FBC Cracker Barrel, Part 1

Imagine a group of Christian men who regularly meet together on Monday mornings for coffee at Cracker Barrel. They come from different churches or have no church membership at all. These are men simply having Christian fellowship. Are they a church? Could we rightfully call them FBC Cracker Barrel?

Most people would reply in the negative, otherwise, every Christian music concert or conference would become “a church.” Christians meeting together and acting like Christians does not constitute a true, local, New Testament church. Otherwise, every seminary or Bible college that had 14 different classes meeting in a day would suddenly have 14 different “churches” meeting on the campus.

Granted, we are all part of the universal Church, with a capital C. But how we define the local church needs to have a more narrow definition other than simply “Christians who happen to be gathering together.” We recognize that there is a difference between Christians fellowshipping, educating, and worshipping together and what should instead be specially recognized as a local church, as Paul said of others: “To the church of God which is at Corinth” (1 Cor 1:2), or “To the church of the Thessalonians” (1 Thess 1:1).

But When Do We Become A Church?

Suppose this small group of men at Cracker Barrel continued to meet together and began to add different elements to their times together. One man brings a Bible lesson. Another man leads in a song. A third man leads in prayer. A fourth man takes up an offering for the needy. At what point will adding these sorts of things make them a church? Because whatever element they finally add that “breaks the camel’s back” and makes these four men become FBC Cracker Barrel would actually be the thing that defines and makes a group a true, local, New Testament Christian church.

So where is the line that turns a coffee club into a local church? Maybe the group grows in popularity. Now imagine there are 40 people, both men and women, meeting together for the “service.” Have they now become a church, or are they simply still a Christian coffee club?

Maybe they organize a choir. Maybe they outgrow their space and raise funds to build a chapel attached to Cracker Barrel. Maybe they even implement formal membership for the group. Maybe they move their meeting time to Sunday mornings. Have they become a church now?

At what point does a religious coffee club transform into being a true, local, New Testament, biblical, Christian church? And if you believe now that they are “FBC Cracker Barrel,” then what was the line that they crossed which tipped them over into being a church? It is important that we are able to distinguish this because whatever that line is, it is what makes a church a ‘church.’

Perhaps you say it is merely the intent to be a church that makes a church. You might want to ask if the Christian Cracker Barrel Coffee Club considers themselves to be a church. You may say “If they declare themselves to be a church, then they are a church!”

Don’t Forget the Gospel!

But is simply declaring oneself to be a church enough to actually be a church? Can anyone who declares themselves to be a biblical, New Testament, Christian church actually be a New Testament church? Are there any external, objective standards for determining if a group truly is a New Testament church?

What about Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses? Are they true, New Testament Christian churches simply because they believe themselves to be so? You may respond (now being more enlightened on the subject) that it is necessary to have the true gospel to be a church.

Yes, very good. A true, New Testament Christian church must have the gospel. If a group of people doesn’t have the gospel, then they are not a church, no matter what they declare themselves to be.

But let me throw another wrinkle into your thinking. Did you know that there are many other Christian groups that also have the true gospel, and yet are not a church? Think about a Christian summer camp that also has the pure gospel message. They may even have all the outward trappings of a church: a band, a service, a chapel, a message, and an audience. Is the only thing lacking for them to “be a church” simply their intent? As long as a group has the gospel does simply declaring themselves to be a church all it take?

What does it really mean for a church to be a church and not a Christian coffee club?

The Irreducible Minimum

It may be helpful to take the question from the other direction. Imagine in your mind a fully furnished Christian church, programs and all. What are the types of things that it has? What are the things you see, whether tangible or intangible?

It may have a choir, music, a building, pastors, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, a youth group, and people who gather on Sunday; it has fellowship, the gospel, preaching, and prayer. Now begin to cross out different elements from that list. What things can you take away from them and it still be “a church”?

If a church were to find itself suddenly to be without its choir, then would it cease to be a church? No, we would say. A church can be without a choir and still be a church. And since a church doesn’t need a choir to be a church (although it is nice to have one), then we can cross that out from our list. Choirs are not essential to the definition of a church.

A church also doesn’t need a youth group (although it is nice to have one), so cross that out. And so on. At what point will it no longer be a church? This is important because we are seeking the irreducible minimum. Whatever we can’t cross off the list would mean those are the things that make a church ‘a church.’

At this point you may object—“But churches need pastors! We can’t cross that off the list.” Yes, I agree pastors are important (being one myself). But when a pastor dies, does that church cease to be a church? No. It is just a church that is temporarily without a pastor. Therefore, we know that pastors do not make a church ‘a church.’ But admittedly it would be hard to imagine a church that outright refuses to have pastors as a matter of principle.

There are also other categories that may be helpful to introduce at this point, perhaps worthy of another article, because we can imagine a scenario where a church might become convinced that they should never have a pastor, or it might refuse to pray. We still could possibly call them a church, but they may be irregular, disordered, disobedient, or unhealthy. In the same way, we don’t change the definition of a dog, a four-legged animal, simply because we happen to come across a dog with three legs. We say it is an irregular dog.

So What Is the Answer, Then?

Sorry. I’m going to leave you on a cliff-hanger today. Be on the lookout for next week’s where I will give a more in-depth answer. But let me leave you with this: in His departing for heaven, Christ left certain structures in place. We can see this in passages such as Matthew 16:15-20, 18:15-20, 28:18-20, and we will examine these passages in greater detail in forthcoming articles. In summary, the church exercises its authoritative keys by baptizing people into the church and teaching them everything that Christ commanded.

Therefore, we must have (1) the pure preaching of the Word of God and (2) the right administration of the ordinances. There’s a lot that is bound up in that. There’s a lot that flows out of that. But you can’t say less than that. This is what makes a church ‘a church.’ You cannot take either of these two things away and still have a church: the pure preaching of the gospel and the right administration of the ordinances. These are the two marks of the church.

So taking it back to the beginning: at what point do a couple of dudes drinking coffee at Cracker Barrel finally become FBC Cracker Barrel? The short answer is when they make a commitment to the pure preaching of the Word of God in the gospel and they commit to administer rightly the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper together.

In other words, they make a covenant together to obey God’s word in these specific ways. They commit to have the Word preached, and they commit together to obey that Word, which includes following Jesus in obedience to how He directed His church to exercise the two signs He gave to the church and then calling on others to do the same, joining them in obedience to Jesus, baptizing them and discipling them. It is the Word of God that changes men’s hearts to live together in obedience within the context of the church; or in other words, the preached Word makes the matter fit for the form.

But what does that mean? The matter is made fit for the form? Keep reading in our next article, and we’ll explore more about what makes a church a church. The resources of church history and the work of pastors and theologians in centuries past will help lead the way.