21st October 2025

The New Testament word for ‘church’ is ekklesia, which means ‘a calling out’, ‘an assembly or ‘a gathering’.¹  In classical Greek it was used almost exclusively for political gatherings, and the New Testament records three instances of this secular use of the term (Acts 19:32, 39, 41). The term was adopted by early Christians to mean a congregation or community of believers called out by God, and is used that way in our header scripture. It can refer to the local assembly or the whole universal community of believers.

The Creed states that the church has four identifying characteristics: one, holy, catholic and apostolic. These four characteristics, inseparably linked with each other, indicate essential features of the Church and its mission.

The Church is one because its source is the triune God and it expresses the essential oneness of God. Thomas Torrance tells us that ‘Far from being a human institution it was founded by the Lord himself and rooted in the Holy Trinity.’ ²  The Creed goes on to ground the church’s ‘oneness’ in ‘one baptism’ (Ephesians 4:5) which is in the one name of the triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Baptism is recognised as the means by which a person enters the one church, and Torrance adds, ‘The Church [is] the community called to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and brought into union and communion with God the Father through baptism and the regenerating gift of the Holy Spirit.’ ³  

The church is holy because it is formed by the Holy Spirit. It does not have holiness in and of itself, but because it bears the imprint of the Trinity: It ‘…does not derive from any moral goodness or purity of its members, but from the holiness of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The holiness of the Church is thus objectively grounded in the utterly transcendent holiness, glory and purity of God’s being.’ ⁴

In saying that the church is ‘catholic’ the Creed is saying that it is ‘universal’ or ‘all-inclusive’. The church is universal first because Christ is present in it: ‘Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the catholic church.’⁵  Secondly, the church is universal because it has been sent to participate in God’s mission to the whole world, and it welcomes and embraces all people. The church’s universality also correlates with the ‘universal range of the incarnation and atonement’, for the Son of God ‘died and rose again for all people irrespective of who they are’. ⁶ 

The Church is apostolic because it is built on the foundation of the apostles (Ephesians 2:20). It holds to the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42), and passes it on faithfully (2 Timothy 2:1-2). The Church doesn’t invent truth or create doctrines, but under the protective guidance of the Holy Spirit supports and defends the apostolic teaching, handing it on intact from generation to generation. Additionally, the church is apostolic because it is sent out on mission to share the gospel message of which they are eyewitnesses (John 20:21). As Torrance comments, ‘In its simplest sense the apostolicity of the Church refers back to the original foundation of the Church once for all laid by Christ upon the apostles, but it also refers to the interpenetration of the existence and mission of the Church in its unswerving fidelity to that apostolic foundation.’ ⁷   

We are richly blessed to be a part of the one, holy, universal, apostolic church – let’s cherish what God has given us.

¹ Strong’s Greek: 1577. ἐκκλησία (ekklésia) — Church, assembly, congregation
² Torrance, T.F.  The Trinitarian Faith, p 253
³  Ibid. p 261
⁴  Ibid. pp 280-281 
⁵  St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans, circa AD 110
⁶  Torrance, T.F.  The Trinitarian Faith, p 284
⁷  Ibid. p 285

Local congregation:
Grace Communion West Hampstead 
Sidings Community Centre
150 Brassey Road
West Hampstead
London
NW6 2BA

Meeting time:
Sunday 12.30 pm

Local congregational contact:
Gordon Brown
gordon.brown@gracecom.church

Word of Life contact:  
wordoflife@gracecom.church