Acts 15. Elders met together to resolve a serious difficulty. When agreement had been reached the united mind of the elderhood was conveyed to the churches. These churches were the kingdom of God of the New Covenant, and also the house of God, which replaced the material house in Jerusalem. Its priesthood was one that included all who were gathered into churches of God; theirs was the privilege of offering up spiritual sacrifices of worship, praise, and thanksgiving when together for the remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were also a royal priesthood, a holy nation-to show forth the excellencies of Him who had called them out of darkness into His marvellous light (1 Pet. 2:5-9). The Levitical priesthood had given place to the holy priesthood of the New Covenant, and the high priestly work of Aaron and his descendants to the perpetual great priestly work of the glorified Lord as Son over God's house.

Under both Old and New Covenants, God's desire has been the same: to have a redeemed people worshipping and serving Him in His house. In Paul's epistle to the Ephesians we find not only the truth concerning the church which is Christ's body, in which all believers have been eternally placed through divine grace, but also the fact that the aggregate of obedient disciples found in churches of God compose the house of God, which is described as "each several building (RVM, every building), fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord" (Eph. 2:21, 22).

The foregoing, we submit, is the pattern for today, providing the answer to any who are perplexed concerning the confusion in christendom, and who inquire, "which church should I join?".

T.W. Fullerton, Melbourne, Australia | Feb 1983
General