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The Greek word ‘ecclesia’ means ‘called out’. The church has nothing to do with the world. It is heavenly, called out of this world to belong to Christ.
God’s Word only knows one church. This church consists of all believers. They have been joined together in one body, not through membership of an organization but by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13 and Eph.1:23).
The church started on the day of Pentecost, 50 days after the Lord’s resurrection, before 9 am (Acts 2, esp. v.15).
– why not before?
The church could not start earlier because Christ had to die, rise and be glorified before the Holy Spirit could come (John 7:37-39). In Matthew 16 it was still future: “upon this rock I will build my church’ (verse 18).
– why not later?
It must have started on Pentecost in Acts 2 because we read at the end of this chapter that ‘the Lord added daily to the church such [persons] as should be saved’. So the church existed then.
No. The mystery of Christ and the church was ‘not made known’ then (Eph.3:5). It was the task of the Apostle Paul to communicate this (Eph. 3:2.7.8). The Old Testament only contains types of the church (for instance Rebecca). But nobody could recognise the truth of the church from those pictures – without the light of the New Testament.
All those who have believed the gospel of their salvation (Eph. 1:13) and are hence joined into one body (1 Cor.12:13) – whether they are from the Jews or from the Gentiles.
Well, you don’t have to do anything. If you are a believer, you are already a member of the ‘church of the living God’, the only church recognized by the New Testament. You do not need to ‘join’ anyone anywhere. A true believer is a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12).
How would you explain to a pigmy in the Equatorial Rain Forest – who has never seen an aeroplane – what an aeroplane is? No doubt you would use a picture, e.g. saying that an aeroplane is like a large bird, but made of metal, it cannot land on trees, and drinks petrol, etc. This would convey an idea to the pigmy of what a plane is like. In the same way God used items we are familiar with (body, bride, house) to explain to us what the church is like
So when God says the church is like a body, this tells us that ( i) we are all different as the members of the body are all different and have different functions, and that (ii) there is unity, just as the members of a body all work together in unity. And, most importantly, Christ is the Head of this body.
In a house everything must be arranged in such a way that is pleases the master of the house. So in God’s house: there is a certain order to be observed (1 Tim. 3:15). In God’s house, glory must be given to Him (Ps. 26:8) and everything must be holy (Ps. 93:5).
The bride has to do with affection. This picture tells us that there is a relationship of love between Christ and the church (Eph. 5:25). The affections of the church must be undivided, only for Christ (2 Cro. 11:2). And the bride has one great desire: that the bridegroom comes! ‘Even so, come Lord Jesus’ (Rev. 22:17.20).
The Online Bible College is an internet college. Click here to register. Fill in the registration form that comes up on your screen, making sure that your password is at least 8 characters long. Click “Register” and you will be enrolled as a student of the Online Bible College and your student E-Learning page will be open. Click on the first course and the first study which will then open for you to begin your studies.
If you do not have Adobe PDF, the program the studies are in, click on the link “Get Adobe Reader” at the left hand column of your E-Learning page and download the program (this is free).
From then on, to enter your studies each time, click on the Student Login in the menu on OBC’s home page. The page will come up for you to fill in the user name and password you chose when you registered, then click “Sign In” and you are back again into your student E-Learning page.
You can begin straight away. The Online Bible College is a fully internet college. There are no “semesters”. You can begin immediately and study at your own pace.
You can study directly online or, if you prefer, you can print out your studies. All the studies are in PDF.
Giving electronically is completely optional. We will continue to collect contributions as we always have, and you are more than free to continue giving by check or cash if you like.
While we all have the best of intentions, sometimes we simply miss our opportunity to give…we run out of checks, forget to bring the checkbook, don’t have a pen to write a check, we haven’t budgeted properly, we’re out of town, we’re sick and didn’t make it to church, we were serving in childcare, etc. Giving electronically eliminates all of this and helps us to honor the pledge we’ve made to God and His church.
It’s best for those of us who give a set amount weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly by check. It’s also great for members of the military on deployment or those that have erratic schedules and aren’t able to consistently give at a worship service.
Our weekly contribution totals fluctuate depending on time of the month and time of year (vacations/sicknesses). Giving electronically helps to stabilize the budget and allows the church to reliably predict weekly income. The church’s overall contribution should also increase due to less contributions being missed.
Our regular weekly contribution (tithe) goes toward the church’s general operating budget.
The system we’re using uses 128-bit SSL technology for data transactions. All personal, credit card, & bank information is submitted using 128-bit encryption. It is the industry standard used by banking institutions, Wall Street, etc. There is no stronger form of protection than this encryption and by doing this, we eliminate the possibility that someone might “tap” the line and extract your personal data from it.
No. The church is charged processing fees, but members aren’t charged anything to give in this way. On the website giving portal, there is a box you can check to add 2.5% to your donation to help offset the processing fees. The fees are standard and paid by all companies and churches who receive credit/debit payments.
We encourage everyone to use the check option because it costs the church 1/2 as much to process electronic checks vs. debit cards.
That’s understandable, but in reality, if we give by check we’re already giving electronically anyway.
A check is simply written authorization for the bank to transfer funds electronically from your account to the church account. We’ll still pray and give thanks to God during our worship service, and if it helps you can simply write the fact that you’re giving electronically on a piece of paper and place it in the contribution boxes.
2 Corinthians 9:7 says, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” God doesn’t need our money and doesn’t force us to give.
If we ever feel like we’re “paying” our contribution (regardless of the method we’re using), we should consider our motives in light of this scripture.