What kind of Church would Jesus approve of

If anyone responds, their answer will probably be the denomination they associate with..

Non

The fellowship of believers without a name. Only Christ. Something very simple not organized by men.

What kind of Church would Jesus approve of

Click to expand...

To answer your question from Scripture, we must go to Acts chapter 2.

THE TRUE GOSPEL MUST BE PREACHED IN THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT
36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

THE SPIRIT MUST CONVICT SINNERS WHEN THEY HEAR THE GOSPEL
37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

REPENTANCE AND BELIEVER'S BAPTISM MUST BE PREACHED CONSISTENTLY
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

THE GOSPEL MUST BE FOR ALL SINNERS AND THEIR CHILDREN
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

THE FULL AND TRUE GOSPEL MUST BE PREACHED WITHOUT COMPROMISE
40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

SINNERS MUST BE SAVED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH AND BE BAPTIZED
41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

SAINTS MUST ASSEMBLE TOGETHER FOR ALL THAT IS INCLUDED HERE
42 And they continued stedfastly in [1] the apostles' doctrine and [2] fellowship, and [3] in breaking of bread, and [4] in prayers.

THE WORLD MUST SEE THAT GOD IS AT WORK IN THIS CHURCH
43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

THE CHURCH MUST BE IN UNITY IN EVERY WAY
44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common;

THE CHURCH MUST BE A CARING AND SHARING CHURCH
45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

EVERY BELIEVER MUST BE IN WORSHIP DAILY WITHIN THE HEAVENLY TEMPLE
46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

THE CHURCH SHOULD BE IN THE BUSINESS OF SAVING SOULS FROM HELL
47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Now it is up to you to examine the Statement of Faith as well as the actual functioning of the evangelical and fundamentalist churches in your neighborhood to see which one is doing these things.

Of the major denominations, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod looks to be one of the "most biblical". They're theologically conservative without being guilty of making doctrines out of popular nonsense which is common in "conservative" churches (which is anything but conservative).

Thanks, that's a very helpful Biblical summary of what to look for in a Church.

I will carefully read the Churches confession of faith and see what they stand for before I even waste time attending.

Our new pastor seems more keen to have a good band and an expensive coffee machine to attract people but his sermons only last for like 20 mins and the rest of the time is spent on announcements and music. I go home from a service with my ears ringing from the loud music which is mostly noise pollution.

I'd like to find a conservative Church that preaches the whole counsel of the Lord, even if it offends some people. Our current pastor is very careful not to offend anyone, he only preaches about the love of God. He wants everyone to feel comfortable, so his preaching is all inclusive and he believes in ecumenical-ism.

If you are looking for a perfect church or one that believes 100% the way you do, you will not find it.
There are no churches without sin in them. You do understand that local churches are filled with sinners just like you and me, so they cannot be without problems.
Every local church in the Bible had problems, yet they were still the Lord's churches.
If you are conservative, look for a small group. Don't be afraid to talk one on one with the pastor and other members.
Take time to make a detailed list of what you want to know.
Ask them anything and everything you want to know.
And know this also, in todays religious world, the name on the door does not always tell you what they believe.
I am a Landmark Baptist, but many who wear that name I will not fellowship with because even though we share the name we do not believe the same.

Looks like your pastor is totally off-track. Move on as quickly as possible.

There are still biblical conservative churches around. You may have to travel if necessary, but that should not be an obstacle.

The issue is not about a *perfect church* but a FAITHFUL church. A faithful conservative church will make (1) the Bible the sole and supreme authority in all things, (2) the Gospel message as plain and clear as possible, with sound doctrine being taught consistently and (3) the salvation of souls and the edification of saints the first priority.

To find a perfect church, you have to understand the teachings of Lord Christ from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, or at least Matthew 12:30; 10:32,39; and 7:13,14.
If you do not understand these, you will never find a perfect church

I'm currently reading the 1689 Baptist Confession of faith to get a clearer understanding of what a new testament Church should teach. There's a lot there to consider, and it's not all easy to understand but it seems to be consistent with what the Bible says.

I know there's no such thing as a perfect Church, but it should hold to what Jesus taught as closely as possible. I find most Churches strive to be relevant to their particular demographic society around them, and give the people what they want rather than giving Holy Scripture the highest priority.

Most modern Churches seem to accommodate and affirm many lifestyles, that the Bible called sinful. We have a gay couple in our Church, they are very nice people but I don't think the Church can affirm their relationship while remaining faithful to the Bible's teaching. I believe the pastor should encourage them to repent and ask God to do a work in them to liberate them from that lifestyle, I've heard testimonies of former gay people who God changed and they are now married with children.

I'm not trying to single out gay people here, all sin is sin. I'm just saying that it's the responsibility of the Church to guide people into the truth and the truth will set them free.

Brother, for you understand I ask a question : Do you start to build a building from the roof or from foundation ?

At my knowledge you start to build from the foundation, and your car has a foundation .i
The same the Christianity has a foundation, and to find that foundation you have to understand at least Matthew 12:30; 10:32,39; and 7:13,14.
What other word do you can use for the word "gate"?

What gate, Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Baptist, Penticostal, Seven Day Adventist, Islam, Republican,Democratic, Christian Socialist, and so on ?

First you have to understand the teachings of Lord Christ from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, because them are the foundation of Christianity.

About homosexuals, they have to repent before Holy God. According with the laws of Holy God we have to ask them to repent. If they do not repent, then you bring them before the congregation. And the congregation have to ask them to repent, and if they don't repent, THEN them must be through out from society.

