How Does The Church Function? [The Church Structure]

By:Drew Anderson

We’re in the middle of a series answering the question, Should You Attend Church, by looking at several aspects of the Church: its purpose, its function, and its essence.

Last time, we began a four part explanation of the function of the church. We said that in order to understand the church’s function, you have to answer four questions:

  1. What kind of PERSON is the church trying to produce or cultivate?
  2. What kind of CHURCH STRUCTURE cultivates this kind of person?
  3. What kind of LEADERS will cultivate this kind of church?
  4. What kind of PASTOR cultivates this kind of leadership, cultivates this kind of church, which ultimately produces/cultivates this kind of Christian?

This article will answer the second question of how a church functions, “What kind of CHURCH STRUCTURE produces or cultivates this kind of Christian or person?”

Church Structure

  1. There must be Teaching
    • Biblical Exposition
      • Exposition simply means to put forth the position or set forth through explanation. And so, biblical exposition is explaining the Bible verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter, and book-by-book.
      • This provides an integrated worldview of truth. As the Word of God is preached expositionally, the hearers are confronted with truth, as well as inspired and instructed on how to correlate and apply the Bible to their everyday life.
  2. There must be Training
    • Discipleship groups
      • This is not just a lecture.
        • You get the opportunity to see the person being discipled in real life, i.e. it’s training in real life settings.
      • You have to let people fail—there is a standard, curriculum, and time limit.
      • You teach so they can See…you teach so they can Do…you teach so they can Show.
        • This won’t let someone just be a cog in a wheel.
      • You will see a person’s dexterity in ministry. How has God made them? How do they respond to trials and successes?
      • You’re going to separate your church. Jesus dealt with this…
    • Discipleship is…
      • Impartial.
      • Quality and not quantity.
      • Doesn’t build buildings.
      • Not basis of promotion (i.e. stepping stone).
    • Any person group
      • These are the groups that anyone in your church can join, i.e. men’s, women’s, community groups, etc.
  3. There must be Trust
    • See, Know, & then Trust
      • Once you’ve seen someone in discipleship, you’ve known them in life, they have earned the right to succeed or fail.
      • Who is star potential—Daniel 12:3?
      • By trusting someone, you’re opening up the inside track of doing ministry. If you don’t, then you will frustrate those who are hungry.
    • Reproduction
      • There can’t be a bottleneck in ministry. You are entrusting men and women with the truth of God’s Word who will entrust other men and women with the truth of God’s Word, and so on.
  4. There must be Time
    • The church cannot just be busy, but instead they should be fruitful.
    • You have to free up the schedules of the people. They can’t be up at church all the time.
    • Time will prove the character of the people. Don’t rush this process. Jesus chose 12 and spent approximately 3 years with them.
— March 1, 2019