The Purpose of the Church

The church, the larger, complete, global community called by the name of Christ and sealed with the Spirit, exists for a variety of reasons.  As Christians, we interact within our communities at different levels of experience, relationship, and mission.

If you googled the phrase “functions of the church,” what might you find?  What is it that defines us as a group – connected as we are across cultures, generations, languages and families?  Surprisingly, Christian denominations and particular churches seem to always give the same answers to this question.  In actuality, it is not so surprising, since each one is firmly grounded in the Word of God.

The foursquare denomination defines the core values of our movement (and by extension, the church) in the following way:

1. Christ-Centered Worship
2. Church Health and Biblical Balance
3. Spirit-filled discipleship
4. Global Evangelism
5. Fellowship and Ministry
6. Social Conscience

We at Life Pacific College are in complete agreement with our denomination's values, and what's more believe that each category will be involved in the total formation of a true disciple of Christ and minister of the gospel.  As Christians, we are forever striving to “imitate God” (Eph 5:1) in character and activity.  Paul writes to the Galatian church that his fervent prayer is that “Christ be formed in you” (Gal 4:19).  Therefore, the reason we see the same answers about the nature of the church given by the many Christians around the world is that such things as worship, health, biblical focus, discipleship, fellowship, evangelism and ministry are so undeniably part of the model we are given in Christ.

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