I've studied many religions and only found the Church of Christ to be biblically accurate. The naysayers will tell you it was created by Alexander Campbell, which is not true. He noticed the church was getting off track and restored it back to the original church Christ established and purchased with His blood, before all the branch-off churches started- like catholicism which started by appointing elders over several congregations instead of elders at each congregation.

They will tell you not having musical instruments is wrong, mainly because that would admit their religion is wrong. But the bible says to rightly divide the word- old testament and new testament. You can not bring old testament practices into the new testament church. Such as taking adulterers outside the city and stoning them to death, sacrificing a physically perfect lamb, paying for certain things with certain animals, and so on. You see, God's laws were obeyed physically in the old testament, but are now obeyed spiritually in the new testament. Just read Ephesians 6:10-17, and Romans 7:1-4. They physically praised God (instruments), we spiritually praise God (fruit of our lips).

What we all must do is make certain our worship matches the doctrine of Christ (the new testament, not man-made writings). For the bible says "They worship Me in vain, their doctrine is merely human rules." In vain! That means it does not result in salvation! Listen, we cannot open the phone book and choose from a buffet of churches. There is only one Lord, one Faith, one baptism. We must make certain our church matches the first church in the book of Acts.

Brother, the Christianity in NOT a religion BUT IS A KINGDOM, because Lord Christ is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lord.

What is the correct definition of religion ? - and what is the history of the word " religion" ? - and what is the correct English word for the word " religion" ?

The Church whose existence can be traced to 1st century AD.

the candidates are Roman Catholic/Orthodox/Coptic Church (choose choose and investigate for yourself if you are an intelligent or thinking man okay?)

it is impossible for newly founded Born Again groups to be God's real Church which I know that most if not all are only created by greedy preachers who want to milk their members' money because they had used religion as form of legal scamming that the police will never persecute. in fact some policemen and even politicians will join these religious scams.

no wonder why some people especially in the States became atheists or agnostics because of these greedy pastors.

While I agree with you, I am afraid no local church will be 100% faithful 100% of the time.
Never has been such a church.
And just because one can not find a local church that is 100% faithful is not an excuse to not assemble.
We search out the best we can find and try to make it better.

Surly you are taking about the building, the church is made up of people that have recieved salvation by being born again. It is the only true church there is, a building is just a meeting place and can be mistaken for some kind of God ordained entity, strange.

The best Church is that which is built in our heart while we preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16.15) that Jesus make approach of us :

• "Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." (2Cor 3.1-3).

After all, who is built spiritual home is us:

• "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." (1Peter 2.5).

The church of Christ has originated with men, namely THOMAS CAMPBELL, ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, WALTER SCOTT, and BARTON W. STONE. Did these men actually "restore" the gospel, the church, and true New Testament worship, as they claim, or did they simply create another sect bent on a more dogmatic sectarianism than others they renounced?

http://www.faithfacts.org/world-religions-and-theology/church-of-christ

Musical instruments when used with care, can enhance the singing of praise to the Lord. That was seen by the Christian church that split from the church of Christ. Musical instruments were obviously considered a help to praise in the Old Testament. It seems strange to say that something God thought was a blessing in the Old Testament and is now an evil in the New Testament church.

Since instrumental music has the Old Testament precedent of being approved of God ("musical instruments of God" 1 Chronicles 16:42), and there is no evidence that there was a time when this approval ceased, we have biblical authority for its validity.

We are authorized to use “psalms” in the NT (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). Ephesians 5:19 says "..speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.." and correspondingly Colossians 3:16 says to, "..admonish one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs." The word "psalm" in the Greek dictionary, definition (#5568): "A set piece of music, i.e. a sacred ode (accompanied with the voice, harp, or other instrument)." The root word of psalm means "to twitch, twang or pluck," such as pluck a string of a musical instrument."

Strong's Concordance
psalmos: a striking (of musical strings), a psalm
Original Word: ψαλμός, οῦ, ὁ
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: psalmos
Phonetic Spelling: (psal-mos')
Short Definition: a psalm
Definition: a psalm, song of praise, the Hebrew book of Psalms.
HELPS Word-studies
5568 psalmós – a psalm ("Scripture set to music"). Originally, a psalm (5568 /psalmós) was sung and accompanied by a plucked musical instrument (typically a harp), especially the OT Psalms.

[The Psalms of the OT were often sung and were accompanied by sophisticated musical arrangements].

NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin
from psalló
Definition
a striking (of musical strings), a psalm
NASB Translation
Psalm (1), psalm (1), Psalms (3), psalms (2).

The words "making melody" are used in Ephesians 5:19, but "how" this is done is found in Isaiah 23:16, and it is with a musical instrument:" Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered."

Also, Amos 5:23 speaks of "the melody of thy viols," which is also reference to a musical instrument. So if "the Bible interprets itself," these passages show "how" to make melody – with musical instruments.

*If the church of Christ (or any other church) wants to leave out musical instruments in their worship, that is their prerogative. But I don't believe that it's right for them to judge and condemn everyone else who chooses to use musical instruments like David did and as the apostle Paul instructed.

Teaching salvation by faith + works and forbidding instrumental music in worship and turning it into a legalistic prescription for members of the church does not match the first church in the book of Acts. I at one time had temporarily attended the CoC so I understand how they try to "shoe horn" works "into" salvation through faith. Works salvation is no salvation at all!

Acts 16:30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.