Church, Chapel, and Congregations

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Christ tells us to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness which is more than a local congregation.

If there is a church in general then there should be a Church Specific which was the little flock which was to serve and feed His Sheep.

The early Church was a religious society not of the world which provided services in a world wide network of ministers and congregations.

Chapel concept drew people who wanted some local fellowship but did not have a clear vision of the kingdom of God and the service it would need to provide, which Christ saw as essential and the early Church pursued as the world and its unrighteous Mammon declined and failed.

The Church is the ekklesia, or called out appointed by Christ. A chapel is normally a place. Congregations are assemblies of people, usually at a place.

An unincorporated association is like a corporation in law and includes the idea of denominations.

Questions

* What is a corporation?

* Is the corpus of the Church a corporation?

* What does it mean to be of the world?

* What does it mean not to be spotted by the world?

* Are the ministers of the Church to be a benefactors of the people but not like Cain, Nimrod, and Pharaoh nor Mystery Babylon?

* How may people do that without exercising authority one over the other?

* Are we to go into the world and preach to every creature?

* What is the perfect law of liberty?

* If God is the same today, then is His plan of righteousness the same?

Has Sophistry and the unmooring the metaphors of the Testaments taken the modern Christians away from the salvation of Christ to the path of a false religion and form of the Pharisees and their Factions at the Altars?

* If God's the same today, then is being a doer of His Word also the same today?

Are we suppose to be the living Altars of Clay and Stone gathering in a national or international Living Network bound by faith, hope and charity though the perfect law of liberty?

Summary:

* The Church in the wilderness and the early Church fulfilled the same purpose in a world wide society while isolated home churches or congregations and even nondenominational chapels or separate denominations fail to do so.

Church, Chapel, and Congregations

Man has gathered together in many ways, and for many purposes, since people first began to populate the planet. The Bible clearly examines the relationship of man as free souls under God, and man as a subject in bondage to one form of man made government (or institutions created by the hands of men) or another. Christ tells us to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He also commands His Church to preach the gospel of the kingdom, preaching the way of that kingdom to all institutions of the world.¹

The Church is not necessarily either a place or group gathered in a particular place or location. The church in general, including all the Church and congregations, and the Church specific, meaning the ordained ministers of the Church, is a gathering of people. The bonds that bring those people together are a distinguishing characteristic of the Church and define in whose name the Church is established. Dividing the whole body of the “kingdom of God” or the Church into congregations and ministers may be important in order to understand this Way of Christ, His government and the perfect law of liberty.

“A church or religious society may exist for all the purposes for which it was organized independently of any incorporation of the body . . . and, it is a matter of common knowledge that many do exist and are never incorporated.”²

There is a divergence from general societies of the world and the one that arises from the body of communicants or a group gathered in a membership for common charitable support and edification in duty, homage, and religious exercises of liberty under God. In such freewill congregations a society of autonomous Families may appear to exist as an unincorporated association.

Unincorporated associations may be defined as “Two or more persons bound together for one or more common purposes, not being business purposes, by mutual undertakings, each having mutual duties and obligations, in an organization which has rules which identify in whom control of it and its funds rests and on what terms and which can be joined or left at will.”³ While a corporation is “An Artificial person or legal entity created by or under the authority of the laws of a state. An association of persons created by statute as a legal entity.”⁴ As a corporation or unincorporated association it is “...composed of individuals who subsist as a body politic under a special denomination.”⁵

Governing body politics, who exercise authority over the people right to choose, compelling their contributions, regulating their lives and liberty through authoritarian benefactors, do not develop relationships based on faith, hope, and charity. Upon entering into such corporate societies, individuals lose a portion of their liberty in a belief that they will remain free.⁶ Benjamin Franklin warned that, “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

“The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.” Proverbs 12:24.

If we continue to examine American history, seeking examples of man’s march toward the Kingdom of God or the kingdoms of Cain, Nimrod, and Pharaoh, we may develop a greater understanding of the purpose and structure of the Church and its mission as Christ directed, and as God intended.

Article Footnotes

1Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” The word “creature” in this text is from the Greek “ktisis” which is also translated “building” and “ordinance” and defined “the act of founding, establishing, building etc ... the sum or aggregate of things created; institution, ordinance.”

2Murphy v. Taylor, 289 So.2d 584, 586 (Ala. 1974), quoting Hundley v. Collins, 32 So. 575 (Ala. 1901).

3Conservative Central Office v Burrell [1982] 1 WLR 522 Lawton LJ. Flemyng v Hector (1836) 2 M&W 172 the court emphasized the lack of a profit-making motive in an unincorporated association as compared to a partnership.

4Black’s Law Dictionary 6th ed.

5Bouvier’s Law Dictionary

6“Constantly bearing in mind that in entering into society individuals must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest…” Andrew Jackson, March 4, 1833.

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The Free Church Report

The Free Church Report presents a unique path for the modern Church according to the nature of the first century Church by explaining the duty and purposes of that institution appointed by Christ. While Rome declined under runaway inflation, corrupt government, martial law, and endless threats of war, the Christians found an alternative to the men who “called themselves benefactors but exercised authority one over the other.”
The early Christian knew rights and responsibilities were indivisible. They sought the right to be ruled by God by taking back their responsibility, through the service of “called out” ministers who lived in the world, but were not of it. Their government benefits came through a divine network instituted in their hearts and minds by faith, hope, and charity under the perfect law of liberty as their Qorban of the unrighteous mammon failed the Roman society. Order

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