"Church is just a building." "Church is wherever two or three are gathered." Both get said in the pews. Neither survives a hard question: what actually makes a church a church?
You show up, you worship, you serve. But if someone challenged whether your congregation is a real church, could you answer?
No, this is not a lecture on tax law. Pastor Steve Cioccolanti, who founded Discover Church in Australia and expanded it to America, uses a surprising source, a 14-point test drawn from visiting churches of every kind, to show what Jesus said He is building. "Why does it take the IRS to tell us we need to raise leaders?"
You'll discover:
The three forms of church government, and why yours must be defined
Why "work is worship" was accepted as a creed
Whether you can belong to two churches at once
The element many congregations treat as optional
If you have ever wondered whether your church is doing what a church should, here is the checklist. Watch it and find your place in the body.
