The Church v2 10 The Work of A Local Church 1
In our previous study, we considered local church organization. We concluded that each local church must oversee and fund their own work. No one has the authority to oversee the work of more than one local church. But, just as men have perverted the organization of a local church, centralizing oversight and funding, they have also perverted the work of a local church. They often add unauthorized work or do authorized work in an unauthorized way. This confusion in local church work often comes from wrongly concluding that there is no difference between the work of a local church and individual Christians. In the New Testament the work of a local church can be categorized into three area, edification (building up Christians by the Word of God), evangelism (spreading the gospel to the lost) and benevolence (providing physical needs of Christians). Further, there are only 9 things a local church is authorized to do in the apostles’ teaching. Let us study these to see clearly what they are and abandon all that is not authorized by the New Testament.
