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church defined

In reading Alan Hirsch’s material on missional communities, he asks the question: “What is a church?”  Here are the key elements of his definition:

  1. A covenanted community – a church is a group of people bound together in a distinctive bond.
  2. A covenanted community centered on Jesus – Jesus is the new covenant with God and he thus forms as the true epicenter of an authentic Christ-ian faith.  But, more is required to truly constitute a church.  A true encounter with God in Jesus must result in…
  3. A covenanted community that worships, defined as offering our lives back to God through Jesus.
  4. A covenanted community that practices discipleship, defined as following Jesus and becoming increasingly like him
  5. A covenanted community that is on mission, defined as extending the mission of God through the activities of his people.