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The Great Ends of the Church



In this week’s post, we will conclude our discussion of the Great Ends of the Church as they appear in the Book of Order. We have already considered the first five items, but as a reminder, I am listing all six of them again:


the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind

the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God

the maintenance of divine worship

the preservation of the truth

the promotion of social righteousness

the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world


The sixth Great End of the Church is rendered as “the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world,” with the understanding that “exhibition” means to show, to display, to present. That is to say, the Church, as the Body of Christ in this world, is to be a preview or vision of the Kingdom of Heaven. “If you want to know what the Kingdom is like,” says this statement, “look to the Church.”


Now those of us who have spent much time in church may well be puzzled by this idea. For instance, we may want to ask, “Which church?” After all, there are hundreds and hundreds of churches around and they can be very different from one another. In fact, churches are notorious for arguing with one another about just who is the real church or the right church. Even though Protestant churches have been around for over 500 years now, the Roman Catholic Church still has trouble allowing that they are legitimate expressions of the Body of Christ. And in-fighting among Protestant churches can be just as critical and unaccepting.


And even if we did agree to understand “the Church” as any place where the Lordship of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, we will still find that every church we may enter is going to be filled with fallible people replete with scars and problems, warts and inconsistencies. Could a place such as that still be, in some sense, an exhibition of the “the Kingdom of Heaven?”


One concept that may help our understanding here is the idea of the “Church Visible” and the “Church Invisible.” The Visible Church is the one we actually see in our towns and cities –dozens of them scattered throughout the town. They occupy buildings of all shapes and sizes with all different names on the sign out front. Some are small and plain, while others are large and ornate. The Church Visible – filled with people of all different shapes and sizes. Why, we ourselves may even be members of one such church!


Meanwhile, the “Church Invisible” is the Church as God sees it – the Church as God intends it to be. This is the Church that is supported and sustained by the Holy Spirit. The Church in which grace and forgiveness are plentiful – in which God is the only judge – and in which Jesus Christ gives his life on behalf of all the world. When we are able to catch glimpses of this Church, we finally begin to see something coming close to an exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven!

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