• The church body does •
[2½ MIN READ]
Parachurch organizations like those that serve campus fellowships have long struggled against becoming substitutes for churches. I joined a Christian fellowship when I was in college, but, as shallow as I was in my biblical convictions back then, I found and attended a church: I knew there was a difference, even if I couldn’t necessarily say what it was.
As a more mature FoJ now, I know a major difference is that churches practice the biblical sacraments, those rituals instituted by Jesus as visible signs of inward grace (Christianity.com). In the Protestant denominations, those are baptism and communion. In the Catholic and other churches, those also include confirmation, marriage, penance, holy orders, and anointing of the sick.
At ACF, we do not practice any of these sacraments and we ministerial leaders are insistent that students commit to a local church. As a point of interest, Pastor Ben (the Reverend Thompson) is ordained by the Presbyterian Church of America and could administer baptism and communion but does not as a fellowship practice; not least because we are not administered, registered, or structured as a church.
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The sad reality is that the uphill battle toward getting students to commit to a local church body is even steeper now. College is more academically competitive. Extracurricular activities are more enticing (e.g., varsity sports). Students are socially less able to investigate unfamiliar spaces. The Covid-19 pandemic was no help in making clear that church services are now more accessible, virtually, than ever, including ones featuring extremely appealing and qualified preachers.
More than one young adult I know attends the worship service of a distant church that they’ve gotten to know, insisting that they don’t need community where they now live. More than one young adult will share the conviction that other biblical teaching they need they can obtain through online searching. (Ignore the issue of a given author’s biblical doctrine that local churches help refine for their members.)
Note to like-minded college students: The assumption here is that a given individual can know their needs better than a “family” led by a duly trained, officially endorsed leader. If that were true, students wouldn’t be in college getting taught with peers by a professor. Committing to a church of like-minded Followers of Jesus situates them among others who have claimed Jesus as Savior God and who are getting to know each other deeply and being led by a pastor and other biblically vetted leaders (e.g., 1 Timothy 3:1-7 [BibleGateway.com]) to grow in the Holy Spirit.
That is the Church that scripture describes in Acts after Jesus’ ascension to heaven and the disciples’ anointing by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. That is the Church that the apostles urged believers to preserve throughout the epistles. That is the Church whose local membership ACF ministerial leaders will continue to endorse, for the sake of Jesus and his followers. [iWC]
Read another perspective with more scriptural defense: The Importance of the Local Church (Redemption Bible Chapel, London, Ontario)
FINE PRINT [CCOmmentary #13 for 2025’11’28’F] ¶Text: Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
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