The Purpose of the Church

I was listening to a lecture on "What Does a Theological Church Look Like?" by Carl Trueman of Westminster Theological Seminary as I drove to church the other day. In this lecture, Trueman made an thought-provoking analysis of the purpose of the church; he said that in a very basic sense, the job of the church was "to prepare people to die."

Having recently finished a series on the functions of the church, I found his comment intriguing. Certainly we cannot understand it without having a grasp on the whole Biblical teaching on the church. Yet the statement is true on a very fundamental level. This life, no mater how wonderful or terrible it may be, is only a blip on the screen of our life. The Bible teaches us that human beings are destined for eternity. That can either be an absolutely wonderful prospect, or an absolutely terrifying one.

When I read that comment in light of what I just taught my congregation about the church, I see how each of the functions of the church really do prepare people to die. Evangelism is about proclaiming the good news that  death is not the end, and that eternal life is found in Jesus. Worship is aligning ourselves in a right relationship with God, and prepares us to spend eternity in His presence. Fellowship reminds us that our eternal life will be spent with others who share our relationship with Jesus. Discipleship is growing into the people we were created to be, the ones who will be perfected when we stand before our Lord. Ministry begins a life a service that will continue when we reach heaven. The ministry of the church in this life prepares us for the life we will live in eternity.

Trueman's statement also speaks to the preoccupation many churches have with the here and now. They focus on the current plight of people not as a part of reaching them with the love of Jesus, but as the entire purpose of their ministry. Some churches see hell as the troubles and inequalities of life, and heaven as having God meet our needs here and now. They lack, or at least seem to lack, any sense of what lies beyond this life. In a few cases this may be because, despite retaining a Christian name and language, they no longer believe there is anything beyond. In most cases, though, I think it is that meeting current needs is more easily seen as "doing something" for the kingdom of God.

We can engage in many kinds of ministries that may look exactly the same as those of churches focused on the now, but do it with our eyes on eternity. Jesus said, "What is a man benefited if he gains the whole world, yet loses or forfeits himself? " (Luke 9:25, HCSB) We need to make sure that we do not seek to meet people's temporal needs at the expense of their souls. As a church, our mission is to "make disciples," and our goal is to help people find their way into eternity.


How much different would our lives be if we lived them with our goal in mind? To think about eternity and where we will spend it is not morbid; it is to realize that this life is just the prelude to the life we are destined to live as God's children. We should live and serve in such a way that we call others to prepare themselves for their own eternity.