(29) Is the Church Relevant? (BC 27)

Immanuel Fellowship Church

Professing Christians sometimes view the church as an option to either accept or decline. Some people see the church as unnecessary for spiritual growth so long as they believe in Jesus. Other people cite church divisions and the hypocrisy of members—and especially of leaders—as reasons for shunning organized religion.But the Spirit insists that the church is the "house of God" and "the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15). As a testimony to Scripture's emphasis on the church the Belgic Confession devotes six articles to this theme, around twenty percent of its total content. The confession introduces the church with three sets of paradoxical assertions: the church is visible and invisible, weak and strong, and universal yet united. These attributes of the church can keep us from leaning in one unbiblical direction or the other.