A well-known pastor was once asked whether he was offended that a new church near his had taken on the same name. “Are you offended that they are also calling themselves Grace Church?” “No,” he replied. Then said something like, “I’m not bothered that they are calling themselves ‘Grace.’ I’m bothered that they are calling themselves a church!”
Christians have long had to determine what marks a true church in contrast to a false church. Looking to the New Testament, they’ve long determined that it is not the name, the building, the budget, or the ministries that determine whether a particular group of people forms a church. Rather, it is the presence of preaching—true preaching that proclaims the precious truths of God’s Word.
Albert Mohler says it plainly: “Where the authentic preaching of the word takes place, the church is there. And where that is absent, there is no church. No matter how high the steeple, no matter how large the budget, no matter how impressive the ministry, it is something else.” When Christians gather to worship, there is no means of grace more prominent or more powerful than the preaching of God’s holy Word.
