What is a Church, What is a Church Based Ministry, What is an FBO

Faith Based Organizations are distinguished by a public declaration of their faith along with their nonprofit community purpose. This is established in the founding documents, the Articles of Association and the Charter Bylaws. This should also be apparent on a website, if there is one.

God’s people are the Church:

The Church is not a place, it’s not a building, and it’s not a denomination. God’s people who are in Christ are the Church.
The Church is the people of the Kingdom of God, the Church is the bride of Christ.
We don’t do Church, we are the Church.

A Church by definition – The Church is three-fold:

The Church comes together (assembles) for the purpose of bringing each member into spiritual maturity (Eph 4:13).

The Church reaches out (scatters) to spread the love of Christ and the gospel message to unbelievers in the world (Matt 28:18-20). This is the Great Commission to go out into the world and make disciples. So, the purpose of the Church is to minister to believers and unbelievers.

The Church ministers – Christian ministry is the activity and responsibility of the local Church in the fulfillment of its Biblically defined mandate in the world.

Church Based Ministry – the Ministry can be defined in several ways:

First, the ministry of the church can be defined as the fulfillment of the Great Commandment of our Lord. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, and with all your mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:37,39).

Secondly, Christian Ministry can be defined in the terms of the Great Commission of our Lord.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the Nations, baptizing them in the name of the Holly Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” (Matt 28:19-20)

Thirdly, the process and objective can be defined in the apostle Paul’s terms as the equipping of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ (Eph 4:12-15).

Fourthly, Ministry can be defined in terms of the early Church, teaching the apostles doctrine, engaging in fellowship, commemorating the breaking of bread, praying together, caring for one another, worshiping God, and actively evangelizing the community (Acts 2:42-47).