agapezoes
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Interesting... The role of a church is to support the Church, and to be its local representative. What does that entail? (More discussion should follow...)

and is a church really that important in the face of the church? I've heard a lot of pastors preach against the Jesus people for example, (you know, the group of hippies who believed in Jesus but didn't go to their local churches because they frankly weren't excepted.) I mean, I know it's important for Christians to meet together, like the verse that says "where 2 or more are gathered together, there I am with them", but does it always have to be the same Christians in the same place? I don't really have answers, just questions. I guess I'm a lot better at thinking of questions than figuring out the real truth. I've been thinking about this a lot lately too. When the early church started, they had to have a lot of different churches, just because of location. I just don't know how much sense it makes to have a church on every corner like we do in the south. If we were going to be biblical about it, wouldn't we just have "the church of Jackson?"

Amen to Tyson's post - there really is no need for such a fragmented church. However, we can see that practically, if the entire church were still unified, the church of jackson would probably consist of about 50,000 people, so fragmentation does have it's benefits. But yeah, church unity = a big problem today.

However, Paul warns in Hebrews against "forsaking the consistent gathering together, as some are in the habit of"(my paraphrase because I'm too lazy to look it up). Basically, we're told to go to church, and there's no excuse for not going, even if it's not a perfect place and the people who go there aren't perfect either ::gasp::

Whether or not it's the same people every time - while I can't promise that this is spiritually necessary, it is practical I believe. Imagine visiting a new church every Sunday (I did this over the summer so I have the experience). You don't know anyone, you can never learn the songs except for maybe one or two standards, you don't know what to expect from the preacher or the people. I'd rather go to one mediocre church, all the time, than go to a different church every sunday, even if each one was a great one.

That said, all churches have their problems. You really won't ever find "the perfect church"; so stop looking, "church hopping", as it were, and get involved in one.

Ok...but back to the original question: What is the role of a single church? Should it be primarily evangelism or more focused on discipleship? Should we be more concerned about the lost coming in or the Christians growing?

I realize the need for balance, but rarely find it (and sometimes I find neither).

This all came up because I was reading part of a book on the emerging church. The basic conflicts in the movement are about how much doctrine is changed to reach the people. Obviously none of the truth should be changed. Apparently some churches do tend to do this though.

This question came up once I continued to read and found that most of the book was about how to get more people into the church and how to share the Gospel in a more effective way. I think these are good things to talk about, but should the church be just worried about this? Are we going to become a Church only concerned about the way the Gospel looks to the world?

Anyway...that's the bulk of it.

I believe the church as a whole needs to change drastically and become more Biblically based. Everyone should feel welcome at churches, including the homeless, the drug addicts, the prostitutes, the rich, the poor, the ones in between, the extroverts, the introverts, the young, the old, the intellectual, the uneducated, the famous, the average person, the unwanted, the loud ones, the quiet ones, EVERYONE. No more, "this church for these and that church for the others". We are a body; and what healthy body have you seen with disconnected parts? NONE! As different as each of our body parts are, they all work together, if not, it would not be much of a body, would it?

I totally agree with that.

The purpose of my last comment was to get people discussing...I am honestly asking some of these questions to get answeres. Thanks annonymous.

Of course there should be a balance of both evangelism and discipleship in the church. I hate when a church focuses too much on one and ditches the other. Our youth group was (not sure how it is now) so focused on making the first-time visitors feel welcome that they totally forgot about the people who came a week or two ago. As a visitor, you are led to believe people in the youth group would accept you and make you feel welcome and become your good friends who will encourage and be there for you, then next week you feel like you're forgotten. The welcomers focus on welcoming the new person and you're left to figure things out for yourself now. Oh it would tick me off. And I know part of it's my fault cuz I saw it and didn't do anything. And I know I should've been more outspoken, but none of my friends went early Sunday morning (so I was quiet), and I actually had people ask if I was new there (having gone to this church for the last 10 years, way before they did).
Secondly, what if a church is focused solely on discipling those who are already following Him? If we're so focused on turning Christ's followers into "super-Christians," aren't we denying one of our primary responsibilities as Christians....to bring others' attention to Christ's radiating glory. And why would any new-comer want to continue going to a church that's talking about such hard-core stuff (no ex. is coming to my head) when he hasn't even heard or doesn't even understand the "basics" of Christianity? That's why it's so important for there to be a mix in the precher's sermon. Incorporate who Christ is and what He's done for us on the cross (but at the same time, shouldn't all our teaching radiate this truth...hmm, I'll think about that later) in his sermon, presenting a message that reaches both mature Christians and non-Christians.
I believe the church should portray the characteristics of Christ (duh!). Show the love of Christ to everyone, catering to the needs of both non-Christians and more mature Christians. This could be accomplished by a larger variety of Sunday school classes (sorry, used to going to a big church, but I think every church should have a new-comers class). I know a friend who expressed frustration that they were just thrown into the church expected to know everything. When the pastor would say "Now I know you've heard the story of Daniel plenty of times"...well, no she hadn't. She hadn't heard any of the Bible stories we grew up knowing and rolling our eyes whenever we heard it for the hundreth time. What about having a class that goes over the stories we learned in little kids' Sunday school for those who are new to the faith. Build up their knowledge of the Book that we claim to "know" so well as Christians. I'm just saying, I hate people's expectation that God blesses all new believers with some automatic knowledge and understanding of things we view as "apriori knowledge" or even things we are still trying to understand.
Okay, overview.....don't focus on feeding everyone milk, mature Christians need to learn to use their teeth and strengthen them. And don't focus on feeding everyone meat and potatoes, new believers will get so frustrated trying to chew the meal with their gums, that they'll give up eating altogether.
So now that I've spent the past half hour or so typing this out, I should prob. re-read and edit. Just some random thoughts on the subject....whew!

Role of the church/Church=Exalting Christ.

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church: and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18

The role of the church is simply to take on the shape of its foundation. This may seem overly simplistic but I think in our efforts to identify what "type" of church we are, we lose sight of the fact that Jesus will build the church if we lift Him up.

SOMEONE ACTUALLY QUOTED SCRIPTURE...I'm glad to see that someone knows how to approach matters of God by using the BIBLE!

Thanks for the insight.

I like the discussion.

But here's a question... if we build up someone in virtue, and show them the excitement of knowing our Saviour, won't they radiate the Truth?

Won't they want to go out and tell someone else the Gospel?

Perhaps the problems we all have is that we and sometimes as large parts of Christ's body (churches) have lost at times the very life blood that should be pumping through us...

The very love of God that brought us to the holy places in the first place. Is it the Church's or a church's sole responsibility to breathe life into new Christians? I'd argue that its also all of ours as individuals, and if there is no life in those around us... where are our hearts, where are our hands, where is our Joy?

Pastors, pastoral teams, etc. can't do it alone... its a battle we can only win when we give our lives to it.