What is the Church?

Welcome to the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost Season B.  This sermon was preached at Faith Lutheran Church in Gardner, MA.  We started “What is the Church?” series.  The scripture readings for the day are 1 Corinthians 12: 12-26 and Matthew 28: 18-20.  To listen to all the sermons in this series click here.  

 In this sermon Pastor Joe explores these ideas:

• The word “church” creates a host of diverse images. To some a church is a building. To some, church is an institutional organization. To others, church is equivalent to a one-hour worship assembly.

• If we were to define the church, we might employ something simple and straightforward, such as: The Church is a spiritual community organized to do God’s will.

• The church is made up of individuals and those individuals are often described as a “body”, a living community.  As an organized   community, the church does have structure. It requires leadership. It has a mission. It initiates plans. It gathers to meet for worship and education, fellowship, prayer and more.

• A description of the history of the Lutheran Church in Gardner, MA.