The Church and Its Mission

Wednesday October 6, 2021

Dr. Richard L. Hamm


Many Christians view the church as the remnant of God’s faithful servants, surrounded by the enemy and trying to hold on till Jesus comes. Jesus conveys a much different picture of the church—as an army on the offensive. No strategy of the enemy can defend against the church when the Spirit of God has empowered it. The book of Acts tells us that the church was birthed in the power of the Holy Spirit. It describes the early church as a powerful force, with the first Christians taking the gospel to every part of the known world. In fact, Acts does not have a clear ending because the church’s mission is not yet finished. In a sense, we are helping to finish it. To do so, we need to understand (1) what Jesus meant by the word church and (2) what the church’s mission is.