Pilgrim’s Way

In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said, "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." The church here refers to the universal church, which comprises all the redeemed believers who are born again by the Spirit, without limit of time or space.

* The universal church includes the believers from the distant past, like the apostles, and those who are coming in future generations.

* The universal church includes all believers from every nation, culture, language, or experience.

* The universal church is a spiritual entity whose membership may number in the hundreds of millions and has no physical manifestation of its own.

When the New Testament refers to the universal church, the emphasis is often on the relationship believers have to Christ, who is the head of the church (see Col:18).

The other aspect of the church is found in Matthew 18:17, which says, "If he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church." The church here is limited in time and space and is local, because Jesus says in this verse that you can tell your situation to the church.

The local church is the visible and practical aspect of the universal church. The universal church is expressed and realized in the local churches. Without the local churches there would be no practicality and actuality of the universal church.

Local churches are not only related spiritually to Christ but also have a physical and geographical identity. The seven churches John wrote to in Revelation 2 and 3 were local churches. He wrote to the churches at Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, and so on.

These churches, though all related to each other in a common faith, were each distinct entities and were addressed as such. In the same way, churches today, comprised of true believers, are local churches. If one wants to know what the church of Jesus Christ is like they can visit a local body of believers like Pilgrim’s Way or New Vision.

A New Testament church is the meeting together for worship, prayer, fellowship, evangelism and mutual edification, of all the people of God in a given locality, on the ground that they are Christians in the same locality. A local church is the expression of the Body of Christ in that locality.

Whenever we attend a local church made up of individuals who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we are seeing the Body of Christ. There is no other place to go to see the church as it is presented in the New Testament. The only physical representation of the universal church is the local church.

The word “church” is only used four times in the Bible in a general, universal sense. Almost every time you see the word "church" in the Bible it's used to refer to a specific group of believers, a local manifestation, like we are here today.

Once you become a believer you are automatically a part of the universal church of God -- automatically, the moment you gave your life to Christ. But you don't become a part of a local church until you make that choice. It's like when you were born physically, you were automatically entered into the human race. You didn't have a choice. You became a part of the human race the moment you were born. But you didn't become a part of any local family until somebody chose to take you home from the hospital.

A woman once said to a pastor, "I don't need to be a part of any local church. I'm a part of the invisible church." He said, “That's great but when you get sick, in the hospital, who visits you? The invisible pastor?”

Today in our media-driven, technology-based society, it is easy for someone who professes to be a Christian to skip out of the local church and pad their conscience by plugging into “cable-TV church” or the “Sitting at home in your armchair listening to Heaven 600 or WRBS church.”

But the Bible is letting us know that you and I need somebody in the flesh. There are over thirty commands in the Bible you cannot obey, you cannot follow, unless you're part of a local church and say, "That's going to be my church family."

What's the difference between being a member of the universal church and being a member of a local church? The difference is the word "commitment". I become a member of the universal church by committing my life to Christ. I become a member of a local church by committing myself to other Christians. I say, "That's going to be my church home where I'm going to give and be given to, where I'm going to serve and be served, where I'll love and be loved."