The Church

The Five Biblical Ministries By Al Felder “And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” (Acts 2:47) Most congregations talk about growth. Fewer congregations build the kind of ministry system that can actually sustain growth. But the New Testament makes the relationship simple: The church grows in proportion to its ability to carry out biblical ministry effectively and simultaneously. That last word matters: simultaneously. Many churches can get one “plate

A Biblical Plan for Growth By Al Felder “Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.” (Acts 8:4) No one has ever prayed this prayer: “Dear Lord, Please shrink our church because we are too large a congregation. Amen.” Every congregation wants to grow. The questions are more serious than the desire: How does a local church grow? What must be done to sustain growth? And how do we pursue growth without compromising Scripture or losing the spirit

A Faithful New Testament Church By Al Felder “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). Every congregation wants to grow—spiritually, numerically, and in influence for good. But growth cannot be separated from faithfulness. We cannot preserve something unless we know what it is. And we cannot build something lasting unless we are building the thing Christ actually established. So before we talk about “unlimited growth,” we have to d

By Al Felder “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.” (1 Corinthians 12:12) God never designed the church to be carried by a handful of people while everyone else watches. He designed it as a body—many members, one life, one purpose, one Lord. In that body, no member is unnecessary, no faithful work is wasted, and no Christian can thrive in isolation. The question is not whether the chu

By Al Felder “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ… to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God” (Ephesians 3:8–10). The church is not an afterthought in God's mind. Before the world was made, God had already purposed redemption in Christ, and the church stands at the center of tha

By Al Felder “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28) Some questions reveal where people truly stand. One of those questions is this: Is church membership required? Scripture answers with clarity: yes. There is no biblical category for a saved person who is disconnected from Christ’s body. If a person is in Christ, they

By Al Felder “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18) Jesus said He would build His church—singular, not plural. That one detail is foundational. If Christ promised one church, why do we see so many different churches today, with different names, doctrines, structures, and practices? That question matters because it goes to the heart of authority: Are we following God’s original design, or are we following re

By Al Felder “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord… For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8–9) Creation itself teaches us that God’s wisdom is higher than man’s. The order of the world, the precision of life, and the power of divine design all point to one conclusion: God knows what He is doing. That same truth appears in His design for

By Al Felder “Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight… but now is my kingdom not from hence” (John 18:36). When Jesus stood before Pilate, the issue at hand was political. The Jews could not prove any legitimate wrongdoing, so they pressed an accusation that would interest Rome: He claims to be a king. Pilate’s question—“Art thou the King of the Jews?”—was really a question about threat. Was Jesus leading

By Al Felder “In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed… it shall stand for ever” (Daniel 2:44). History is full of kingdoms that rose with power and fell into dust. Empires have boasted, threatened, conquered, and demanded worship—only to be swallowed by time. But Daniel 2 shows us something different: God’s kingdom is not temporary. It is not built by human hands. It does not depend on armies, borders, or politics. A

By Al Felder “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established… and all nations shall flow unto it… for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:2–3). People have many ideas about what the church is, when it began, and where it came from. But God did not leave those questions unanswered. Long before the church existed in visible reality, the Lord spoke of it in promise and prop

“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” — 1 Corinthians 10:11 Egypt, Pharaoh, and the Church Today The story of Moses leading Israel out of Egypt is more than a historical event. It is also a spiritual picture of the Christian life. Egypt represents the world, Pharaoh represents Satan, and Israel represents the Church. Just as Pharaoh offered compromise after compromise to kee

Grace doesn’t just change our standing before God—it transforms the way we treat people. In 1 Peter 3, the apostle Peter shows how God’s grace shapes relationships in the home, in the church, and even with those who oppose us. Grace in the Home (1 Peter 3:1–7) The family is the most intimate human relationship, and grace brings God’s order to it. For wives, submission isn’t about inferiority—it’s about influence. Peter speaks especially to Christian women married to unbelieve

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”— Ephesians 1:3 Too often, we associate blessings with material wealth, comfort, or success. But in Ephesians 1:3–14, the apostle Paul draws our attention to something far greater: the spiritual blessings God lavishes upon the church—His chosen people—through Jesus Christ. In Christ: Where All Blessings Are Found Every spiritual blessing we h

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”— Matthew 7:15 False teachers have always threatened the Lord’s church, and today is no exception. The New Testament offers repeated warnings—from Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, and Jude—about individuals who distort God’s truth and lead souls astray. As Christians, we are not called to ignore this danger but to watch, test, and respond with the Word of God. The Nature of False