The New Testament consistently teaches that the church, the “body of Christ,” exists because of the gracious initiative of God. The Father sent the Son into the world to announce the coming of God’s kingdom and to accomplish redemption; the Son sent the Holy Spirit to empower his people to engage in the mission of God; and the risen Christ now sends the church into the world to participate in that mission.
The church receives its identity and vocation from Jesus. It does not invent its own purpose or define its own priorities. Before his ascension, Jesus entrusted his followers with responsibilities that remain in play until his return. The New Testament writers clarified and commended these as eight interconnected dimensions of a single mission: the challenge of growing mature disciples who glorify God and bear faithful witness to Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Faithful commitment to these eight practices leads to an increase in the number of disciples and the multiplication of faith communities throughout the world. Since these activities are so necessary for the progress of the mission of God, it’s important to know what they are and to ensure that, as followers of Jesus, we are fully engaged in them.
So, what are these eight sacred practices?
1. Proclaiming the gospel: The church’s foundational calling
The church’s first responsibility is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. The church exists because the gospel creates it. Wherever the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection is proclaimed and received in faith, the Holy Spirit gathers people to form a local faith community that engages in the eight practices.
Jesus’ Great Commission commands his followers to “make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19), baptising them and teaching them to obey everything he has commanded. Likewise, after his resurrection Jesus declared that “repentance for forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed in his name to all the nations” (Lk 24:47). The church therefore announces that God has acted decisively in Jesus Christ, “reconciling the world to himself … [and] has committed the message of reconciliation to us” (2 Cor 5:19). The church calls people to repentance, faith, forgiveness, and new life through union with Christ.
Yet proclamation is never an end in itself. Jesus commissioned his followers not only to win converts but to make disciples. Evangelism has to do with the beginning of the journey of faith; discipleship is a lifelong process that seeks to nurture followers of the way of Jesus into mature obedience. Every other responsibility entrusted to the church serves this larger purpose of reaching and forming people whose lives increasingly reflect the character of Jesus Christ.
2. Worshipping the Triune God
Christian worship is not primarily a strategy for mission but the proper response to God’s saving grace. The Father seeks those who worship him “in spirit and in truth” (Jn 4:23). The Son gathers his people around Word and sacrament. The Holy Spirit enables the church to offer praise, thanksgiving, confession, prayer, and joyful obedience.
Throughout Scripture, worship lies at the heart of the identity of the people of God. The heavenly vision in Revelation portrays countless believers praising the Lamb, reminding the church that worship is both its present privilege and its eternal destiny (see, e.g., Rev 5:6-14; 7:9-12).
Corporate worship also shapes the church’s mission. As the people of God gather to hear God’s Word, confess their sins, celebrate the sacraments, and offer praise, they are formed into the likeness of Christ and equipped for service in the world. Mission flows out of worship because those who have encountered God’s grace naturally seek to bear witness to it.
3. Administering the sacraments: Visible signs of grace
Jesus entrusted to his church the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (also known as communion). These are visible signs and effective means by which his followers participate in God’s gracious promises and identify with Jesus and with his people.
Baptism marks entry into the covenant community. Through baptism, those who follow the way of Jesus publicly identify with his death and resurrection and are incorporated into his body, the church. Baptism is a form of initiation, signifying God’s gracious initiative in salvation while calling the baptised person into a practice of lifelong discipleship as they seek to become like Jesus and do as he did.
Unlike baptism, which needs to be performed only once, the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper continually nourishes the church. At Christ’s command, his followers gather around his table to remember his loving sacrifice, proclaim his atoning death, receive spiritual nourishment, renew their fellowship with one another, and anticipate the heavenly banquet in God’s coming kingdom.
The two sacraments visibly proclaim the same grace that the church announces in its evangelistic preaching. If the Word of God creates faith in a person, participation in the sacraments strengthen and sustain faith for the adventure of life as a follower of Jesus.
4. Teaching and preserving the truth
Having received the apostolic gospel, the church is entrusted with faithfully preserving, defending and teaching it.
Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would guide his disciples into all truth (Jn 16:13), and the apostles repeatedly urged the early communities of faith (congregations) to “guard the faith” entrusted to them (e.g., 1 Tim 6:20). Paul instructed Timothy to “guard the good deposit” through the Holy Spirit (2 Tim 1:14), while Jude encouraged believers to “contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all” (Jude 3).
This requires careful interpretation of Scripture, theological reflection, faithful preaching, catechesis, and the passing on of Christian doctrine from one generation to the next. The church submits to the authority of Scripture while faithfully transmitting the apostolic witness to future generations.
