Believe and Speak--We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

 

Matthew 18:20

Acts 2:42-47

Philippians 4:3

Philemon 1:1-3

Romans 16:1-16

Ephesians 2:13-22

Ephesians 4:1-6

Colossians 1:18-19

1 Timothy 3:14-15

John 17:20-23

Hebrews 12:22-24

Revelation 21:22-27

2 Corinthians 4:13

We start with the most basic verse that supports a gathering of believers in Jesus' presence--"Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them."

In Acts, we see the local church in its very beginning stages-- all who believed were united in their common devotion to the apostles' teaching (which is what "apostolic" means, following the apostles' teachings), fellowship, prayer, and praise.  In both Philippians and Philemon, Paul is writing to members of  local churches.  The opposite of local is universal(which is what catholic means.  In this creed it does not reference the Roman Catholic church).  Romans 16 mentions local church members and missionaries, ending with the phrase "All the churches of Christ greet you."  Ephesians 2 says it like this--we are fellow citizens in the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ as our cornerstone, and growing into a holy temple in the Lord.  Local and Universal.  Ephesians 4 says "bear with one another in love", which shows a local, personal relationship with fellow believers; and also one body and one Spirit, a universal union.  Jesus is the head of the body, both local and universal.  The church, visible and invisible, is enlisted to both uphold and reinforce the truth of God's Word.  Jesus prayed in the garden for His church to be united, as He is One with the Father.  He's praying for His disciples, the first local church.  But He's also praying for everyone who will follow because of their teaching, the universal church.  And He's praying that this universal church will be faithful locally to tell the world that Jesus has come and He loves us. (Is anyone's head spinning yet? 😇) The local and universal, visible and invisible, catholic and apostolic church, will one day finally be united in an assembly in heaven, the city of the living God! 

We as congregations bearing God's Name get it so wrong sometimes.  We fail at every level. And then sometimes we get it right--serving God, serving each other, serving the lost.  But then we get it wrong again.  We don't sound so different from the Israelites of the Old Testament, do we? They got it right, then wrong, then right again, then so much more wrong.  😓 But someday, all will be made right in the city of the living God.  There will be an assembling of all those who are written in the Book of Life, the roster of heaven.  Not because any of us earned it (obviously...) but because God, the judge of all, and Jesus, who has made and will make our spirits perfect by His blood, have invited us.  There will be no temple there, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb, the light and the lamp.   The churches visible finally getting church Invisible right, because finally nothing unclean, detestable, or false will be allowed.  The final culmination.  A celebration.  Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, we also believe, and so we also speak.