Frank Turk: Our Relationship to the Local Church

Frank Turk joins me this month to discuss our relationship to the local church. Frank is a blogger at Pyromaniacs, centuri0n.blogspot.com and Calvinist Gadfly. Frank has been quite passionate for many years about the subject of Christians and the Church, and has a lot of wisdom to share on it.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:09:55 — 32.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS | Subscribe to Echo Zoe Radio

Outline of the Discussion

Involvement in a local church is a very important part of the Christian life.
What is a local church, and how do we join one?
- A church is:
  - It's a place where Scripture is read.
  - Elders practice discipline.
  - People work to obey Christ.
- Figure out if you are a Protestant.
- What kind of Protestant are you? Paedo-baptist? Credo-baptist? Lutheran?
- You need to go to a church where the pastor knows he's accountable to other people, and that when he opens the Bible on Sunday, he's not just setting it aside, but telling his congregation what it means.
- Actually join the church. Don't just go with the intent of being fed, but of being a part of the feeding.
Finding a good church may not be easy, especially in countries where believers are fewer in numbers.
A new believer needs to read the Word of God, and seek to do it. This means making disciples of others. As they find other believers and fellowship together, they should increase their numbers until they reach a point that they need to find a leader or become equipped to become a leader of a congregation.
There is no excuse to be without a church in America. Even if the congregation is filled with young, immature, and frail believers, it's important to be a part of a congregation.
The churches of the first century, as described in the New Testament, were not perfect organizations. We forget how messed up they are, and wrongly assume that our congregations today can be perfect. There has never been a “Golden Age” of the Church, and there won't be until Christ returns.
Leaving a church is a big deal.
- It is similar to divorce in the seriousness of change in life.
- If it's not hard, you're doing it wrong.
- We may have no choice. Frank was forced to move away from his home church in order to find work. Such a departure is understandable and can be necessary.
- When we have differences with the leadership of the local church, we should work together with them to improve the situation. We shouldn't leave the church unless we are asked to leave.
- We should always seek reconciliation, but not at the cost of Truth.
It is important to our spiritual health, and the health of the church that we not only belong to a church, but that we're also involved in that church. We should be exercising our gifts to the benefit of the congregation.
- We all have a bucket of gifts and a bucket of needs. Our needs can only be fulfilled with others' gifts, and our gifts will fill others' needs.