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In
Matthew
22:37-40 and
Matthew 28:19-20,
God spells out the five purposes for the church.
They are as follows: |
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| Worship | ... love the Lord with all your heart... | "You must worship the Lord your God;
serve only him." Matthew 4:10 "O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together." Psalm 34:3 (NIV) |
| Fellowship | ... baptizing them... |
"Now you are no longer
strangers to God and foreigners to heaven, but you are
members of God's very own family, citizens of God's
country, and you belong in God's household with every
other Christian." Ephesians 2:19 (LB) |
| Maturity | ... teaching them to obey... | "So we
continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to
teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature
person in Christ." Colossians 1:28 "So let us stop going over the basics of Christianity again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding." Hebrews 6:1 |
| Ministry | ... love your neighbors as yourself... | "He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ." Ephesians 4:11-12 |
| Evangelism | ... go and make disciples... |
"And then he told them, 'Go into all the
world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.'" Mark
16:15 "He spoke to them again and said, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.'" John 20:21 |
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A Life Development system, will be put in place early in the life of the church. This system will help us guide people to a deeper relationship with God, and help us teach the basics in a logical and practical fashion. |