Mt. Zion United Church of God is under obligation to furnish the best possible public instruction in the Gospel, and to exercise a tender, loving, and patient watch-care over the members.  Furthermore, it is under obligation to use the utmost diligence and effort for the members’ enlightenment, sanctification, and usefulness, with the view to present him/her “Perfect in Christ Jesus.” 

 

God brought the Church into existence so it would be a means of bringing glory to His name.  The apostle Paul tells us that the overall purpose of God’s redeeming us is that we should be to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14).  The manner in which the Church glorifies God is three-directional:

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            Outward >  In Evangelism

            Inward    >  In Edification of Believers by one another

            Upward  >  In Worship

 

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EVANGELISM

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This word literally means “a declaration or preaching of the gospel.”  The Greek word evangelion, from  which we get “evangel” means “good news.” “Evangel” and “Gospel” are synonyms, so that when we speak of sharing the gospel with others we mean sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and His offer of salvation.

 

The field for evangelism is the whole world, as Jesus plainly commanded in Matthew 28:19, 20, and Mark 16:15.  The church is under obligation to share the gospel with all men everywhere.  Jesus stated that His followers were to be witnesses both near to home (Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria) and in more distant lands (uttermost parts of the earth), as we see in Acts 1:8.

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EDIFICATION

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The work of evangelism can be effective only when the body of Christ is healthy.  Individual members of the Church have the responsibility to edify, or build up, one another.  When they gather for worship, one purpose is that they might edify one another (I Corinthians 14:26).  Christians are enjoined to teach and admonish one another by preaching the Word, testifying, and singing (Ephesians 5:18, 19; Colossians 3:16), and to attempt to help a sinning brother or sister to see his/her sin so that he/she might repent of it (Galatians 6:2; James 5:19, 20).  There is the further responsibility of praying for one another, as Paul did for the congregations to which he wrote (Ephesians 1:16-22).

 

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WORSHIP

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The Church is the temple of God, and individual believers are priests who offer themselves and their praise as sacrifices to God (Rom. 12:1; Heb. 13:15). Therefore, when God’s people assemble for worship, the primary focus must be on Him.  When they come together to “minister to the Lord”, then the Holy Spirit will be able to speak to them (Acts 13:2, 3).

 

Christians must take seriously the words of Scripture not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Heb. 10:25). The worship which the Church renders to God must be “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23, 24; Phil. 3:3). It is a time when God’s people, under the direction of the Holy Ghost and in accordance with God’s Word, seek to glorify Him by means of song, prayer, and the ministry of the Word. A Spirit-filled congregation also experiences the gifts of the Spirit in its worship (I Cor. 14), by means of which God is glorified and the individual members are edified.