The Church

Introduction

Our next two sessions together in this study are about the way we view the church and the way we view the ordinances as Baptists.

In many ways these two sessions will say more about what makes us distinct than most of the other articles.

A Presbyterian may want to say more than what we say in Article I about the Scriptures.

A good Methodist may want to say it differently

But they would not disagree with what we actually say there

As we get into Article VI and Article VII, we begin to confess things that a Presbyterian or Methodist would not be able to agree with fully.

They wouldn’t just want to say more or say it differently.

In some cases, they may want to say something else all together.

Tonight we are focusing on the church.

A strong understanding of who the New Testament Church is as the body and bride of Christ, has always been central to the Baptist confession.

As a people, Baptists are indeed shaped in a distinctively biblical way by a strong and vibrant theology of the church.

We see it in Article VI and here is what it says:

The BFM 2000: Article VI

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its two scriptural offices are that of pastor/elder/overseer and deacon. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.

The Baptist Faith and Message, Article VI

Outline

1. The Foundation of the Church

2. The Identity of the Church

3. The Characteristics of the Church

4. The Ministry of the Church

5. The Structure of the Church

1. The Foundation of the Church

The foundation of the church is Jesus Christ and His Word.

Paul calls Christ the foundation the church in his first letter to the Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 3:11 ESV

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

In Ephesians 2, Paul refers to Christ as the Cornerstone.

Ephesians 2:19–20 ESV

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,

You see that in Ephesians 2 the Apostles are called the Foundation.

How can Christ be the Foundation in 1 Corinthians 3:11 and yet in Ephesians 2, He is the Cornerstone and the Apostles are the Foundation?

Well ask yourself—were the Apostles the foundation because they were wise and powerful in and of themselves?

NO.

The Apostles are called the foundation of the household of God because of their Gospel confession.

They preach HIS message and carry on HIS ministry in the power of HIS Spirit.

HE is the Foundation.

They are foundational because they obeyed his commission and stood on the confession of His Gospel.

They are his foundational instruments.

Peter’s Confession

We can understand this more clearly if we take a look at Matthew 16:13-19

Matthew 16:13–19 ESV

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Roman Catholics have argued for centuries that Christ is building the church on Peter in the sense that:

Peter will be the visible head to lead the church in the absence of Christ

He will be the bishop of Rome

He will be the vicar of Christ on the earth

And every Pope that comes after Peter is his direct successor, possessing the same authoritative role initially given to Peter.

And the Roman Catholic will say, as they often do, that this is THE historical view of the church.

And yet, that is not true.

Early church fathers like Jerome (300’s/400’s), Ambrose of Milan (339-397), John Chrysostom (344-407) and even the great St. Augustine all taught something different.

What they taught is that Jesus is not telling Peter that HE will be the foundation of the church, but that Peter’s confession of faith will be foundational to the church.

Christ, you see, built his Church not on a man but on Peter’s confession.

Augustine

See there is a word play there in the original Greek:

Verse 18 says, “You are Peter” — You are Petros

Petros was the word for stone—like one you can pick up

So you are Petros, and “on this rock” — On this petra

Petra was the word for immovable rock—bedrock, mountain peaks, cliffs, etc...

So you can see the word play by Christ.

You are a MOVABLE stone (a living stone—the ones that make up the New Testament church of God) and on this IMMOVABLE stone, I will build my church.

The church is not built on Peter— Petros, but on the confession, Petra.

(Which is why the rock band is named Petra and not PETROS!)

And this plays out, right?

Do we see Peter acting like an immovable rock for the rest of Matthew?

No—he is a living stone, but he can be moved.

Right after this he has to be rebuked by Jesus for trying to impede the Father’s will for Christ’s life.

And then in the hour of Christ’s trial, when He could most use a friend, Peter denied Him three times.

Peter is a stone. But he is not a PETROS.

So what Jesus is promising in Matthew 16 is that He will construct His church on the Gospel which is revealed to and confessed by Peter and the Apostles.

