In Thursday's class we looked at the church and explored what it is and why there are so many churches. The video is here (passcode #hNeWLA7). The class notes and reading for next time are linked on this page. We closed with this quotation of John Stott, 

If the church is central to God’s purpose, as seen in both history and the gospel, it must surely also be central to our lives. How can we take lightly what God takes so seriously? How dare we push to the circumference what God has placed at the center? No, we shall seek to become responsible church members, active in some local manifestation of the universal church. We shall not be able to acquiesce in low standards which fall far short of the New Testament ideals for God’s new society….If instead we keep before us the vision of God’s new society as his family, his dwelling place and his instrument in the world, then we shall constantly be seeking to make our church’s worship more authentic, its fellowship more caring and its outreach more compassionate. In other words, we shall be ready to pray, to work and if necessary to suffer in order to turn the vision into a reality.^[1]

[1] John R. W. Stott, The Message of Ephesians, BST (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2021), 129–30.