All things considered, what is the Church? In order to answer this question, Pastor Joel Engel addressed the essence of the Church and the responsibility of each generation to pass the faith into another.

According to Engel, the word church is a translation from the Greek term “ekklesia”, meaning “called out”.

“We were taken from one place and put into another. Before, we lived in darkness and followed the world’s system, but now we have been transported to the Kingdom of God, where the system, laws and customs are different. But we need to understand: to be freed from the prisons of darkness, we need to truly enter the system of the Kingdom of God”, he highlighted.

And He also said that in this world’s system, we are trained to react, but in God’s system it is not like that. You don’t change your mood if you don’t allow it, because you learn to control yourself.

During his sermon, Engel used an analogy to illustrate the relationship between the Church and the world. “The Church is like a little boat in the ocean. The ocean is the Church, and the little boat is the world. The ocean can exist without the little boat, but the opposite is impossible,” he said.

Challenges in today’s world

Joel Engel is concerned about the future of the Church and the impact on the younger generations. “In the generation of Moses, the entire nation was converted. When in the time of Joshua, look what happened. Judges 2:10 says that ‘After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel,” he said.

The pastor also asked: “If it is up to you, will your children’s generation get to know God or forget Him? It only takes one generation to fail for the next one to not know God.”

“Right now, what I see in our country are children reproducing the model taught by their parents and transforming the altar into a business stage. What is happening to the Church of Christ? Is it adapting to this world’s system? If the Church returns to the world’s system, it is no longer the Church — because, in essence, church means being taken out of the old system.”

‘Church is not a building’

The pastor noted that many people have a shallow understanding of what the Church really is: “Some are painting the walls of the church black? Fine! Are they promoting pizza raffles? Fine! But Christ must be the cornerstone. Without Him, there is no salvation!”, he stated.

Engel also reinforced that the Church is not limited to a building or denomination. “The Church is formed by all people who believe in Jesus and are saved by Him. In the spiritual world, we are only one, the body of Christ.”

Engel also explored the historical roots of the Church, pointing out how the early Christians gathered. “In ancient Rome, the people used to have meetings in a building. But before that, where did the apostles meet? Under a tree, on the beach, going from house to house. They broke bread. There was no concept of ‘let’s go to a building,’” he explained.

The pastor also criticized what he called the “Greek mentality” present in many churches today. “The habit of saying ‘my church’ is a Greek mentality. Biblical mentality say God is the center, but in the Greek mentality, man is the center. The biblical mentality promotes unity. The Greek mentality promotes competition.”

The pastor addressed what he considers spiritual attacks on the unity of the Church today. “There has never been so much division and rebellion in the churches as now. This happens because demons have been released to prepare the way for the Antichrist. Churches need to be prepared for this type of war. This division between families, between brothers, has its roots in the Greek mentality, which promotes competition instead of unity,” he warned.

Finally, Engel emphasized: “Do you think God took you out of the darkness to be just a regular person? Do you think God took you out of the world to continue the same thing? If so, Jesus died in vain. What kind of faith will our children live by? What kind of legacy will the next generation carry? If we are not grounded in Christ as the cornerstone, the Church runs the risk of losing its essence.”

Watch the full message, with subtiles in English.