"The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer."

EFCA Statement of Faith

The Lord Jesus has graciously given us Baptism and the Lord's Supper to practice joyfully until the day of our salvation, when Christ returns. Consider these questions:

For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. - Ephesians 2:18-22 (ESV)

Jesus declared, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. - Acts 7:58-60 (ESV)

Christ’s final command was to go into all the world.

Similar to the scattering at the tower of Babel, there was a catalyst which scattered the true believers into the uttermost parts of the earth. The persecution of Christians, which began shortly after Christ's crucifixion began the church's movement into other nations. A key event of this persecution was the stoning of Stephen. Saul, who became Paul, was involved in Stephen's execution and became the central figure in the transition of the gospel being proclaimed among the Gentiles. The propagation of local churches throughout the world was Paul's ministry. Paul set these churches up to be self-governing. He did not rule over them.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. - I Corinthians 15:3-4 (ESV)

You've probably heard or seen that somewhere, right? Most of us probably don't remember a time when our national motto (adopted in 1956) wasn't printed on all of our coins and paper currency. Our national motto encapsulates the beliefs and ideals which we want to guide our Nation.

The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance. - I Corinthians 12:25-26 (The Message)

I’ve sometimes said that I keep my God in a box, defining him with the terms and understanding with which I’m comfortable and which therefore limits my God. I’ve probably done the same thing with the church. If you’re like me, when you think of church, you probably first think of Hope Church at 1661 Balch Road in Madison. If you’ve moved from one city to another, you probably have a better understanding of church being the body of believers and even understand some of the diversity in the body. If you’ve attended churches of different denominations, you may have an expanded understanding of how the denominations differ and opinions about what this means.

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. - 1 Peter 5:1 –4 (ESV)

When I was in seminary, we had chapel a couple times a week. There we would hear from professors, ministry leaders, and alumni. The books of choice to speak to seminary students were the pastoral epistles. That seems appropRiate as Paul addresses young pastors. If there were favorite chapters that were taught, they were 2 Timothy 3-4 . We were regularly charged to know and trust God's inherent Word and we were told to preach that Word boldly. All of that was helpful in forming us and our commitments, but we heard these passages so often that a classmate and I made an agreement, that if for some weird reason we were called on to come back and speak, we would choose other places to preach.