Counsels on Church Life

Counsel #5 — The Church’s Purpose

Picture: Counsel #5 — The Church’s Purpose CCL 92.1

What is the purpose of the church? How important is the church’s mission to God? How necessary is it to participate in the life and outreach of the church? CCL 92.2

The mission of the church is two-fold: CCL 92.3

Share the Good News of the gospel world-wide—that Jesus died for the sins of every person and will save all who accept Him as Lord and Savior. He restores believers to wholeness and will redeem them from this broken planet at His second coming.
Become the hands and heart of Jesus in ministering to others, especially the poor, the oppressed, and the broken-hearted.

Jesus holds the church as His treasure. It is organized for service and to carry out the work of Christ on earth.^[122] CCL 92.4

“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Isaiah 55:7 NKJV CCL 92.5

“Enfeebled and defective as it may appear, the church is the one object upon which God bestows in a special sense His supreme regard.” Ellen White in The Acts of the Apostles, p. 12 CCL 92.6

Reflect: Why has God chosen the church as His vehicle to share the gospel? CCL 92.7