In terms of instruments, Peter and the apostles were stones who established the church with the words of Christ—which are an immovable bedrock.

Which means that effectively, the foundation of the church is truly Christ.

For His Word comes from Him and the confessing Apostles are sent by Him.

So then, Christ and His Word are the foundation of the church.

The Apostles are foundational as instruments who established the church in the world.

2. The Identity of the Church

The identity of the Church is that they are the body of Christ.

The Greek word for church is ekklesia, which means “the ones called out.”

The church is made up of people who have been called out of the world and into covenant with Christ and the fellowship of God’s people.

They are the body of Christ on earth—His visible representation until the time of His return.

Through His church He spreads His Word and carries on His ministry.

1 Corinthians 12:12 ESV

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

In order to understand what it means to the body of Christ, we can press further into the Scriptures.

Being the body of Christ means having Jesus as your Head.

Ephesians 1:22 ESV

And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

Being the body of Christ means having new life in Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

The church is filled with people who are new creations in Christ.

Being the body of Christ means having the same Spirit at work in each member of the Body.

1 Corinthians 12:13 ESV

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

Being the body of Christ means having unique gifting and roles to serve the Body.

1 Corinthians 12:18–20 ESV

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

But, we also have to say that Being the body of Christ means having to depend on one another as the called-out ones.

1 Corinthians 12:21 ESV

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

1 Corinthians 12:26 ESV

If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

Being the body of Christ means being spiritually gifted.

1 Corinthians 12:4–6 ESV

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

The Faith and Message says these spiritual gifts are for men and women—everyone in the church.

Being the body of Christ means being committed to the local expression of the church.

These passages we have read tonight are meant to be applied to all of the church, and yet, we have to say that they are addressed to the Corinthians.

Just as Paul’s words to the Philippians are aimed at the local church in Philippi and Galatians to the local church in Galatia, his words are aimed at Corinthian Christians.

In fact, the overwhelming amount of writing about the church in the New Testament is about the local church.

There is a church universal on the earth.

There is a church global.

This is the Church—made up of every believer of every generation throughout the ages—including all of God’s kingdom citizens on earth at this moment.

It is what the Faith and Message is talking about when it says:

The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.

The Baptist Faith and Message, Article VI

However, the church universal is expressed locally.

Christians gather in local churches.

“Local congregations,” as the Faith and Message calls it.

And it is in those local churches that believers should be living out their spiritual lives.

In those local churches are where believers experience what it means to be the body of Christ in these ways we have talked about.

3. The Characteristics of the Church

Let’s move on to talking about the Characteristics of the Church.

I will give you four tonight that are outlined by the Faith and Message.

The church is autonomous.

This is central to what it means to be “Baptist on purpose.”

These local congregations are autonomous, meaning that should not be answering to overarching ecclesiastical authority like:

The Church of Rome

The Church of England

A Presbytery—a regional body of governance with authority over a group of churches

The principle of autonomy means that each local church is self-governing.

Millard J. Erickson

The reason we believe in church autonomy is because we don’t see hierarchal authority over local churches in the New Testament.

We don’t see Paul pastoring instructing congregations to appeal to the authority of Rome for taking action in the church.

Instead, we see Paul calling on individual churches to handle their business within their churches, according to the authority God has vested in the local body itself—which we will get to in a moment.

We have zero instruction for an earthly headquarters that exerts authority over local congregations.

We have zero instruction for how an organization like that would even set up and function.

We really just have teaching for local bodies in the New Testament’s letters.

Any argument made for hierarchal authority over the local church is an argument that must be made from silence and not substance.

It must be argued that it is inferred and implied because it is not explicit.

The church is under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Christ rules His church through the ministry of His Word and the leadership of His Spirit.

This is why the Faith Message calls us the “church of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Mormons are trying to take that title by the way. We can’t let them have that.

They are a cult. We are the CHURCH of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Recognizing the church’s position under Christ’s Lordship means understanding that Jesus exercises His authority through the truth given to us in the New Testament.

