The Role of the True Jesus Church in the Christian Community

VERA WONG (BOSTON, USA)

Living in a complex society, everyone has his purpose and goals in life. In the case of Christians, the goals do not relate to our lives on earth. What kind of role ought we to play, to achieve our goals and a sense of purpose in life? Likewise, the composite church made up to individual believers, also has a role to play in the Christian community.

THE CHURCH is the body of Christ (Eph 1:22-23; Col 1:24); and Christ is the head of the church (Eph 5:23; Col 1:18). The head plans and directs. The body functions when it receives instructions from the head. Since God has numerous plans for the world, His creation, He needs a strong and healthy body as His tool to perform His will.

However, only one body shall serve one head (Eph 4:4); therefore, there is only one church that shall bear the works of God, though many claim to be His body. God wants His creatures to worship the only true God in the true church (1 Jn 5:20; Jn 15:1-5; Jn 17:3). Thus with the Lord’s mighty power, the True Jesus Church was established through the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:9) in 1917 in Beijing, China. God chose the True Jesus Church as His tool to show His power and to inform the world of the good news of salvation.

For thousands of years, salvation has been the main concern among Christians. Unfortunately, the increasing number of denominations has resulted in different interpretations of the Bible. Many preach the precepts of men, contrary to the teaching of the Bible, and this is misleading.

Since the True Jesus Church has been chosen, its members should make use of this opportunity to do a good job. To do a good job, we must first be obedient to God. Being obedient means not taking or adding any words from the Bible, or altering His plan with our own knowledge (Deut 4:2). The Lord’s plans are stated in the Bible, and our job is to understand His will accurately as the Spirit leads.

For many years, the whole household of the True Jesus Church has proven to be a strong body that God can employ. The five basic doctrines that adhere to the Bible show that the body is functioning well, and not deviating from His will (1 Tim 6:3-8; 1:34). This sets the True Jesus Church apart from churches of other denominations.

Being different, practices of the True Jesus Church may have been regarded as peculiar by others. However, praise the Lord, He has preserved the members’ faith so that they still continue to practise what God expects.

Though different from the world, members should neither waver nor be crushed in their faith; instead, they must make use of every opportunity to do God’s work.

Members of the True Jesus Church must evangelise, bear witness for God and glorify His name, so that believers from other folds may be saved in the right manner (Mt 28:18-20).

Often, the hostility that members encounter from the rest of the world causes them to fall. This may result in them feeling very discouraged, and possibly, even cause them to resign. However, members must always remember God’s words of encouragement —to be patient and evangelise through times of hardship (2 Tim 2:1-3).

Members of the church are just like students in a school. The deeds of the students reflect the values inculcated by the school; similarly, the deeds of the church members reflect the church. Therefore, members must be wise and behave. We must edify the church (2 Cor 13:1-10).

Finally, to be good children of God, we must do His work with hope and willingness. We should neither murmur nor complain when we encounter problems (Phil 2:13-16).

As the children of God, though we may come from all over the world, we walk on the same path to heaven. Each and everyone of us has the same purpose, goal and destination; therefore, we should consider ourselves brothers and sisters in Christ. And since we have received the blessing of being chosen by God tube members of His true church, we must repay His mercy by doing what He expects of us. Showing our love, patience and kindness in evangelising, we together as the body will be directed by the Head, to be the salt and light of the world (Mt 5:13). May the Lord Jesus bless and guide the True Jesus Church members in their every task, to bring God’s plans to fruition.