Does The Name Of The Church Matter?
Question: Does the name of the church matter? If its matter then what is the name of Christ Church?
Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!
It doesn't matter what name a Church holds, as long as we know it is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, of whose Spirit, must be present there among believers as the evidence that it belongs to Jesus Christ (Rev 3:22).
Nearly two thousand years ago Jesus Christ thundered to Peter the apostle saying, "I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." (Matt 16:18). Still the Church has not changed one bit, because though there might ten thousand teachers, apostles, evangelists, pastors and prophets who might be building it in various places of this planet earth, yet they are only the co-workers who are building the Church along with the Lord Jesus Christ who is the only foundation on which the whole Church stands (1 Cor 3:11, 9).
What is the real Church?
Is it the building made of brick and mortar? By no means, the real building of the Church are the people who are in it, that God is spiritually building to glorify them for eternity in heaven (1 Cor 3:9; Rom 8:30; 1 Peter 2:3-5).
In other words, Jesus described the real Church as a place "where two or three are gathered together in [His]... name" (Matt 18:20), Jesus by His Presence has promised to speak and be in that place to shine the light of his revelation to all those who are part of it (Rev 2:7). Jesus walks in the midst of his Church and guides them to the destination of heavenly Jerusalem (Rev 2:1; Heb 12:22-24).
So in the mind of Jesus, when He sees a Church in a particular area, he does not see all the different Churches that operates under different names in that area, but according to Him He sees only one Church and a lone main gateway leader and under him many many leaders through which God wants to continually speak to a particular city or a village or even a nation (Rev 2:1, 7). God sees a regional Church, while the local church is seen by humans locally which together make up the regional Church a reality (1 Cor 16:19).
So the name of the Church in a house might matter much to the man of the house whom God has raised up as a gift to a group of his saints within that spiritual house of God through which truth is dispensed, it is not of prime importance in a corporate level where they are all considered as a Church in a city, or a state or a nation or even a group of nations (1 Cor 4:1; Phile 1:2; Eph 4:8).
The individual Church name may have a divine inspiration according to the vision that God has given a particular man or woman of God through whom He might have raised it to bless a group of saints in a particular area locally, or they might even use their own name to represent the network that God has raised through them, or a Bible name might be used to describe the ministry God has given to them or a particular name might be used to reveal the main emphasis of their message within the Church. It is not wrong to do that, as long as they in their mind know that they are only part of the One Church that the Lord Jesus Christ has in the heaven and earth (Eph 3:14-15), so that the local Church might not get deceived in to thinking that they are exclusive and become deceived to become a cultist pond of stagnation where death will slowly creep in rather than new bubbling life of heaven through Christ Jesus which normally flows like a river in any of His healthy churches.
Paul called the churches in the city of Corinth as "to the church of God which is at Corinth" (1 Cor 1:2), when he was writing his epistle letter to encourage, build and warn them (1 Cor 14:3). This does not mean that all the churches in the city should be called as the "Church of God", and none should name any other Church with any other name. But rather Paul the apostle was calling the churches of the city of Corinth as the Church which belongs to God and this was not the set name for all the Churches because we know that in other places apostle Paul was describing the Church happening in the houses by the name of the leader of the Church (Rom 16:1, 3-4, 5). So the same apostle Paul when speaking about local churches, he described it as "the churches of Christ" (Rom 16:16). Apostle Paul speaks about the regional Church and the local Church in the same verse in 1 Cor 16:9.
God entrusts his mysteries to certain apostles and prophets (Eph 3:5), in order that they might empower the whole body of Christ with the wisdom of God, so that the Church as a whole might make it be know to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places which are constantly working against the Church (Eph 3:10; 6:12). The divine order of the Church which God has appointed for the dispensation of the gospel ever since it has been established by Him has been pointed out by apostle Paul in 1 Cor 12:28, where he says the divine order of the Church where the ministry starts first with apostles, second prophets, third teachers, fourth evangelist and fifth pastors (Eph 4:11).
So you cannot expect me to say that the name of the Church is "Church of Christ" or "Christ church" only, and thus expect me endorse only that as the legal name, and all others names as not scriptural. If you are believing like that, you have not understood the concept called "The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ" universal, which we have discussed above, and that you have been under the pressure of some denomination that have dogmatized you to accept what they believe as the only doctrine of the entire Church of Jesus Christ of the whole world.
I tell you, that the Church of Jesus Christ is too big for anyone to stake claim to themselves as the real Church, God has a lot of varieties, differences, uniqueness, in his Church that it has become the pillar of truth and a place of unity in diversity which I believe is the greatest spiritual university in the entire world to learn about living a life of character and excellence (1 Tim 3:15).
But if you can be able to think out of the box in to the scriptural ocean of understanding that God can give, then you must have understood the plan of God in the establishment of the local church, city church, regional church, national church and international church which are all part of the One Church that Christ Jesus is building, of which some are in heaven and some are in earth till now and will continue to remain until rapture (Eph 3:14-15).
