Featured Defining what a church is that God would call His own

This is actually a good question. I believe a church is Ichabod when it invites another authority than Jesus Christ and His Word to have preeminence.

 

I find it interesting that one of the conditions you state a for genuine 'assembly' is 'salvation by grace....'

Surely grace is receiving God's kindness and blessing despite the fact we don't deserve it - ie we are saved despite our badness rather then because of our goodness - or to put it another way, we are saved despite what we get wrong not because of what we get right.

Therefore whilst there a clear standard of doctrine (to my mind at least) that we should all be striving for can we actually say that those who do not hold to all those teachings are not part of a 'church'?

Bearing in mind that Jesus promises to be in the presence of two or three who are gathered together (Matt 18:20) I conclude that the only real requirement for a church is that it must be a gathering of people who are calling upon the name of the Lord - I take that to mean regenerate people (saved).

Now, that is not to say that would be happy to settle in any church that fits this high level criteria, for I believe one must find the 'best' church they can to settle in - ie the one that seems to best demonstrate biblical teaching and attitudes - but just because I would not attend a certain group, or just because I disagree with a certain groups theology does not automatically necessitate my rejection of that groups Christianity (I can only do that where heresy is found).

 

A church is people.
A church is the people described in Acts 2:41-47. They have gladly received the word of God, been baptized into Christ, and now they meet together, learning more of the faith, joining together in the Lord’s supper and in prayer, looking to each other’s needs, having joy in their hearts and praising God together.

A church is the people described in 1 Corinthians 1:2-8. They have been set apart in Christ, called in holiness, have received undeserved favour and peace from God; their knowledge of God and their witness to Him comes from the Holy Spirit, who has given them corporately all the gifts they need to function as a church, as they eagerly await the return of their Lord who will preserve them in Him until that day.

The Lord Jesus is continuing to build her even at this present time (Eph 2:21-22 ); she is His Church, His bride; He has purchased her with His own blood and she is a chaste virgin. As it is written, ‘In that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of Hosts’ (Zech 14:21 ). It is the duty of the leadership of each individual church to seek to make the assembly in its charge as pure as possible (2 Cor 11:2 ).

The Church is composed of those who have come out of the world to join it. They are no longer what they were (Eph 5:8 ). Peter speaks of them as ‘sojourners and pilgrims’ (1 Peter 2:11 ). Paul told the church at Philippi, ‘Our citizenship is in heaven’ (Phil 3:20 ), and to the Colossians he said, ‘[God] has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love’ (Col 1:13 ). The church at Thessalonika had, ‘Turned to God from idols to serve the true and living God’ (1 Thes 1:9 ). They came out of the world and into the Church. Now some will say immediately, “Ah, yes. But this refers to the invisible church. In the visible church there are many who are in the world and in the church at one and the same time.” Perhaps, but as we have seen, this is simply not the language of Scripture. When Paul writes to the church at Colossae, he is addressing, ‘The saints and faithful brethren in Christ’ (1:2 ) He knows nothing of a ‘visible’ or ‘invisible’ church, but only an assembly of true believers. If there were false brethren in the Colossian church, Paul’s letter is not addressed to them. It is true that there are exhortations to the believers to examine themselves (2 Cor 13:5 ), and warnings against falling away (Heb 6:4-8; 10:26-38 ), but the writer to the Hebrews remains confident that the recipients of his letter will remain constant (Heb 6:9; 10:39 ).

 

Are we allowed to exclude from seeing as a real church or really saved those who differ in regards to baptism/Eschatolology than we baptists?

 

So that would mean, by the OP, that all Reformed not Baptist not a real church?
That we who hold could say Free will Baptists are not, and they could say same of us?

 

What do your question have to do with what I have said?

I say we can't define a church by our own narrow standards of doctrine - and you suggest I am doing just that!

 

Yes, they are separate, i.e. independent or autonomous. Church "A" makes their own decision whether or not they want to meet/play under the conditions of Church "B".

 

I thought that one of your requirements was no infant Baptism? if I misunderstood you, sorry!

 

Seems you have changed to a question of a different kind -- relationship of a church and church member -- rather than the relationship between two churches as in your first question. So I'm not sure whether I understood you to begin with.

 

360watt, back in 1995 I polled 15 Baptist preachers as to what they believed were the minimum requirements in doctrine and practice for a group of people to exist as and be considered a church of Jesus Christ. Some responses were fairly complete doctrinal statements while a few others kind of said they couldn't tell for certain. The most succinct answer I got was the following:

"...an assembly of two or more believers in Christ as their Savior, who have been immersed in water on their profession of faith in Christ, who have covenanted together under God to love, aid one another and walk circumspectly in the world and who covenant with God to follow Christ's commands. The minimum doctrinal standards, I consider to be: a belief in Christ as Lord and Savior; to have repented of sins and exercised faith in Christ as the Son of God; to believe that Christ died for their sins, was buried, then arose from the dead to serve as the go-between for all who come to Him; to believe in the future resurrection of both saved and lost, in future judgment; and in Heaven and Hell as eternal abodes...I would qualify all of the above for the ideal Scriptural church..."