Keeping Preaching and the Ordinances Together, Part 1

What’s the difference between a church and a gathering of random Christians? Could we call it “church” if we’re gathered with others in a small group? Is the youth group sort of a little church? We could probably discuss these questions endlessly (and some people do!), but for the purpose of this column I want to use church history as my reference point. Christians throughout history have used two primary marks to identify a true church: 1) biblical preaching and 2) proper observance of the ordinances (i.e., baptism and the Lord’s Supper).

At PHBF, we want to keep preaching and the ordinances at the center of our life together. By no means are these the sum total of our church life, but they are central. Why? Well, in addition to the prior paragraph about the marks of a true church, we have the importance of the New Covenant which compels us. The New Covenant, you’ll remember, is God’s millennia-old promise to offer us forgiveness of sin, adoption into God’s family, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In short, it’s God’s promise of the gospel! Preaching is central to the New Covenant because this offer from God is such incredibly good news, it demands to be heralded (i.e., preached) to the ends of the earth. And the ordinances are central to the New Covenant because they are the signs God has given us to symbolize and reenact the gospel in our life together as a community of God’s people.

By God’s grace, both of these marks of the church have been prominent features in the history of PHBF. But in the weeks to come, we want to pull them closer together, making both of them regular elements of our worship service. Next week: more on why we’re moving the Lord’s Supper into the corporate worship service.