What Is The Church?

Lesson 1: The "Faith Community": What Makes the Church the Church?--Today's lesson looks at the model of the Early Church just after Pentecost in order to highlight its most important characteristics. This exercise is designed to help us gain a clear perspective of the "essential" elements of what it means to be the Church. (Acts 2:38-47; 4:23-35)

Lesson 2: The Sacraments of the Church: Mystic Rituals or Means of Grace?--What really happens when we participate in the sacraments? Are the sacraments just another ritual that the Church just doesn t seem to be able to shake off, or are they really meaningful and maybe even necessary to the life of the Church? (Matthew 26:26-29; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; 11:17-34)

Lesson 3: Metophors of the Church--Who, or what, is the Church? How we imagine the Church is a significant factor in how we go about being the Church and in whether or not others will be interested in being a part of the Church. This lesson attempts to probe various New Testament metaphors of the Church in an effort to determine which are more and which are less helpful for our contemporary situation. (Matthew 5:13-16; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 12:12-27; 2 Corinthians 3:2-3; 5:17; Galatians 6:12-16; Ephesians 5:22-30; 1 Peter 2:9-10)

Lesson 4: The Church and Politics--This lesson probes the relationship between the Church and politics and attempts to clarify some of the political implications of the Church's mission. (Matthew 22:15-22; Mark 12:17; Acts 5:27-32; Romans 13:1-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-4; 1 Peter 2:13-17) Topics: Church, Early Church, Grace, Pentecost or Pentecost Season, Politics, Sacraments