Much Blessings....
Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!
It doesn't matter what name a Church holds, as long as we know it is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, of whose Spirit, must be present there among believers as the evidence that it belongs to Jesus Christ (Rev 3:22).
Nearly two thousand years ago Jesus Christ thundered to Peter the apostle saying, "I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." (Matt 16:18). Still the Church has not changed one bit, because though there might ten thousand teachers, apostles, evangelists, pastors and prophets who might be building it in various places of this planet earth, yet they are only the co-workers who are building the Church along with the Lord Jesus Christ who is the only foundation on which the whole Church stands (1 Cor 3:11, 9).
What is the real Church?
Is it the building made of brick and mortar? By no means, the real building of the Church are the people who are in it, that God is spiritually building to glorify them for eternity in heaven (1 Cor 3:9; Rom 8:30; 1 Peter 2:3-5).
In other words, Jesus described the real Church as a place "where two or three are gathered together in [His]... name" (Matt 18:20), Jesus by His Presence has promised to speak and be in that place to shine the light of his revelation to all those who are part of it (Rev 2:7). Jesus walks in the midst of his Church and guides them to the destination of heavenly Jerusalem (Rev 2:1; Heb 12:22-24).
So in the mind of Jesus, when He sees a Church in a particular area, he does not see all the different Churches that operates under different names in that area, but according to Him He sees only one Church and a lone main gateway leader and under him many many leaders through which God wants to continually speak to a particular city or a village or even a nation (Rev 2:1, 7). God sees a regional Church, while the local church is seen by humans locally which together make up the regional Church a reality (1 Cor 16:19).
So the name of the Church in a house might matter much to the man of the house whom God has raised up as a gift to a group of his saints within that spiritual house of God through which truth is dispensed, it is not of prime importance in a corporate level where they are all considered as a Church in a city, or a state or a nation or even a group of nations (1 Cor 4:1; Phile 1:2; Eph 4:8).
The individual Church name may have a divine inspiration according to the vision that God has given a particular man or woman of God through whom He might have raised it to bless a group of saints in a particular area locally, or they might even use their own name to represent the network that God has raised through them, or a Bible name might be used to describe the ministry God has given to them or a particular name might be used to reveal the main emphasis of their message within the Church. It is not wrong to do that, as long as they in their mind know that they are only part of the One Church that the Lord Jesus Christ has in the heaven and earth (Eph 3:14-15), so that the local Church might not get deceived in to thinking that they are exclusive and become deceived to become a cultist pond of stagnation where death will slowly creep in rather than new bubbling life of heaven through Christ Jesus which normally flows like a river in any of His healthy churches.
Paul called the churches in the city of Corinth as "to the church of God which is at Corinth" (1 Cor 1:2), when he was writing his epistle letter to encourage, build and warn them (1 Cor 14:3). This does not mean that all the churches in the city should be called as the "Church of God", and none should name any other Church with any other name. But rather Paul the apostle was calling the churches of the city of Corinth as the Church which belongs to God and this was not the set name for all the Churches because we know that in other places apostle Paul was describing the Church happening in the houses by the name of the leader of the Church (Rom 16:1, 3-4, 5). So the same apostle Paul when speaking about local churches, he described it as "the churches of Christ" (Rom 16:16). Apostle Paul speaks about the regional Church and the local Church in the same verse in 1 Cor 16:9.
God entrusts his mysteries to certain apostles and prophets (Eph 3:5), in order that they might empower the whole body of Christ with the wisdom of God, so that the Church as a whole might make it be know to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places which are constantly working against the Church (Eph 3:10; 6:12). The divine order of the Church which God has appointed for the dispensation of the gospel ever since it has been established by Him has been pointed out by apostle Paul in 1 Cor 12:28, where he says the divine order of the Church where the ministry starts first with apostles, second prophets, third teachers, fourth evangelist and fifth pastors (Eph 4:11).
So you cannot expect me to say that the name of the Church is "Church of Christ" or "Christ church" only, and thus expect me endorse only that as the legal name, and all others names as not scriptural. If you are believing like that, you have not understood the concept called "The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ" universal, which we have discussed above, and that you have been under the pressure of some denomination that have dogmatized you to accept what they believe as the only doctrine of the entire Church of Jesus Christ of the whole world.
I tell you, that the Church of Jesus Christ is too big for anyone to stake claim to themselves as the real Church, God has a lot of varieties, differences, uniqueness, in his Church that it has become the pillar of truth and a place of unity in diversity which I believe is the greatest spiritual university in the entire world to learn about living a life of character and excellence (1 Tim 3:15).
But if you can be able to think out of the box in to the scriptural ocean of understanding that God can give, then you must have understood the plan of God in the establishment of the local church, city church, regional church, national church and international church which are all part of the One Church that Christ Jesus is building, of which some are in heaven and some are in earth till now and will continue to remain until rapture (Eph 3:14-15).
Much Blessings....
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