What is the Purpose of the Church?

What is the purpose of the church? Fuller professors share their answers.

The Church is a Sign of What God Has in Store for the World

My favorite biblical description of the church is the body of Christ. When we are united in intimate and healthy coordination, where every part of the body is valued and is able to contribute its full capacity, then the world sees and experiences Jesus. Missiologist Lesslie Newbigin talked about the church as an instrument, sign, and foretaste. The church doesn’t have a mission; the mission of God has a church. And we are God’s instrument for carrying out the mission of Jesus in the world. We don’t do it perfectly, but as we attempt it, we are a sign of the kingdom. We are a sign that something more is possible. We are a foretaste of the feast to come.

Alexia Salvatierra, academic dean for Centro Latino and associate professor of mission and global transformation

The Church Embodies the Kingdom and Points to Jesus

The purpose of the church is to embody the kingdom of God in the world. Jesus said, “Let your light so shine in the world that people will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” How do we create those good works? By being like Jesus. I was recently preaching at my church, and I asked my congregation, “Do we look more like Jesus or do we look more like the Pharisees?” I understand the Pharisees. They took their faith seriously. They read the Scriptures. They tried to do what was right. And they got it wrong. They got so caught up in the rules, they forgot to do things like do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. I understand that temptation, and my congregation understands that temptation. But our purpose should be to act like Jesus, even if it costs us. The purpose of the church is to point to Jesus.

Scott Cormode, Hugh De Pree Professor of Leadership Development

The Church Shows the Love of God Lived Out

There is no one answer to the purpose of the church, but I believe one of the purposes of the church is to be a place where the people of God gather. By this, I don’t mean to come into a building to be secluded and cut off from the rest of the world but to come into this place to worship God, to receive instruction, to be built up, to strengthen one another, and to encourage one another, so that we might go out into the world and show the love of God lived out—lived out loud, lived out forcefully, lived out beautifully in Jesus’ name.

Dwight A. Radcliff Jr., academic dean for the Pannell Center for Black Church Studies

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