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The Concept of the "Church"

 Because the Church is a group of individual believers who are members in the One Body of Christ, the characteristics of the Church are:

• Unity - because Christ is one.
• Perfection - because the believers are integral members just as the members of the body work for one purpose and there is no division or split in it.
• Liveliness- because life enters each of its people that they took from Christ Who is Life.

The Universal Church

The last words of Christ to the Church began with: "Go..."(Mat 28:19). And the Book of the Acts of the Apostles says, "...and you shall be witnesses to Me... to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8) With this, Jesus, the Lord of glory, established the message of the Church in the midst of the world.  That is, to witness to Christ who is its Head, and to do good and love it for the sake of Christ, and to serve the outside world because it was served by Christ.

1. The Church is the Source of Spiritual Eminence:

Its Message of Teaching:

Since the founding of the first Church, continuous teaching and preaching are among the most important of the Church’s works. St. Paul the Apostle, while in Ephesus, participated in the discussions at a lecture hall of a person named Tyrannus (Acts 19:9).  St. Mark laid the foundation of the Theological School of Alexandria. The Church is always the lighthouse that gives light to the world and destroys the darkness of ignorance and heresy, and provides the high standard and heavenly principles.

Its Spiritual Message:

The Church believes in the power of prayer and the work of the Spirit and pays great attention to glorify God in its works, such that individuals are out of the picture: "He must increase, but I must decrease."

Its Message of Faith:

Faith is an expression of a blazing fire that gave light by the blood of the martyrs that passed from generation to generation. And now it is the Church's duty to pass this fire of the faith shining on to the next generation!

2.  The Church is an Announcer of Salvation

It is a place where sinners meet with Christ:

These souls that feel sin and dreadful judgment find in Christ a personal Savior, so they come to Him confessing their sins (the Sacrament of Confession), feeling sorry and repenting.
It is the dwelling of God with the people, where the sacrifice of salvation is manifested and Christ presents to us food (we eat His flesh and drink His blood) ensuring for ourselves a perfect life and a powerful foundation in His person.

It is the place of washing the feet, where the master becomes the servant, and where He teaches true humility, and where the responsible person carries the troubles of the others, and where we enter with unclean feet and leave clean and washed.

3. The Church is the Source of Social Caregiving:

Its view towards social service:

It is a service for the sake of Christ: "inasmuch as you did it to the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."(Mat 25:40) So the Church does good for the sake of Christ and not for the sake of individuals. Because of this, it does not regret the good that it provides to people, even if these people used it for evil. This always encourages the Church to do good and give liberally at all times.

It is a place of practicing love, where everybody feels that they are members of one body: "and had all things in common" (Acts 2:44), not by compulsion, but with love and peace. In the Church we learn love unto death from Christ Who loved the world unto the Cross, and in it learn that "whoever hates his brother is a murderer." (1 John 3:15)

It is a place of serving the nation and totally fulfilling responsibility. The Christian individual acts, not to please people, but to please God. For this, he fulfills his service completely without hypocrisy. He pays attention to his responsibility before his rights. The Church teaches its children to pray for "the president, the counselors, and the soldiers." And St. Paul the Apostle taught that prayers be raised for all those in a rank.