Question 48: What is the church? Answer: God chooses and preserves for himself a community elected for eternal life and united by faith, who love, follow, learn from, and worship God together. God sends out this community to proclaim the gospel and prefigure Christ's kingdom by the quality of their life together and their love for one another. As the last part of the answer says, the church has been called "to proclaim the gospel and prefigure Christ's kingdom by the quality

Question 48: What is the church? Answer: God chooses and preserves for himself a community elected for eternal life and united by faith, who love, follow, learn from, and worship God together. God sends out this community to proclaim the gospel and prefigure Christ's kingdom by the quality of their life together and their love for one another. Why hasn't Jesus Christ returned to earth yet? Although we cannot know all the details of God's hidden plan, one thing we can affirm i

This week we begin with Question 48 of the New City Catechism, found in Part 3 (questions 36-52), which focuses on the Spirit, restoration, and growing in grace. Question 48: What is the church? Answer: God chooses and preserves for himself a community elected for eternal life and united by faith, who love, follow, learn from, and worship God together. God sends out this community to proclaim the gospel and prefigure Christ's kingdom by the quality of their life together and

Question 46: What is the Lord's Supper? Answer: Christ commanded all Christians to eat bread and to drink from the cup in thankful remembrance of him and his death. The Lord's Supper is a celebration of the presence of God in our midst; bringing us into communion with God and with one another; feeding and nourishing our souls. It also anticipates the day when we will eat and drink with Christ in his Father's kingdom. According to Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, one

Question 37: How does the Holy Spirit help us? Answer: The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, comforts us, guides us, gives us spiritual gifts and the desire to obey God; and he enables us to pray and to understand God’s Word. Spiritual gifts are Spirit-empowered abilities given by God to every believer for the sake of building up the church. God has given to believers a rich diversity of gifts so that each member of the body can do his or her part to contribute to the life

Question 31: What do we believe by true faith? Answer: Everything taught to us in the gospel. The Apostles’ Creed expresses what we believe in these words: We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended int

What is the connection between our love for one another as believers and the fulfillment of our mission in the world?

God has ordained that the good news of his Son should be communicated by human agency, and this is the focus of the church's mission.

The preeminent manifestation of the Holy Spirit in us as believers is in the way we relate to other believers.

What does Paul mean when he warns against eating and drinking the Lord's Supper without "discerning the body" in 1 Cor. 11:29?

The Holy Spirit grants spiritual gifts to believers for the purpose of building up the church.

The third section of the Apostles' Creed moves from the accomplishment of Christ's saving work to its application to us by the Holy Spirit.

A word of encouragement and advice to pastors in rural settings. Your work matters.

A passing comment Peter makes about his readers in 2 Peter 1:1 has major implications for current challenges, especially critical theory.