10. Church

What is the church, and why is it so important? Although the church is thought of as a place people meet, God says the church is every person who belongs to Jesus. We are saved by God not to be independent, but to depend on both Him and others who love Him. God's passion is to make us pure servants of each other in a special community who loves Him more than anything else. As His church, we are taught by His Spirit and Word how to love and to support each other. And as we consistently meet together to study the Bible, to pray, and to worship God, we help each other grow and thrive in times of both joy and sorrow. Through living together as God's family, we find others who we can share our troubles with and who can encourage us to live the way God wants us to. This gives us the support we need to confidently share about Jesus' goodness, justice, forgiveness, and love with the world. In this way, the church is an essential and wonderful part of the life God has planned for us.