The Nicene Creed declares, “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church”. Normally in English adjectives like this are usually separated by commas. For example, if you had rough day at work you might write in your journal,
What a long, tiring, frustrating day.
You are indicating three distinct—though clearly related—things about your day. It was long; it was tiring; it was frustrating. Each of these could be true without the others. A frustrating day need not have been long and a long day does not always mean a tiring day. When the Creed speaks of “one holy catholic and apostolic church” these are not four distinct things that are true even if the other three are not.
There is one church, but if that one church is not also holy it is not the true church. If the holy church is not also catholic, it is not the true church. If it is not apostolic, it is not the true church. If you wrote in your journal about a long, tiring, frustrating day, each of these adjectives could be true even if the others aren’t. In the Creed, these adjectives are only true if they all are true. You cannot have one holy catholic church that is not rooted in the faith delivered by the apostles. The true church of Jesus Christ is one holy catholic and apostolic church.
At this point you may be wondering about the oneness of the church. Not only are there countless local, individual churches in the world, there are entire traditions that are not united in an institutional way. A Roman Catholic believer cannot attend an Eastern Orthodox church and receive holy communion. Does this mean neither church is the true church for not being one holy catholic and apostolic church? A Protestant believer cannot receive communion in either. Does this obviate the oneness the Creed intends?
We must distinguish between an ecclesiastical institution and the true church. Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Assyrian Church of the East, and more loosely, Protestantism are ecclesiastical institutions. That is, these are visible, organized bodies that claim continuity with the church of the apostles. They have defined structures and governance, liturgies, etc. With the exception of Protestantism, each claims to be the one true church to the exclusion of the others. For example, if Roman Catholicism is the one true church, then Orthodoxy cannot be. If Eastern Orthodoxy is the one true church, then Protestantism cannot be. Et cetera. This misses a significant truth: all church is local church.
In 1 Corinthians Paul is writing to them in chapter 3 about divisions in that local church. They were aligning themselves with their favorite preachers. Some were of Paul and some were of Apollos, etc. Paul’s rebuke is simple: we’re only servants, for God causes the growth. We’re all God’s servants. Then Paul drops this nugget:
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 ESV
Paul tells “the church of God that is in Corinth” (1 Corinthians 1:2) they are God’s temple. He doesn’t say “part of God’s temple”. He doesn’t say “one of God’s temples”. They, the singular church in the city of Corinth, are the temple of God where the Spirit dwells on earth. Here’s the amazing thing about this: they are the one holy catholic and apostolic church! That tiny church in Corinth, a church consisting of 50–75 people, are the one holy catholic and apostolic church!
This is how the earliest Christians understood this. Consider Ignatius and his letter to the church in Smyrna. Ignatius was on his way to Rome where he was expecting to be martyred for his faith. He’s urging the church in Smyrna to remain faithful to the Lord, in part by submitting to their council of elders and their bishop—their lead elder, the one set apart for preaching and teaching. He writes this:
Wherever the bishop appears, there let the congregation be; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic church.
Ignatius, Letter to the Smyrnaeans, 8:2
He tells them to assemble together regularly as the church. They are to assemble with their overseer, their lead elder. When a church assembles in the name of Jesus, Jesus promises to enter into their presence. This is why the gathered assembly is so very important. The gathered assembly is where we encounter God in his fullness. Yes, God is always with us, but his promise is to manifest his presence more profoundly in his assembly. When Jesus declared, “Where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am”, he wasn’t stating the obvious. Being God, he is omnipresent so there is a real sense that he is present even when two or more are not gathered in his name. He means he is there in a unique and powerful way.
Notice Ignatius’ claim: wherever Jesus Christ is—and where is he? He is in the gathered assembly in a specific time and place. That is, he is in the local church! Wherever Jesus Christ is “there is the catholic church”. The word catholic is often understood to mean “universal”, which isn’t quite accurate. The Greek word means “according to the whole”. To say “universal” implies catholic is a geographical idea. That is, the true church can be found everywhere. That’s not quite what it means. It means wherever Jesus enters into an assembly of believers, there is the one holy catholic and apostolic church—the true church.