And it means recognizing that every local church has the responsibility to reform itself and prune itself so that it can match the blueprint that the authoritative Lord of the Church has given to us.

When churches get pragmatic and do what they feels works instead of what Jesus says its right, they are on their way to losing what it means to be a church.

The church is in covenant with God and each other.

The Faith and Message says we are “associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel.”

Bound by what we believe and who we are to one another.

A church is not just some voluntary organization or social society.

It is a congregation of believers who have covenanted with Christ and one another.

God made a series of covenants with His people throughout the Old Testament and they culminated with Christ coming and living and dying and inaugurating a NEW COVENANT.

Jeremiah 31:31 ESV

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,

Jeremiah 31:33–34 ESV

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

We are IN that New Covenant with God through Christ’s blood and we will be in this covenant with Him forever.

He will be our God and we will be His people.

But the blood of Christ doesn’t just bind us to the Father—it binds us to one another for we are all ONE BODY of Christ.

This means we are accountable to one another.

This means pledge our trust to one another.

We pledge that we will continue on in faith.

We pledge that we will use our gifts to work together for the glory of Christ.

We willingly enter into a covenant together to fulfill the responsibilities laid at the feet of New Testament believers.

This is why we have our Church Covenant.

It encapsulates those responsibilities and our commitment to them.

The church is made up of baptized believers.

Article VI speaks of us having two ordinances.

One of them is baptism.

This is the front door of the local church.

We only baptize those who have repented of sin and trusted in Christ.

They have entered into covenant with God.

The church should not have members who have no covenant with God by faith in Christ’s death and resurrection.

Whenever we do baptize someone, we are baptizing them INTO the church.

In the Baptism, they are expressing the New Covenant with Christ, but they are also being baptized into the body of believers.

They are entering into the body of Christ, having the same Petros confession of Peter in Matthew 16.

This means we do not baptize people who are not believers and say they are a part of the church, like Presbyterians do.

We say, you can’t be a member until you are baptized and you can’t be baptized until YOU believe.

We also have the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper.

If baptism is the front door, the Lord’s Supper is the back door.

We know who is still in the household of God because they keep coming to that table.

If they stop coming to the Table, it is a sign that they have left the church, proving they were not a part of it to begin with.

We will dive deeper on all of this in the next session.

4. The Ministry of the Church

The ministry of the church is to carry on the ministry of Christ in the power of the Spirit.

When Christ began His public ministry, He started it with a declaration about who He was and what He came to do.

Mark 1:15 ESV

and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

He is the King. That is why He can say the Kingdom of God is at hand.

His command is to repent of sin and believe His Kingdom message of the Gospel.

And this was the tone and tenor of His public ministry throughout narrative of the gospels.

But then, at the end of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Christ dies.

At the end of Luke and Acts, Christ ascends into heaven.

Acts 1:9 ESV

And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

But His work was not finished.

He has promised that after He went away in the Ascension, He would send a Helper.

John 16:5–7 ESV

But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

Jesus keeps His promises.

So after He ascends, in Acts 2, His Spirit is poured out on the church.

Acts 2:2–4 ESV

And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

And then, throughout the book of Acts, in the power of the Spirit, we have the Apostles going out into the known world and continuing the same message of Mark 1:15:

Repent and believe.

Acts 2:38 ESV

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And now, you and I continue to do the same work until Christ returns.

We take the Gospel to the nations.

We take the words of Christ to the nations.

We preach a baptism in the name of Christ.

We preach repentance and forgiveness of sins.

We are carrying on the work.

Acts 1:8 ESV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Since the Spirit was promised to play this role and DOES play this role, we are able to say that the mission of the church is simply carry on the work of Christ in the power of His Spirit.

5. The Structure of the Church

The structure of the church can be understood in terms of Pastors, Deacons and Congregation.

That is not a hierarchal list.

Pastors are the best.

Deacons are pretty cool.

Congregation is the boring masses.

I think some people think this way mistakenly.

