Article August 27, 1910 Issue

FROM OUR EXCHANGES

with contributions from H. Hamilton Fyfe, James W. Fifield

[Standard.]

What is a church? It is not an organization or institution per se. It is an aggregation of persons who conform their lives to all things right, just, and pure, whether ecclesiastics or not. It includes, in large part, those identified with various religious organizations and many not connected with any such organization. Many who are regarded as unorthodox belong to the true ecclesia, and even those who do not adjust their lives to all the accepted social standards of their time. The church of Christ is constituted of all who make up the local organization and who follow out the teachings of the Master. The church, then, as an organized entity, consists of persons and principles; of those who build their lives upon the foundation truths of life enunciated by the Lord. The church is not a formulated creed to be adopted by all who enter it. It requires every man to have a creed of his own, which shall be accepted by the Head of the church. The church of the local community is not the numberical sum of those who constitute the church-roll, but includes all lives that are acceptable to God, and its work includes all moral, social, and political reforms, by whatever name designated. The church, then, is much broader in its essential constitution than we have been accustomed to think. It has been defined too largely in terms of ecclesiasticism and its communicants limited to defenders of a particular faith. In judging of the state and activity of the modern church, all these things should be taken into the problem.

[Christian World.]

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS