For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:13
The church is also called “the body of Christ.” Ephesians 1:22-23 says of Christ, “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body.”
The church, as a whole, does not consist of a building, but of all believers in Christ. The church began at Pentecost, described in Acts 2, when Christ’s followers first received the Holy Spirit.
As the church grew and spread to more regions, local churches were established. Local churches are bodies of believers in particular areas who all belong to “the church” at large. Many of the letters written by the apostle Paul and included in the Bible were addressed to local expressions of the church, such as “the churches in Galatia” (Galatians 1:2).
The earliest church in Acts set some precedents for how the church should function.
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who 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.”
It’s still important for the church to devote ourselves to biblical teaching and fellowship, to prayer, to sharing communion (1 Corinthians 11:23-26), and to sharing our lives. While we can’t all meet together daily and aren’t required to sell our property, we are still called to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another” (Hebrews 10:24-25), and still called to carry one another’s burdens and help meet each other’s needs (Galatians 6:2, 10).
One special function of the church is baptism. Baptism is a once-in-a-lifetime experience by which a Christian makes a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Once you have placed your trust in Christ and received forgiveness for your sins, you are ready to be baptized! You don’t have to reach a certain level of spiritual maturity to be baptized; baptism is the believer’s first step in obedience to announce their new life in Christ. Jesus commanded that His disciples be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20), and baptism communicates our surrender to Him as Lord of our life. Because baptism is a symbol of our belonging to and identification with Christ and the church, it also connects us in solidarity with the whole church—that is, all believers past, present, and future.
Communion, also known as the Lord's Supper or Lord's Table, is another special function of the church, in which we corporately commemorate the giving of Christ's body for us and the shedding of His blood for the forgiveness of our sins (Matthew 26:26-29). When we participate in communion by breaking bread together and drinking from the cup, this also connects us in solidarity with believers worldwide (1 Corinthians 10:16-17), who all together share the same Spirit and make up one body and one faith (Ephesians 4:4-6).