This class is based on the statement of Jesus in Matthew 16:18b, “I will build My church.” In the process of expounding many important implications of Jesus promise, we interpret key passages of Scripture. The term church is subject to so much equivocation that careful and meaningful definition is necessary.

We show that the church Jesus is building is based on shared relationship with Him and one another through conversion by repentance and faith in Christ. Those who are added to the church are not added due to ethnicity, common social status, or common geographical location. Whoever they are and wherever they are from, they came to Christ through the gospel.

We continue to compare many Biblical statements about the church with the institutions of Christendom which developed over a couple thousand years. They are completely different. People enter the church individually and are built on the foundation laid one for all—Christ the cornerstone and His apostles and prophets.

The church always grows in a hostile environment and it never shrinks. Those who come to Christ are given by the Father and kept by Christ. This class lays out many important truths about the church as defined by Scripture alone.