Most often the New Testament uses the term “church” to refer to a local body of believers, the temple of God, where the church assembles according to its whole. Paul writes to the church that is in Corinth. Later in that letter he tells them, “The churches of Asia send you greetings” (1 Corinthians 16:19). In 2 Corinthians 8:1 he writes about “the churches of Macedonia”. Sometimes, however—and rarely—the singular “church” is used of multiple churches. In Acts 9:31 Luke says “the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace”. There it clearly refers to a network of churches, but again, it refers to a network of local assemblies. Most often local assemblies are referred to as individual churches: “And he [Barnabas] went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches” (Acts 15:41).
Each local church is the one holy catholic and apostolic church, but not in an institutional way. It isn’t the one true church because it has the right church governance or liturgy. It isn’t that it can directly trace its lineage back to the apostles. What makes a church the one holy catholic and apostolic church is what Ignatius said: “wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic church”. When the church in Corinth assembled in Jesus’ name, J2025 10 30esus was present and so there is the one holy catholic and apostolic church—the church according to its whole.
The author of Hebrews explains how this is. In Hebrews 12:18–24 he writes of the gathered assembly and contrasts it to Israel’s experience at Mount Sinai. At Sinai there was fear and trembling. The people were kept at a distance for a significant reason: God is holy and they were not. The experience of God’s presence was a fearful thing. When a church assembles, Jesus enters into their midst, with “innumerable angels in festal gathering”. He enters into their midst with “the assembly of the firstborn”—all those who died in faith prior to Christ. He enters into their midst with “the spirits of the righteous made perfect”—all those who died in faith in Christ.
Jesus doesn’t leave behind anyone when he enters into his assembly—assemblies. Being infinite and omnipresent, the Lord Jesus is able to enter into each assembly in his fullness. He enters into that assembly in the presence of all his people throughout all time. This is how a local church is the church according to its whole. That tiny church in Corinth was the whole church. It was the temple of the Holy Spirit, the place where God dwells on earth, just like the church in Jerusalem and the church in Antioch and the church in Colossae and the church in Philippi. Each of these local churches was the one holy catholic and apostolic church because Jesus was in each church in his fullness. Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic church.
Here’s where a significant problem creeps in. We tend to allow our American cultural mindset—particularly our individualism—to affect our understanding of the church. This knowledge of catholicity can be distorted into thinking of the one holy catholic church as a series of franchisees. We tend to stick to one particular location, often simply because of its familiarity. It can be quite jarring to go to a different Meijer store, for example. You go in your “normal” door and, wait. Why is produce on this side? Where are the household goods? Do they even have a pharmacy!? But hey, Meijer is Meijer and you can get all the same stuff. You can become familiar with this location quickly enough.
There is a real sense in which this is true. The early church writer Irenaeus used the term catholic to describe all true churches. They all taught the apostolic faith. He was writing against heresies that were growing in popularity and used catholicity to argue against these false doctrines. He emphasized that even though local churches were scattered geographically, they were united as one catholic church for they taught the same gospel message, received from the apostles. He didn’t mean a single institution, but a unity of faith.
Any local church that holds to the faith once delivered, that is, the truth of the gospel of Jesus, is the only holy catholic and apostolic church. This isn’t because they have the “right” baptismal practices or communion practices. This isn’t because they have the right system of governance. What determines whether a church is a true church is the presence of the Lord Jesus, or as Paul argues in Galatians, the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit.
Here’s where the problem creeps in. Because this is true, because there are multiple true churches in a small geographic area, many treat church membership like they treat Meijers locations. It doesn’t really matter which Meijer store you go to; what matters is whether you can get the milk, eggs, and butter you need. Meijer stores are pretty universal. There are differences, of course. A Meijer store in an area with a strong Hispanic presence is probably going to have some more choices in that particular aisle, but don’t worry: you can still get the necessary ingredients for your Beef Stroganoff.
