February 2026
We go to Church. We sing some hymns, say some prayers and hear a sermon. And we might go to a Bible study, a prayer meeting or a men’s/women’s breakfast. We go to the dinners and might help out at a dinner.
But is that all there is to doing Church? There’s a problem with that question. “Doing Church?” No, its no about doing Church, the stuff we do at a building. We should be asking this question: what does it mean to BE the Church. “Being” is about identity. We are to be the Church because we are something. What are we? The Bible is very clear – we are the Body of Christ. And what we are, will tell us what we are to beand once we know what we are “to be”, we will know what to do.
These are the key Biblical verses regarding the Body of Christ.
• 1 Corinthians 12:27: “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually”.
• Ephesians 4:12: “…for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ”.
• Romans 12:5: “so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another”.
• Colossians 1:18 & 1:24: Christ is the head of the body, the church, and believers are members of that body.
Additionally, the phrase “body” is used 140 times in the New Testament referring to the physical body, the body of Christ and the body as the Church.
For the last number of years, the evangelical focus has been on “saving souls”. Saving souls, being born again is just the first step. When one is “born again” by the power of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit, he or she is a “babe in the faith”. Salvation is the first step, progressive sanctification are the many steps that follow. In Romans 8:29 we read: For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
As believers, as the children of God, as babes in the faith, we are to grow up and become like Jesus. This is referring to individuals. Here’s the point – we are also members, or parts, of the body (see 1 Corinthians 12:12 ff) and in this body we are supposed to be growing up and becoming like Jesus together. An individual isn’t just saved from hell, in being “saved”, they have been “set apart” (made holy) into the Body of Christ.
The goal is to be growing, as individuals and as the body of Christ. The key verse to all this is found in Ephesians 4:12-13 (NLT):
12 “Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the fulland complete standard of Christ.”
It is the responsibility of the Church leadership to ensure that the people of God/the Church/the Body of Christ are equipped and built up to do the work of ministry. And this task will continue so that there areunity and maturity in the body/Church of Christ so they together attain the full measure of looking like Jesus.
There is a lot to unpack in this corporate understanding of the Church becoming like Jesus. This is one of many ways that we at Faith Reformed Church are going to learn about becoming that body of Christ, becoming conformed to the image of Jesus.
For King & Kingdom!
Pastor Bernie McGale