Articles - Local Church

How does the gospel apply to disagreement in the church? How can we strive for unity without compromise and avoid unnecessary division?

We’ve got to remember that the cross is the basis of Christian unity—we only fit together when our lives are shaped by it, and we only hold together when we’re all clinging to it.

We’ve spent much of the last two months talking about the local church and for many of us the application is laying our lives down and serving the body of believers we’re already part of. But for some, it’s not this easy. For those who need to start at square one and find a good church Mark Dever provides helpful and concise direction in this excerpted material from his book “What Is A Healthy Church?”

(Better yet, you can download a free .pdf of this material right here.)
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How To Find A Good Church

1. Pray.

2. Seek counsel from a godly pastor (or from elders).

As part of our series on the local church we’re excited to let you peek inside Mark Dever’s new book “What Is A Healthy Church?” Here, with the knowledge of a scholar and the heart of a pastor, Mark Dever talks about the often misunderstood issue of becoming a member of a local church.

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Is church membership a biblical idea? In one sense, no. Open up the New Testament, and you won’t find a story about, say, Priscilla and Aquila moving to the city of Rome, checking out one church, then another, and finally deciding to join a third… (read more)

Ever seen somebody asleep during church?

You know, the older guy or college student doing the head bob. It’s fun to watch isn’t it?

I had a friend one time fall asleep in church and dream that he was jumping up for a rebound during a basketball game. He jumped about three feet off of his seat right during the message. It was… (read more)

As part of our series on the church we’re publishing an article from C.J. Mahaney on “Cravings & Conflict.” Think of a it as a guide for surviving and thriving with other Christians in your local church.
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It has been ten years now since the first godly young man requested permission to marry one of my daughters. Today, all three girls are married and it…

We’re partnering with our friends at Crossway to offer our favorite chapters from Mark Dever’s recent book What is a Healthy Church?.

Right now, download Chapter One: Your Christianity and Your Church (Right click. Select “save as”)

Or keep reading to get a sample of the great material in the chapter…

I’m a pastor. This means I have a unique relationship with the local church. Unlike most of you, my commitment to my church is driven not only by my love for the gospel, God’s people, and God’s Word, but also by the fact that “church” is my job. My God-given vocation is to spend my energy, gifts, and time being involved with and serving a particular local church, Central Peninsula…

Thinking about leaving your church? Know a friend that’s thinking about leaving their church?

This single page from Mark Dever’s book is a must-have. It’s clear, simple, full of wisdom, and grounded in scripture. It includes advice to consider before you decide to leave like “weigh your motives” and “do everything in your power to reconcile broken relationships.” It also includes wisdom for what to…

Do you remember the bumper stickers with the slogan “think globally, act locally”?

I used to see them everywhere. And from time to time I’d hear on TV or at a campus event an advocate for this or that cause touting the importance of this maxim. “Think globally, act locally.”

I suppose the slogan aimed at countering two problems. On the one hand, “think globally” suggested…

As part of our series on the Local Church we wanted to hear from people about why they love their local church and how it has affected their lives. Here are four of your stories.

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Brittany
Vista New Life Church
El Paso, TX

Most people would begin a testimony of how they found their local church with a story…

In a recent book, evangelical pollster George Barna describes a new type of Christian whom he (positively) calls Revolutionaries. Barna describes them as “born-again Christians who had eliminated church life from their busy schedules.” He writes that the life of a Revolutionary Christian “reflects the very ideals and principles that characterized the life and purpose of Jesus Christ and that advances the Kingdom of God-despite the fact that [a Revolutionary…

In our generation the local church needs an introduction.

The local church is often seen as optional, it’s no longer assumed. It’s more irrelevant than important. It’s a nice accessory for your Christian walk but if you can’t find one...there are more than enough campus ministries, bible studies, breakfasts, or prayer meetings to try.

There’s just one problem: The local church is all over the New…

We are in a series right now in our singles ministry called Build.

As a singles ministry we are asking the question together “How do we build churches that last?” We are seeking out the answer in the book of Titus.

What floors me about this book is the way that Paul is so glued to the gospel--it is the cornerstone of how he…

The church is often criticized for being out of touch, irrelevant, and outdated. But God provides us with a very different picture of the church in his Word. In the next few blog posts we’re going to talk about the local church and why it matters. We’re going to start our study with church history and why it should matter to us today.

Robin Boisvert, a pastor at…

I got asked a funny question today. I was being interviewed by somebody and they asked me about the statistic that 70% of people between the ages of 18-34, who once attended church, no longer do.

I’m not a huge fan of stats and I don’t know if this stat is accurate. (Somebody google it and get back to me if this is accurate or not.) But I…

We know that there are a lot of people burned by involvement in churches and might be wondering whether to ever go back. This story is for you. It’s the story of a disillusioned pastor that lost and found a passion for the local church. Our hope is that in sharing his story people that have been burned by their church experience would find hope too.

Sitting alone…