We can far too easily treat church membership like Meijer. It’s okay if you switch stores; they sell the same basic stuff! If the church down the street is a true church, then what does it really matter if a person leaves for that church? The truth is God can certainly call a person to another church that is also one holy catholic and apostolic church. However, God never calls a person to a new church on account of the color of the old church’s new carpet. Discontent is never a valid reason to leave a church. The vast majority of time God calls his people to remain committed to a particular body of Christ, provided that church is a true church.
The early church, both in the New Testament and in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, emphasized participation in the life of a specific assembly of believers. Paul instructed Timothy how to care for widows in Ephesus, referring to a formal membership roll. To be part of a local church is to be committed to that church and to participate in the life of the church in worship, teaching, the sacraments, and communal support (that’s all the one-another commands in Scripture). The expectation is of a love for one another so deep and so profound that there may be tears when one must leave. In Acts 20 the elders of the Ephesian church wept when they heard they would never see Paul again.
We see this love in the other direction as well. Paul’s love for the Philippians is declared in Philippians 1. He tells them he thanks God for them and he holds them “in his heart” (Philippians 1:3–8). He told the Thessalonians of his love for them, telling them he had been like a mother to them, caring for her own children, and exhorting them as a father would his own children (1 Thessalonians 2:7–12). Clearly there was a deep emotional attachment to one another, rooted entirely in the Lord Jesus.
When a member leaves a local church, there is a loss, whether that person dies or must move out of state or simply chooses to “shop at a different Meijer”. There is a loss. A body part has been removed from that local body. An elbow or a thumb or a foot is missing. That is a loss! That is painful! People who have lost literal limbs can experience “phantom pain” in the missing part. It’s real pain, as if the brain remembers a foot should be there and so that person feels real pain.
Changing churches doesn’t mean being removed from the community of faith, but as we’ve seen, all church is local. When a local body of Christ loses a body part, there should be a measure of sorrow. It should hurt and even hurt a lot. If a church is truly loving one another, the pain of loss is great. Even the Ephesian elders wept at the loss of Paul, while knowing he was still in the faith!
I fear we are so ingrained in our culture of self-autonomy and isolation that we may not grieve such losses appropriately. Maybe we’re not aware of just how significant the loss of a member really is. As we saw in Ephesians 4 a few weeks ago, the local church is the body of Christ, and when each part is working properly, the body builds itself up together in love (Ephesians 4:11–16). When a body part is missing, that part cannot work properly. There is a dismemberment. A body part has been removed.
The dominant metaphor Paul uses of the church is that of family—brothers and sisters in Christ. When a sibling moves away, there is a loss. Sure, you may get together for Christmas or for a birthday, and you can keep in touch via text or social media—or even, you know, actual phone calls!—but when that sibling is not around as he or she once was, there’s a loss. So it is with a member of the church who leaves. There should be mourning, for there is a loss, regardless of the reason for the loss.
When you join a church you enter into a covenant—not with an organization, but with a people. When you leave that covenant, even when parting is sweet, there is still sorrow mixed in. What’s often missing from this conversation is the idea of covenant. We covenant together as the people of New City Church. Yes, there are many true churches out there, each of which is the one holy catholic and apostolic church, but there’s only one New City. If God has called you to enter into a covenant with this church, that should matter, and breaking that covenant should not be easy or pain-free.
When a member is removed from the body, there is a part missing, and we should grieve. We as a church should feel the loss. If we do not feel the loss, there is a sense in which we have failed to be the body of Christ. How calloused must a person be to not miss a foot if it were suddenly severed! I think we’d all recognize something’s amiss if such a person were not at all bothered by the sudden loss of an entire foot. So, too, if a foot is suddenly removed from the body and the foot doesn’t notice the loss of the body, one wonders if the foot were every truly connected to the body.
My point in all this is simple: no body of Christ remains static. New folk come and sometimes older folk go. We rejoice at new life, and we lament the loss of those who were once a part of our body and are no longer. Even when a former member joins another one holy catholic and apostolic church, we grieve for we, New City Church, have suffered loss. If someone chooses to shop at a different Meijer location no one really cares, and why should they? The church ain’t Meijer. It is the body of Christ. The loss of a body part—for whatever reason—is painful. This is a good thing, for it reminds us all what unites us in the first place: we confess together Jesus is Lord.