Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Critical Analysis of the Concept of the Church
    A Critical Analysis of the Concept of the Church
    A Critical Analysis of the Concept of the Church
    Ebook92 pages1 hour

    A Critical Analysis of the Concept of the Church

    By A. Chudasama

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Religion can be looked upon as a way of life, but being religious does not make anyone Gods adopted child. Congregating with other persons does not make one the Church. That is why, the requirements are to be born-again of the water, the Holy Spirit, and the blood, as rightly mentioned, but it also involves living and walking by faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord and the Saviour of mankind.

    Being the Church as the world knows is not just going into a building to congregate for worship, making empty noises, preaching enticing words, and saying thus said the Lord. Hence, the reason for the schisms, when forms of spirit-filled actions take place among churchgoers who are saying the Spirit of God, fell upon the Church. Truly, those are the actions of churchgoers. True worship and walking in the Spirit are demonstrated through the Church in man; Gods dwelling place in man known as the Church militant communicates with the Church triumphantly and invisibly.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherXlibris UK
    Release dateApr 16, 2013
    ISBN9781479793747
    A Critical Analysis of the Concept of the Church

    Related to A Critical Analysis of the Concept of the Church

    Related ebooks

    Religion & Spirituality For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Stumbling Blocks That Delay Church Transformation Part 5

      May 20, 2022

      In my previous writings I have pointed out that institutionalised Christianity is fading away. Organised religious systems are sucking the life of Christ out of believers. In many cases, believers are busy with the church programme, but not with God.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Stumbling Blocks That Delay Church Transformation

      Feb 11, 2022

      In the strongest sense of the word, we must declare infancy in the church as a pandemic that demands serious attention. If not dealt with, it can delay the evolution of the church for hundreds of years. Before we can fully lay our eyes on society at

      2 min read

    • Article

      Evangelism Dispelling The Pharisee Spirit

      Feb 9, 2024

      During the transition from the Old into the New Testament, there were various internal challenges that the early Church faced. Acts 15:1-22 highlights how false brethren sought to operate and impose mixed doctrines onto the Gentiles – believing that

      2 min read

    • Article

      A New Day Of Pentecost

      Jul 21, 2023

      A New Day Of Pentecost
      2 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Dec 30, 2019

      Letters To The Editor
      6 min read

    • Article

      Stumbling Blocks That Delay Church Transformation Part 4

      Apr 22, 2022

      Throughout this series, I have highlighted the various stumbling blocks that delay church transformation. My argument remains that the church fails to demonstrate the Kingdom of God. Leaders in churches have come to the realisation that there is more

      2 min read

    • Article

      THE WAR FOR OUR YOUTH Why creation still matters

      Dec 30, 2019

      We’re being told by public education systems, universities, media, some parents, and unfortunately many church leaders, that parts of the Bible are not relevant anymore and that we need to reinvent God’s word. So, with this situation, in order to und

      3 min read

    • Article

      Breaking Christian Traditions

      Jun 12, 2020

      We are starting to open up our country after many weeks of lockdown that saw citizens confined to their houses. The Christian Church suffered a huge setback during this time, as Christians across the world could not attend services or cell groups, co

      1 min read

    • Article

      Time For The Church To Embark On A Navel-gazing Exercise

      Mar 31, 2024

      FOR any political structure that fails in the absence of moral direction, it would seem natural for it to turn to organised religion for leadership. Unfortunately, the direction of most modern institutional religion is decidedly secular. The institu

      5 min read

    • Article

      Red Alert

      May 20, 2019

      Why does the Church today appear to be so powerless? Why are so many churches emptying? Why have young people fled the church? Why do some Christians consider ‘gathering together as the church’ to be irrelevant? What is happening in our generation?

      5 min read

    • Article

      Uncharted Cultural Waters

      Mar 18, 2022

      Uncharted Cultural Waters
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Conversation

      Jul 22, 2019

      The Conversation
      7 min read

    • Article

      Audrey Hardy

      Feb 10, 2020

      We read a lot these days about ‘fake news’ – but I wonder if such a thing as a ‘fake gospel’ also exists, and how to define it? Does one consider anything that does not bring the believer to maturity, as mentioned in Colossians 1:28, a fake gospel? D

      1 min read

    • Article

      Stumbling Blocks That Delay Church Transformation Part 3

      Mar 18, 2022

      The current state of the Church is totally insufficient. We struggle to effectively deal with the challenges that are on our horizon. It is my opinion that the modern Church is not equipped for the challenges of our day. The powers and principalities

      2 min read

    • Article

      How Should We Respond To Celebrities Coming To Christ?

      Dec 30, 2019

      If you’ve been following the news lately, you will have noticed a significant wave of celebrities who are turning to Christ. In what is referred to as a massive spiritual movement, the sinful city of Hollywood is turning more and more stars away from

      5 min read

    • Article

      At Fellowship Church, Faith Knows No Creed Or Color

      Jul 19, 2021

      The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples, founded in 1944, transcends barriers of race, color, and creed, uniting instead in a shared humanity.

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Critical Analysis of the Concept of the Church

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      A Critical Analysis of the Concept of the Church - A. Chudasama

      Copyright © 2013 by A. Chudasama.

