What is a Church?

What is a church?
You would think that is any easy question to answer, but do you know? If confronted by an inquisitive individual asking your opinion, what would your answer be? The bigger question is: would all of our answers look the same or be very different? In light of this, I thought I would post an answer than can allow for us all to answer the question correctly, but to also live out what the church is to be. If your church or other churches you see do not match this definition, it is not a church.

Functional Definition of the Church:
The local church is a community of confessing believers in Jesus Christ who obey Scripture by organizing under qualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, and scatter to evangelize and care for people everywhere. They observe the biblical sacraments of baptism and communion, are unified by the Holy Spirit for mission in the world, and disciplined to live out the Great Commandment and Great Commission to the glory of God.

For the bullet-point lovers:

1. Jesus is Head of Church
2. Holy Spirit is source of regenerated life
3. Father is the object of glory
4. There are qualified leaders who are ultimately responsible for the health and well-being of the church
5. The Bible is rightly preached
6. Sacraments are rightly administered
7. Discipline is rightly enacted
8. Worship is both gathered and scattered
9. Great Commandment (love one another)
10. Great Commission (lost people finding Jesus)