How Christ Builds His People Together

Introduction: Brick by Brick, According to Christ’s Design

For several weeks, we have been preparing our minds and affections to consider congregational life—how Christ orders His church, how a local body operates, and what it means to walk together in covenant unity. Like watching someone cook a delicious Thanksgiving dish, it is one thing to admire the result and another thing entirely to learn the ingredients, steps, and skill required to make it yourself.

Scripture gives both the doctrine and the practice of the church. Our confession (historic 1689) lays out the ecclesiology—the theology of the church. But theologian Benjamin Keach’s 1697 work The Glory of a True Church functions as the companion volume: the practical outworking of those doctrines. The confession tells us what the church is; Keach shows how the church actually operates.

This study uses Keach as a guide—not because he is flawless, but because he helpfully illustrates how Scripture structures the church, its offices, and its operations. We will take his “planks” or foundational building pieces one at a time.

Today, we begin with the first one:

Every true congregation is a covenanted body.

That means believers are not merely fellow Christians in the world; they are bound together in a specific local church under Christ’s rule.

The Universal Church vs. the Local Church

All Christians worldwide are brothers and sisters in Christ. We belong to the same Lord, share the same eternal future, and are united by the Spirit. Yet we are not all covenanted together.

There are faithful saints in Milwaukee across multiple gospel-preaching churches—Presbyterian, Baptist, Lutheran, and others. We affirm them as brethren, but we have not agreed to walk together under the same discipline, ministry, and covenant accountability. We are not members of their local church, nor they of ours.

This distinction is the difference between:

the universal church (all who belong to Christ), and
particular congregations (those covenanted to walk together under Christ).

Keach begins here: a church is not formed merely by shared beliefs but by a covenant bond.

Who May Be Joined to a Congregation?

Scripture gives a defined order.

Acts 2:41–47—The Normal Pattern

People receive the Word—they believe.
They are baptized.
They are added to the church.
They devote themselves to teaching, worship, fellowship, and prayer.

This order is repeated in Acts 8 (the Ethiopian eunuch), Acts 19, and elsewhere.

Profession of faith → Baptism → Joining the church.

Baptism is not an optional add-on. It is entrance into visible church life. When someone is baptized, he is obligated to join a church—not someday, but as the very outworking of baptism’s purpose.

We saw this visibly when Nathan, Timothy, Jonathan, and Ben professed faith, were baptized, and were received into membership. Scripture does not imagine baptized Christians roaming spiritually unattached.

Are There Extraordinary Cases?

Yes—but they prove the rule.

If someone professes faith and is baptized but must immediately return to another part of the world (like the Ethiopian eunuch), he cannot remain—and Scripture assumes he will join a congregation where God places him.

Ordinarily, however:

A baptized believer joins the church where Christ has placed him.

A Note on Baptisms from Other Traditions

The question often arises:

Should someone who was baptized as an infant in Lutheran, Presbyterian, or Roman Catholic settings be re-baptized?

From Keach’s understanding—and consistent with Baptist ecclesiology—the answer is yes.

Why?

Because Scripture never presents baptism as something performed upon unbelievers or infants. Baptism follows:

repentance,
faith,
and discipleship.

Thus:

Roman Catholic baptism is not received—because Rome is not a gospel church.
Paedobaptist communions (Presbyterian/Lutheran) perform something resembling dedication, not believer’s baptism.

A parent cannot believe on behalf of his child. Baptism requires confession with one’s own mouth.

So those who join our congregation from paedobaptist backgrounds are baptized upon profession of faith.

But What About Communion Visitors?

If such individuals are visiting or walking through these matters with us, we treat them as brothers and sisters in Christ, members in good standing of real churches—even if we differ on baptism. Pastoral care requires patience, especially when someone is 70 years into hearing he is baptized versus 7 years.

But membership requires believer’s baptism.

The Second Plank: Giving Ourselves One to Another

A church does not exist merely by shared belief but by consent and covenant.

Ephesians 1—Saints “in Ephesus”

Paul writes to believers joined as one people. They receive one letter because they are one body.

This means:

A mayor cannot conscript all Christians into a state church.
No one outside the church imposes pastors or membership.
Christians freely covenant together under Christ’s rule.

