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Five major purposes of the Church

As a part of the Church we, as individuals, are called to:-

1.     Love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind (Matt 22: 34-38). The whole of our being is involved. Those who truly love God will do what He says (Matt 7: 21-23) and will love what He loves (holiness) and hate what He hates (sin).

2.     Love our neighbours as ourselves (Matt 22: 39). You can only love others when you love yourself, acknowledging your own worth in God's eyes. If we don't love people, we deny our faith (1John 4: 20-21).

3.     Go and make disciples (Matt 28:19). Just like Jesus, our motivation must be the love of the Father; our natural desire should be to tell others. We must be ready to go (Matt 9:37-38).

4.     Baptize believers  (Matt 28:19). Baptism is an outward sign of an inner work - self has died (Rom 6:3-4).

5.     Teach believers to observe and obey (Matt 28:20).  Believers need to separate themselves from their old lifestyle and recognize that they now belong to the Body of Christ. They must be taught to:-

                 know Him more intimately (John 14:23) 
                 live in victory (1Cor 15:57) 
                 grow to maturity (Heb 5:12-14) 
                 do His work (Eph 2:10)