      Library of Congress Control Number:   2013904944

      ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-4836-1181-5

                      Softcover       978-1-4797-9373-0

                      Ebook           978-1-4797-9374-7

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

      Rev. date: 03/15/2013

      To order additional copies of this book, contact:

      Xlibris Corporation

      0-800-644-6988

      www.Xlibrispublishing.co.uk

      Orders@Xlibrispublishing.co.uk

      305952

      CONTENTS

      1.   Introduction

      Hope

      Water Baptism/Eucharist

      Holy Spirit Baptism

      Eucharist/Lord supper

      2.   The Church, Its Relationship With God, and Its Future (Chances for the Future)

      The Human and the Divine

      3.   The Church as the Body of Christ

      The Organic Model

      The Old Testament and the Use of the Word

      The New Testament and the Use of the Word

      4.   Eschatology: The Church and the Second Coming of Christ (The Premillennial)

      The Resurrection

      Universal Resurrection

      Death and Judgement

      The Intermediate State

      Judgement

      Heaven and Hell

      The Life of Heaven

      New Heavens

      Retribution

      Hell

      Signs Will Precede With Christ’s Return

      The Preaching of the Gospel

      The Great Tribulation

      The Christian Behaviour

      The Ministry

      Conclusion

      Bibliography

      1.   INTRODUCTION

      Religion can be looked upon as a way of life, but being religious does not make anyone God’s adopted child. Congregating with other persons does not make one the Church. That is why, the requirements are to be born-again of the water, the Holy Spirit, and the blood, as rightly mentioned, but it also involves living and walking by faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord and the Saviour of mankind.

      Being the Church as the world knows is not just going into a building to congregate for worship, making empty noises, preaching enticing words, and saying ‘thus said the Lord’. Hence, the reason for the schisms, when forms of spirit-filled actions take place among churchgoers who are saying the Spirit of God, fell upon the Church. Truly, those are the actions of ‘churchgoers’. True worship and walking in the Spirit are demonstrated through the Church in man; God’s dwelling place in man known as the Church militant communicates with the Church triumphantly and invisibly.

      True worshippers of God, those who congregate for the purpose of worship, would behave differently under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. As demonstrated in Apostle Paul’s letter in the book of Acts (chapter two), it was an assembly ordered by Jesus himself. The disciples were with one accord in one place; cloven tongues of fire sat upon each of them. The Holy Ghost indwelt in them spoke with other tongues because of the utterance given to them by the spirit.

      I have chosen to write about the Church, its relationship with God, and the future because there are many like myself who, at one point of time, were led to believe that it is only a building where people meet to worship, praise, and glorify God the Almighty One. Human beings have never been specific about the Church, its relationship with God, and the future. In today’s society, the biblical view of the Church appears to be depreciated, and its teachings are very much rejected.

      Depreciation has taken precedence over faith and belief in biblical matters and things pertaining to the Church. It is a common experience today to hear people saying things like ‘I like Jesus, but I don’t like the Church’ or ‘what can the Church do for me when brethren are divided among themselves’.

      Some have even placed preference on Jesus’s teachings, yet to them the church is a complicated addition brought into existence. There are also parents in this society who have raised their children in the Christian faith. They have displayed great love for God, and naturally, they wanted their children to love him too; some of those children went away from the family environment and misbehaved in despicable ways that are not pleasing to God.

      There are those who model the Christian faith badly, and as a result, people turn away. Church, as I now perceive it, is all to do with hypocrisy, and there are those who model so well what it means to be Christlike. It is not only the individual Christians but also the entire Christian communities who need to model the new life which is to be found in Jesus Christ.

      However, one need not be a minister to come across stories like this, yet in such a beautiful body, many young people seem to fit in to abandon the faith, and most quitters of the faith claim ‘they have switched from Christianity yet attend Church because of professing Christians and their lifestyle’.

      It is also noticeable that the Church serves the world best when it is not distinctively and apologetically the Church, and when she tries to be different, she models for the world what God calls the world to become. However, the Church is modelling what she means to be, a community of caring people and of character.

      Paul and Silas were looked upon as model Christians for the Thessalonians; they were imitators of Jesus Christ. Apparently, when the word Church is mentioned, the picture which springs to mind is a building, maybe with Gothic architecture, cold and unprepossessing, possibly institutions like the denominational church of today. I must say that it is important to know and understand what God is saying to earth dwellers and his purpose on the earth, especially in these terrible times we are undergoing and those before this era underwent.

      Consequently, it is requisite that this generation is in need of biblical concepts in order to build according to God’s purpose for the present and future life to come. There are various concepts of the Church that have to be rooted out, pulled down, destroyed, and thrown down before God can build and plant the truth concerning his Church. Scriptures also show us from Jeremiah’s ministry that everything is to be shaken that can be shaken: nations, governments, philosophies, denominations, cultures, tradition of men, doctrines. Concepts and values are included and are being as never before. All this has to be done before the Lord can build and plant truth. The only thing that will remain unshaken is The Church of God that is in the Kingdom of God.

      The Church today has built up organisations that are not necessarily The Church that Christ said he would build. Those unnecessary things could be part of it and practical expressions of its ministry, but the good thing about it is that they are not necessarily The Church and need to be considered in the light of divine intentions. There are also faulty concepts that need to be rooted out and build with Christ in mind.

      Apparently, to know the truth is to be free and to know the Christ

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1