Dear BPCWAians, What is the role of missions in a church? Some are of the view that missions work is indispensible to every church. Others may be inwardly looking only and not bother with missions work. How should a church view missions? It is necessary to understand some principles concerning the church and its missions work. Missions must fulfil the Great Commission to teach. The New Testament has many accounts of mission work in the New Testament. The maps in many Bibles reflect the Apostle Paul’s missionary journeys. Historical writings also indicate that many of the Apostles went out beyond Jerusalem, “unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Act 1:8). Indeed, Christ, the Head of the Church, commands His followers
Read moreDear BPCWAians, Last week, we looked at the church’s role to promote godly worship. In order to promote godly worship, our public corporate worship on Sundays must be biblical. This is a primary role that God requires for His church because of John 4:23. We cannot undermine the importance of this role of God’s church. Simply because it is a church and it is called a Worship Service does not mean that God accepts the worship, or is present. To the Samaritan woman at the well, Christ drew an important line distinguishing between true and false worship. “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father
Read moreDear BPCWAians, Continuing from the last 3 weeks, we will look yet at another fundamental purpose for the local church. (4) The Promotion of Godly Worship. These days, people often decide to attend or stay on in a church based upon the church’s worship style. Some leave because they’re “not used” to our worship style, being used to another back in their home countries. To many, consciously or unconsciously, the worship style of a church characterises the church they look for. Without needing to read a church’s Confession of Faith and Constitution, its worship service speaks a lot about its view of God, faith, and practices. Worship is faith in practice. It reflects our view of God, because it is
Read moreDear BPCWAians, Over the last 2 weeks, we looked at God’s purposes for a church. Why has He established BPCWA here? We saw that amongst the reasons that He has done so was for the salvation of souls, and for the edification of His children. Today, we will look at a 3rd reason for establishing BPCWA as God’s visible witness locally here. (3) The defence of “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints”(Jude3). Edification of saints also often involves defence. Saints can only be edified by God’s Truth. That is why Satan will always attack the Truth. Hence, God’s Truth must be defended whenever and wherever such an attack occurs. We are in a spiritual warfare, and whatever
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