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Grace IBC

We, the Church: Nature of the Church

We, the Church: Nature of the Church

Seven attributes of the nature of the church that ultimately points to Jesus.

Locations & Times

Grace IBC

Xaverianenstraat 1, 8200 Brugge, Belgium

Sunday 10:15 AM

The gospel is
- the bad news that we were dead because of our sin
- the good news that God’s response to our sin by sending Jesus and that Jesus conquered and had victory over sin and death


Jesus is the focal point of the gospel

God created the church because of the mission of the gospel

The church is His chosen vehicle for sharing this good news
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Evangelizing is the gospel audible, the church is the gospel visible
- Sharing the gospel makes the good news of Jesus heard
- The church, living out the realities of the gospel is the gospel seen

How does the nature of the church point to Jesus? The church proclaims Christ by
- Focussing on God’s glory
- Centering on the Word
- Empowerment through the Holy Spirit
- Living in covenant (with God and each other)
- Confessing unified faith
- Being the church


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Our objective as believers and as a community of believers is to glorify God
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Scripture is supposed to be what we come together around
- It is our authority
- Everything God desires for us to know, to grow us, to shape us into the image of Christ is contained in His Word

Value of our church: We are Scripture lead
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The mission Jesus gave to share the gospel to the world is huge!

Jesus said it was better that He leave so the Holy Spirit would come

The church becomes what God designs through the power of the Holy Spirit
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A covenant is different from a contract which is broken whenever one side fails to meet his or her part of the bargain. Instead, a covenant is an unending agreement between two parties, and in each of the Biblical covenants, God is the initiator who sets the terms. He initiates a covenant with Noah and Abraham. He reaffirmed His covenant with Abraham to Isaac and Jacob.


Moore, B., 2017. A Biblical And Theological Vision For The Revitalization Of Churches. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
God gives us the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of His covenant
We live in covenant with one another
- The church commits to confirm true believers and to care and oversee each member
- As a member of a church, you commit yourself loving, serving, and glorifying God together with other members as well as submitting to the church’s authority in your life
- We commit to each other to live in love and harmony in good and bad times

Value of our church: We are family in Christ
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The reason we find unity in diversity is that we all confess our need for Christ

We value as a church our common unity in Christ
Value of our church: We are diverse and unified
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The church is a body of people tasked by God to proclaim the good news of Jesus
God sent Christ to earth to bring the new covenant

The Bible describes Jesus as sent more than 44X

Jesus passed the task of sharing the good news to the church
This means as a church, we have a calling to make new disciples and multiply communities

Value of our church: We are community multiplying
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The local church is the visible piece that the world can see of God’s Kingdom
Because the church, Christ’s Kingdom, is already and not yet we see Jesus telling us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”


We glorify God because of Jesus’ humble, servant heart as He became the sacrifice for many

Centering on Scripture reveals to us the Jesus is the true and perfect King we need

Being empowered by the Holy Spirit show Christ to be powerful to rescue us from sin and death

Living in covenant with God and each other shows the Christ has the power to guarantee our salvation and unite us in our diversity because of His grace

By confessing the same faith together we proclaim that our only hope in life and death is Jesus

Living on mission together shows the world that Jesus is truly the good news that we all need

Being the church already and not yet proves that Christ is the head of the church from the beginning and for all time