The Kingdom of God, Mentor Guide, MG02

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T H E K I N G D O M O F G O D

birthed from the beginning with praises on the day of Pentecost, who declared the great works of God in their languages (cf. Acts 2.13ff). By definition, the Church of Jesus Christ is a worshiping community called into being by God to be the spiritual house spoken of by the Apostle Peter, that holy priesthood which offers spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 2.5). From the very beginning, the Church has gathered regularly to give God glory for his mighty acts in Christ. Borrowing freely from synagogue worship, the early Church read and expounded the Scriptures, gave prayers, sung psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and together observed the ordinances (sacraments) given to it by Christ. Kingdom testimony for the Church has from the beginning and will always be demonstrated in its corporate worship and praise of Almighty God. Much attention, effort, and energy should be given to every generation of believers to finding new and innovative ways to glorify God, without getting rid of the former ways. The apostolicity of the Church is a critical element in its agency of the Kingdom of God. “Apostolicity” (meaning “derived from or of the apostles”) is as the Nicene Creed says, one of the central marks of the Church. As an apostolic community, the Church of Jesus Christ, as Ephesians 2.20 states, is itself being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone or capstone. The Apostles were those whomChrist chose personally to become the eyewitnesses of his majesty and ministry. The role of these eyewitnesses differs from the role of any other leaders in the history of the body, because theirs is unique and singular in their unique experience of being firsthand eyewitnesses of Jesus’ works in the world, and most importantly, his resurrection from the dead. (Please note the criteria established by the Apostles when they decided to replace Judas Iscariot’s position among the twelve, cf. Acts 1.11ff.) One can see the fundamental role that the Apostles have played in the ongoing life of the Church in the example of the canon, i.e. those books chosen to be a part of our current New Testament. Earlier generations of Christian churches assumed and argued that our New Testament manuscripts were penned either by the Apostles or some trusted person closely connected and authorized with them. Since the 19th century, many in higher critical scholarship have seriously questioned the apostolic

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