The “Cs” of the Church
Years ago, in trying to convey the specificity inherent within the nature and definition of the church to my seminary students, including a clear sense of when we know we actually have the church in operation and not just a pale imitation or even impostor, I came up with five “Cs.”
Community
To be a church, we must be a community of faith. This community should not be segmented in any way, whether by race, ethnicity, gender, or age. In fact, the radical declaration of Paul in Galatians is that in Christ, such divisions must no longer exist (Galatians 3:28).
There is clear instruction that such divisions are to be turned on their head: the young are not to be despised when called to lead their elders (I Timothy 4:12), and the wealthy should care for those without (Acts 2:45). While those outside of the faith are to be welcomed and spiritually served, they don’t constitute the church itself and must not partake in its sacraments. As a defined community of faith, we read how the New Testament Church had clear entry and exit points. We see this throughout the New Testament, not only in the address of Paul’s letters to defined groups of people in various geographic locations, but also in the prescribed exercise of church discipline. Paul speaks of those “inside” and “outside” the church and stresses the importance of expelling those who are wicked and unrepentant (1 Corinthians 5:12-13).
Confession
The second dynamic constituting the Church is confession. In this context, confession is related to the Greek homologeō, which means “to say the same thing” or “to agree.” For the Church to be the Church, it must be a place where the Word of God is proclaimed in its fullness. If a Christian church is anything, it is foundationally confessional, for the earliest mark of the Christian movement was the clear confession that Jesus is the Christ (Mark 8:29) and the Lord (Romans 10:9; see also Acts 16:31; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Philippians 2:11).
Formal confessions of faith, which are doctrinal summaries of essential Christian beliefs, have been developed throughout the history of the Christian church to standardize basic doctrinal commitments. Among the earliest of examples is the Creed of Nicaea, so called because it is based on the deliberations of the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325).
Corporate
The third mark of the church is corporate. The Bible speaks of defined organizational roles, such as pastors, elders, bishops, and deacons, as well as corporate roles related to spiritual gifts such as teachers, administrators, and leaders (Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4; 1 Peter 4). These corporate dynamics allowed money to flow from one group to another (2 Corinthians 8), decisions to be made by leaders regarding doctrine and practice (Acts 15), and the setting apart of some individuals for appointed tasks, mission, and church plants (Acts 13). There are often disparaging quips made about “organized religion,” but there was nothing disorganized about the biblical model.
Celebration
The fourth dynamic of the local church is celebration. The church is to gather for public worship as a unified community of faith, which includes the stewarding of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, for these were not in the public domain. In the New Testament, believers were to “come together” for the Supper, and its proper administration fell under apostolic teaching and direction, which was then delegated to pastors to oversee. Indeed, the refusal of a church member’s participation in the Lord’s Supper by church leaders has been one of the more common approaches to church discipline throughout history.
Cause
The final mark of the local church relates to cause. Jesus has given the church a very specific mission to reach out to a deeply fallen world and call it back to God. According to the Bible, this involves active evangelism with subsequent discipleship, coupled with strategic service to the needy.
We are to be the body of Christ to the world, and the twin dynamics of evangelism and social concern reflect Christ’s ongoing mission. This cause may be the most defining mark of all. Theologian Jürgen Moltmann reminds us that the church does not have a mission; rather, the mission has us. And the mission of Christ creates the church.
God sent his Son and now sends us. This is the missio Dei, the “sending of God.” As Christopher J. H. Wright contends, our mission “means our committed participation as God’s people, at God’s invitation and command, in God’s own mission within the history of God’s world for the redemption of God’s creation.” So the mission of God and the church are inextricably intertwined.
There is a phrase that runs in some circles. When a glimpse of Christ’s dream erupts, they exclaim, “This is church!” Much of it flows from asides within Luke’s Acts narrative, where he seems to pause his history, full of the drama of the unfolding of Christ’s dream, and writes a description of the church’s power and majesty. Perhaps his most well-known summation is in the second chapter:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)
This is church! It was a beautiful thing to behold.
The challenge is to so pursue it that we might behold it again.
Sources
Excerpt from James Emery White, Christ Among the Dragons, order the eBook from Church & Culture HERE.
Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological.
Henry Bettenson and Chris Maunder, eds., Documents of the Christian Church, 3rd edition.
Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit.
Darrell L. Guder, ed., Missional Church.
Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/RobertCrum
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on X, Facebook and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.
Originally published July 13, 2026.
