The Church

Pentecost is often described as the Birth of the Church Pentecost is often described as the Birth of the Church. Why do you think this is? (Remember what the disciples were like before Pentecost and the first think they did after Pentecost) When people think of the Church they often think of a building or of the Pope but these don’t give very good ideas of what the Church is. Here are two ideas which try to give an idea of what the Church is and how people in it should behave

Church as Body of Christ

This image comes from St Paul where he talks about “ For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function,  so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.” Romans 12: 4-5 Paul also says:

This means Everyone together makes up the Church Everyone’s gifts and talents are important and everyone needs to use them to help the Church We are all equally important We are all guided together by the Holy Spirit We all need to try to behave like Jesus

Some hymns and art work try to help us understand this Read the words of the Hymn We are one in the Spirit How do they say we have to behave if we are ‘One Body’

Another model is that of Servant

This means That just as Jesus served others (can you give 2 examples) Christians must serve others as well At the Last Supper Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and told his followers to do the same. (this means help others- act as their servant) Jesus helped those who were poor or looked down on by everyone else and Christians have to do the same. (How does the Pope do this?) The church should not think about itself but about others