In truth, these are all just different roles we are called to, while having the same value, worth and usefulness to the Lord.

We see them all spoken of at the beginning of Philippians:

Philippians 1:1–2 ESV

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

“To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi” = Congregation

“Overseers” = Pastors

“Deacons” = Deacons

Let’s define each...

Pastors

Pastors are men who are called and qualified to shepherd the flock of God among them in the local church.

In the New Testament, we see a number of interchangeable words to communicate the role of pastor.

Sometimes they are called:

Pastors

Bishops/Overseers

Elders

All of these New Testament words refer to the same role.

If you have a Presbyterian friend who says, “We don’t have pastors, we have elders,” they are wrong.

They have pastors and they call them elders.

If you have a Baptist friend who says, “We don’t have elders, we have pastors,” they are also wrong.

They have elders and they call them pastors.

The elders of this church are Michael Howard, Ben Little and Matt Protzman.

God called us here for this task.

But I want to challenge us on our mindset about this.

We may be tempted to think that only professionals are pastors.

Guys with seminary degrees, who get paid by churches to lead the church.

But here is the reality:

Paul wrote letters to young pastors name Timothy and Titus.

They were not seminary students.

They did not have degrees.

They were professionals

They were just men from churches that Paul raised up, trained up and then placed over the congregation as a pastor.

This is the pattern of the New Testament.

You don’t see men pastoring alone. You just don’t. There are a plurality of elders or pastors.

Titus 1:5 ESV

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—

Notice it says ELDERS—plural.

So you don’t see men pastoring alone, but with a body or a council of pastors.

And you don’t see instructions on how to send a boy off for training so that he comes back a preacher—though that is often helpful.

Instead, we see instructions for how to disciple men, how to identify pastoral qualifications in the character of a man and how those men go about the work of shepherding God’s people.

Our church currently has three pastors.

That means about 90 people per pastor at our current size.

Imagine if we had seven pastors.

Suddenly that is about a 38 member to 1 pastor ratio, that is much more conducive to real spiritual shepherding and soul care.

Now—you might say, “Pastor—we don’t have the money to hire four new pastors.”

No we don’t.

But we’ve got the Bible and the Spirit and pastors who can train up men from within the congregation to join us in the work.

And so that is really the next big step for us as a church when it comes to structure.

We need to “put what remains into order” and “Appoint” more pastoral leadership for the good of this church body and God’s glory.

Just imagine the benefits of this:

More pastors to help care for the flock

More lay pastors (not on staff) than hired pastors (on staff), protecting the church from being tossed to and fro by the next pastoral hire

Lay pastors nominated from among you that are here to stay.

Hired pastors may get called away, but the dignified, qualified men of this church that you all put in place, remains.

What you are hearing me say is that, where the called and qualified men are given the chance to do the work God gave them the grace to do, the church enjoys stability, increased spiritual care and biblical, healthy leadership.

There is more to come on this in 2026. Your Bylaws Committee is working to produce an edit that would open a door for us to “put what remains into order.”

We will be talking much more about it as we go along.

Sidenote:

We do not have time tonight to do a full deep dive on men and women in ministry.

This was handled masterfully by Pastor Hopson Boutot at our recent Theology Week 2026 Conference.

You can find it on YouTube on the Temple Baptist Newport News page

But I do just want to say that while we believe the Scriptures clearly teaching that only called and qualified men are to serve in the role of pastor/elder/overseer, that does not mean they are of more value than women.

The Bible presents men and women equally—created in the image of God, male and female.

However, in the case of pastor, it is a role He has reserved for men.

That doesn’t make men superior to men and women.

They are equal—but play different roles in the church, as well as the home.

Deacons

Deacons are church officers who serve the church through ministry, so that pastors can devote themselves to the teaching and preaching of the Word.

If pastors serve churches by leading them, deacons lead in churches by serving them.

We do not see any governing authority given to deacons in the New Testament.

That is reserved the pastor/elder/overseer.

But we do see deacons meeting needs, filling gaps and helping keep the church unified.

