{"id":212,"date":"2026-03-01T14:44:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T14:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/?p=212"},"modified":"2026-03-01T14:44:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T14:44:51","slug":"what-is-the-church-to-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/01\/what-is-the-church-to-you\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the Church to You?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 A good self-image is important for an individual and for a congregation. In the Lord\u2019s church we have much over which to agonize; but let us never lose track of the church\u2019s greatness!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What is the church to you? The church is not a building, nor is it a social club. Following are a few considerations:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The church is my spiritual family.<\/strong> Fellow-Christians are my brothers and sisters in the Lord. I love them, and they love me. I fervently hope to live with them eternally in Heaven with our Father and our elder brother (Jesus).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The church is my support group<\/strong>. \u201cBear one another\u2019s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ\u201d (Galatians 6:2). Just as members of a physical body support and assist each other, so it is with members of the spiritual body of Christ (1Corinthians 12:26-27). When I need counsel, give me one godly, wise Christian instead of all the Humanist \u201cexperts\u201d (?) in the world!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The church is the pillar and ground of the truth<\/strong> (1Timothy 3:15). Her God-ordained mission includes upholding His word, which is truth (John 17:17). In these uncertain times when the secular world scoffs and even religious folks backpedal, thanks be to God for faithful congregations which fearlessly support the proclamation of the truth!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The church is the precious bride of Christ for which He died<\/strong> (Ephesians 5:25-27). Christ loves the church; if I don\u2019t love the church, I am out of sync with Jesus! Let no one belittle the church as insignificant! Who is more significant to a loving husband than his wife?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You can extend this list from the Scriptures. It\u2019s a good exercise for each of us. What is the church to you?<\/span><\/p>\n

–Joe Slater<\/span><\/p>\n

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\r \t\t\r \t\t\"\"<\/a>\r \t\t  <\/span>\r \t\tSend article as PDF<\/span>\r \t\t  <\/span>\r \t\t\r \t\t\r \t<\/form>\r <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 A good self-image is important for an individual and for a congregation. In the Lord\u2019s church we have much over which to agonize; but let us never lose track of the church\u2019s greatness! \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What is the church to you?…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading… What is the Church to You?<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions\/213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}