This is why Baptist constitutions include church covenants—they express:

“We agree to walk with these people under the Word and rule of Christ.”

The Third Plank: According to the Will of God

Colossians 1 illustrates that local congregations exist not by human engineering, but divine purpose.

God gathers His saints.
God qualifies them to share in the inheritance of light.
God unites them in love for the saints.

Churches exist because God wills certain people to walk together.

Your membership is not accidental—it is providential.

The Fourth Plank: Meeting Together for Worship

A true church gathers physically.

Christians are not merely spiritually connected; they assemble:

Same time,
Same place,
Same Lord.

Unless providentially hindered, they meet to worship. Acts 2 and Acts 5 show believers gathering under apostolic doctrine, prayer, fellowship, and sacrament observance.

The Fifth Plank: Word, Sacrament, and Discipline

Historically, Reformed churches identified the “marks of a true church”:

Faithful preaching of the Word
Right administration of the sacraments
Exercise of discipline

Romans 6 ties baptism to union with Christ and obedience of life. The church is the sphere in which:

teaching forms us,
sacraments nourish us, and
discipline protects us.

These are not optional—they define a church.

Summary and Implications

A church is not a loose association. It is a covenanted body where believers:

profess faith,
are baptized,
agree to walk together,
gather for worship,
and observe the means of grace.

This plank may seem basic, but the past 400 years have proven its power—so much that even traditions historically opposed to congregationalism have adopted its assumptions.

It is the first stone on which church life is built.

Why This First Plank Matters Today

This foundational teaching may feel simple or assumed, but the reason it seems obvious to modern Christians is precisely because it won the day over centuries of debate, persecution, and practice.

Historically, congregationalism was not the dominant view of the church. It was contested, resisted, and pressed down under state-church models, whether Anglican, Roman, or Presbyterian. Congregational churches lacked seminaries, state sponsorship, or political protection. Yet the biblical model proved too compelling to suppress.

Today:

Presbyterians exercise congregational will by voting to leave denominations.
Baptists openly covenant together in local congregations.
Even a Catholic parish was recently reported to be functioning under quasi-congregational principles—people voting on which buildings to close due to priest shortages.

It is a quiet testimony to how deeply scriptural principles shape Christian practice, even outside the traditions that originally proclaimed them.

The Covenant Church Is Basic, But Far from Trivial

Though this first plank seems basic, it is the bedrock under every doctrine of the church:

Church discipline is meaningless if there is no covenant membership.
The Lord’s Supper assumes a defined body under oversight.
Pastoral authority assumes people who have willingly consented to be shepherded.
Spiritual unity requires shared vows, not merely shared beliefs.

In a consumeristic age, this plank confronts our assumptions:

The church is not something you attend.
It is something you bind yourself to.

Looking Ahead: More Planks to Build Upon

Benjamin Keach walks us through the church step by step. Today we have seen:

✔ believers professing faith
✔ being baptized
✔ covenanting together
✔ gathering under God’s will
✔ worshiping as one assembly
✔ observing the Word, sacraments, and discipline

All of this forms the identity of a local church.

But it is only the beginning.

The weeks ahead will explore:

• How Christ orders church authority

Elders, deacons, congregants—each has role and responsibility under Christ.

• How congregations reach agreement

Not by chaos, but by disciplined spiritual process.

• How membership responsibilities unfold

Walking together requires devotion, discipline, patience, and charity.

• How discipline is exercised for the good of souls

Not punitive, but restorative and protective.

• How the ordinary means of grace sustain the church

Preaching, sacraments, prayer, and fellowship shape spiritual life.

Each plank builds toward a full vision of how Christ’s body works—not in theory, but in lived practice.

Conclusion: A People Formed by Christ to Walk Together

A church does not materialize by accident.

Christ calls individuals to Himself, but then He binds them to one another.

Baptism enrolls us into visible life with God’s people.
Covenant vows commit us to walk together.
Worship, Word, and sacraments sustain our fellowship.

This first plank is crucial:
A church is a gathered, covenanted, obedient body under Christ’s rule, not a crowd or loose association.

In the weeks ahead, we will see how this body is ordered, governed, preserved, strengthened, and used for Christ’s glory.