5. Forming a holy people
Jesus did not establish an organisation; he called into being a holy community whose lives would reflect his own character. The New Testament repeatedly describes the church as a people set apart for God’s purposes. Believers are called to repentance, holiness, forgiveness, humility, reconciliation, purity, generosity, and love. This transformation is the work of the Holy Spirit, who progressively conforms Christians to the image of Christ.
Such holiness is both personal and communal. Christians encourage one another toward faithful obedience, bear one another’s burdens, practise mutual accountability, and where necessary exercise loving discipline in order to restore those who have fallen into serious sin.
The church’s witness depends not only upon what it proclaims but also upon how it lives. A congregation marked by integrity, humility, forgiveness, and sacrificial love provides compelling evidence of the transforming power of the gospel. Holiness is an essential expression of faithful discipleship.
6. Serving the poor and needy
The compassion of Jesus forms an indispensable part of the church’s calling. Throughout his ministry, Jesus welcomed the outcast, healed the sick, fed the hungry, defended the vulnerable, and proclaimed good news to the poor. His followers are called to do as he did, continuing that ministry.
The early church embodied this commitment. The first Christians shared their possessions so that none among them lacked necessities, cared for widows and orphans, and organised relief for communities experiencing famine.
Christian service flows naturally from the gospel. Because Christians have received and been transformed by God’s mercy, they extend mercy to others through sacrificial service. Caring for the poor, welcoming strangers, visiting prisoners, comforting the grieving, advocating for justice, supporting refugees, and caring for God’s creation all express the character of the kingdom of God announced and demonstrated by Jesus.
These acts do not replace evangelism, nor are they alternatives to it. Rather, they demonstrate the reality of the gospel that the church proclaims. The good news of Jesus Christ speaks to every sphere of life, and every need we have.
7. Building a community of faith
The New Testament describes the church using metaphors such as “the body of Christ,” “the household of God,” “the temple of God,” and “a holy nation” (e.g., 1 Cor 12:27; Eph 2:19; 1 Cor 3:16f; 1 Pet 2:4f; 1 Pet 2:9). These rich images remind believers that Christianity is fundamentally communal rather than individualistic. We belong together.
Within this community Christians worship together, study Scripture, encourage one another, share their gifts, bear one another’s burdens, forgive one another, and grow together in faith. Mature discipleship develops most naturally within such relationships of mutual love and accountability.
Jesus declared that the world would recognise his disciples by their love for one another (Jn 13:34f). This means that the quality of the church’s common life is one of its most persuasive forms of witness. Communities marked by hospitality and reconciliation across cultural, social, and economic divisions offer a living demonstration of the reconciling work of Jesus Christ.
8. Bearing witness until Jesus returns
The church lives between the resurrection of Jesus and his promised return. This future hope shapes the church’s mission in the world. Christians recognise that the kingdom of God has begun through Jesus’ resurrection, yet its fullness awaits his return; they live in the “now-but-not-yet” of history. The church’s life is a foretaste of God’s coming kingdom, an eschatological community that seeks to model reconciliation, justice, holiness, worship, compassion, and hope, and in so doing anticipates the renewal of all creation.
This hope sustains believers during suffering, persecution, and uncertainty. Christians labour not because they expect to perfect the world through human effort, but because they know that Jesus will one day complete the work he has begun and establish perfect justice and peace. Until that day, the church continues to faithfully bear witness to the risen Lord Jesus.
Conclusion
Jesus has entrusted his church with an extraordinary vocation. Rooted in the mission of the Triune God and empowered by the Holy Spirit, the church is called to proclaim the gospel, worship God, make disciples, administer the sacraments, preserve the truth, cultivate holiness, serve the poor and vulnerable, build communities of faith, and bear witness to Christ until he returns.
These responsibilities are neither isolated nor equal. The proclamation of the gospel creates the church. Worship directs its heart toward God. The sacraments nourish its life. Sound teaching preserves its identity. Holiness gives credibility to its witness. Compassion reveals the character of Christ. Christian community embodies the reconciling power of the gospel. Hope in the return of Jesus sustains faithful perseverance.
As these dimensions of the church’s vocation remain united, the church becomes what God intended: a worshipping community of holy disciples, a faithful steward of the apostolic gospel, a compassionate servant to the world, and a living sign of the coming kingdom of God. Until he returns in glory, the church’s collective calling is to be diligent, wise and courageous in all that Jesus has entrusted to it.
Rev Dr Rod Benson is General Secretary of the NSW Ecumenical Council and a minister of the Uniting Church in Australia serving at North Rocks Community Church in Sydney
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