The best example of this is probably found in the scene in Acts 6.

There was a dispute in the church at Jerusalem over whether or not the Greek Jewish widows were getting enough food.

This was very sticky because it could’ve resulted in an explosion of cultural and racial tension in the early church.

Listen to what the Apostles say:

Acts 6:2–4 ESV

And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

Seven men were selected and they handled the issue.

They organized the logistics of feeding hundreds of widows in a church made up of thousands.

They made sure the tension between the Jewish and Greek widows did not fester

They saw to it that the Apostles could carry on with preaching and praying.

We believe these seven guys are most likely prototypes for what would become the office of deacon in a matter of a few years, as God established it in the revelation of His Word.

By the time you get to 1 Timothy, we have a full list of qualifications for what a deacon should be.

1 Timothy 3:8–13 ESV

Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

If you study 1 Timothy 3:1-7, you will see that the qualifications for pastor and deacon are essentially the same.

The only difference is that pastors have to be able to teach, because that is how they govern the church—with the authority of the Word of God.

Deacons, who are not governing, don’t need to be able to teach to hold the office, but they must have that character that is above reproach.

How deeply thankful and grateful I am for the deacons of Seaford Baptist Church.

Where would be without them?

Prepping communion

Caring for widows

Helping the down and out with benevolence

Helping keep our kids secure on Sundays

Serving in various ministries in the church

Helping resolve conflict

Most deacon work is barely seen.

But heaven’s eyes are wide open and the bank of eternal rewards for the deacon will stack up quickly if the deacon is faithful in service.

Congregation

Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. 

The Baptist Faith and Message, Article VI

The congregation is the assembly of baptized believers that have been given authority as the body of Christ on earth.

What we have already seen tonight is that the congregation is governed by pastors.

But I want you to understand—that has limitations.

The pastors may lead the church with authority, but it does not mean that authority stops with them in the local body.

Instead, Christ gave that authority to His Church.

Matthew 18:18–20 ESV

Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Do you see what is happening there for the church that is built?

Whatever she binds on earth is bound in heaven and whatever she looses on earth is loosed in heaven.

This is the authority to pronounce the what and the who of the Gospel.

Confessions and Confessors

The church is able to say, “YES—that is the right Gospel confession” or to say, “NO—that is NOT the Gospel.”

If the church voted out a pastor who was not teaching sound doctrine, they would be exercising this authority (BINDING)

If they vote in a pastor who IS teaching sound doctrine, they are also exercising this authority (LOOSING)

And the church is able to say, “NO—that is not a Christian” or “YES—that is a Christian.”

When we vote someone in and baptize them, we are exercising that authority by LOOSING and saying, “We believe this is a Christian.”

When we vote someone out and ex-communicate them because of unrepentant sinful behavior, we are saying, “We cannot conclude that this is a Christian.”

This is BINDING.

And when Jesus says, “WHATEVER YOU BIND” and “WHATEVER YOU LOOSE,” He is giving this authority to the church and saying, “What you do on earth is reflected in heaven.”

Why? Because the church is acting authoritatively as the body of Christ.

We are a Pastor-Led congregation.

That wouldn’t change if we ordained lay pastors. We would have more pastors leading.

But while we are Pastor-Led, our bylaws say we are Congregationally-Approved.

What that means is that we collectively recognize that God has vested great authority in His church by giving her the keys of the kingdom.

The church uses those keys in democratic processes and as we do, we understand that we are accountable to God for how we wield our authority.

Ultimately this means that Christians should care a lot more about the Members’ Meetings in their churches and they should be very careful to take their responsibility at those meetings seriously.

What a holy privilege we have been given to steward.

The basic unit of kingdom authority on earth is not at the Vatican. It’s not at denominational headquarters. It’s not at your Thursday night elders meeting. It’s your gathered church.

Jonathan Leeman

What a joy it is to be a part of God’s church.

Let us be thankful and let us have a serious joy as we go about the work of fulfilling God’s purpose for His church.