Can we say the local church is an organization and a business and still be Biblical?

part one

The old cliché "If you continue to do what you have been doing in the last year, you will reap the same results."

When we look at the local church, we see a group of people who for the most part are Christians.

The local church is an organization in the sense of its organism. A group of people who are organized for some end of work. The local church is a body of people who gather together. They gather to worship. They assemble together to have fellowship. They congregate together to build each other up. (Hebrews 12)

This local church generally has a building in which the people convene.

The local church needs to have a structure through which individuals cooperate systematically to conduct its purposes and carry out their visions for ministry and have their business meetings.

Organization: "A structure through which individuals cooperate systematically to conduct business. The administrative personnel of such a structure."

Something that has been organized or made into an ordered whole. Something made up of elements with varied functions that contribute to the whole and to collective functions; an organism. A group of persons organized for a particular purpose; an association: a benevolent organization.

The church is a body of people who organized themselves into a specific group. This group has a specific purpose, a specific mission, and has particular goals and objectives. This group organizes and chooses its pastors, teachers, and leaders. They develop their doctrinal statements, they develop their form of government, the kind of building they are going to meet in, etc. This is the business of the local church. And this organization requires people who know how to do the Lord’s Work in the Lord’s Way.

Also this group of people must organize itself into a corporation with by-laws and a constitution. This requires people with the ability to accomplish these tasks.
So in a sense the local church is an organization and a business.

Business: Dictionary . Com gives over twenty ways to use the term business. These nouns apply to forms of activity that have the objective of supplying commodities. Business pertains broadly to commercial, financial, and industrial activity.

The church is a body of people who come together to worship, to have fellowship, as a group. When they gather they have different forms of activity and meetings and functions and fellowship generally with food and ice cream.

The local church then requires leadership. The people in the local church need leaders who have the ability to feed, lead, and teach. (Acts 20)

Drafted by Charles E. Whisnant 01 15 07 Proof Checked by Charity Whisnant