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Why does the church matter?

The creeds describe the Church as being “holy, catholic and apostolic” and as the “communion of saints”.

But what do these words mean?

The Church is holy (which means ‘set apart’) because it belongs to God, who has set it apart to do God’s work and is present within it. Confusingly, ‘church’ can refer to a local community of people, a building, a denomination (a grouping of churches who share structures and leadership), or all Christians in the world!

The Church is catholic, meaning universal, because through the Church, God offers the good news of Jesus to every person everywhere, without distinction. This does not refer just to the Roman Catholic Church, but to the global Church.

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The Church is apostolic because it proclaims the same message about Jesus that the apostles, his first followers, shared, and still sends people out to share faith.

The communion of saints doesn’t refer to a small group of especially holy people. Here, all believers are considered to be ‘saints’. There is an unbreakable bond – between all God’s people in heaven and on earth, who rejoice together in God’s blessings.

The Church baptizes people and celebrates the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion, as a sign of God’s free offer of forgiveness. Baptism is the sign of God’s once-for-all offer of forgiveness in Jesus Christ. The Lord’s Supper is the sign of God’s continually renewed offer of forgiveness, meeting our ongoing need.

You can read more about this in the Bible:

  • 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
  • 1 Corinthians 14:24-25 But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider who enters is reproved by all and called to account by all. After the secrets of the unbeliever’s heart are disclosed, that person will bow down before God and worship, declaring, “God is really among you.”
  • 1 Corinthians 15:1–3 Now I want you to understand, brothers and sisters, the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures
  • Matthew 28:19–20 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
  • Galatians 1:6–9; 3:28 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed! There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
  • Revelation 7:9–17 After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb!” And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

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  • 1 John 1:5 – 2:2 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
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