Church Basics 101

Rob Shelton is the Pastor of Student Ministries at my church, and (in spite of this) a pretty witty guy. The following is a list of definitions he came up with and put in our Student Ministries magazine, The S.W.O.R.D. (or as we sometimes affectionately refer to it, The "S" Word):

Lord: Absolute master and ruler.

Gospel: The Good News that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Faith: Believing that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Repentance: Changing one's life because one believes that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Disciple: One who follows Jesus Christ as Lord.

Christian: A disciple.

Christianity: A way of life that advocates following Jesus Christ as Lord.

Church (big C): The body of Christ--the collection of those who follow Jesus Christ as Lord.

church (little c): Where the local collection gathers to worship and be equipped to follow Jesus Christ as Lord.

Pastors: Those called out to do the equipping.

Bible: The book that contains the stuff with which disciples are to be equipped.