The Minimum Of What Makes A Local Church

by John Piper

The Church

RECORDING & TRANSCRIPT: The Local Church: Minimum vs. Maximum - John Piper

I would define a local church like this: a local church is a group of baptized believers who meet regularly to worship God through Jesus Christ, to be exhorted from the Word of God, and to celebrate the Lord's Supper under the guidance of duly appointed leaders. According to this definition there are at least seven qualifications if a group wants to be a church in the NT sense.

It seems to me that these seven things are the minimum of what it takes to make a local church: a local church is a group of baptized believers who meet regularly to worship God through Jesus Christ, to be exhorted from the Word of God, and to celebrate the Lord's Supper, under the guidance of duly appointed leaders. With this definition we should be able to determine what groups are and are not churches. For example, Campus Crusade meetings, Inter-Varsity chapters, Navigator groups, Bible Study Fellowships, Young Life and Youth for Christ clubs—these are not local churches. And the reason this is important to see is so that no Christian will content himself with participation in any of these groups (or others like them) while neglecting the regular life of the local church. They have tremendous value while working alongside and in harmony with the churches, but they can never replace the local church.