The Church, The Para church, and the Paraclete. Part 1

The so called “para-church” is not outside the local church. It is the local church. We say and hear all the time that we are the church; meaning that people are the church. Unfortunately, the veracity of this notion seems to escape the general Christian world.

What do I mean? This is a question that we must ask over the entire church. Let me first state the answers and then we will journey through the questions.

The “para-church” is not apostate, problematic, or somehow “sub church”
The “para-church” is artificially separated from those of us who attend a particular “house of worship.”

To some, these ideas make sense, to some this is a revelation, and to others it is blasphemous. Regardless of where one stands, please listen to the Word of God which we say is infallible and put aside the traditions of men and our fathers.

The church is indeed segregated. Not necessarily by color or denomination, but by those who hold tradition and the maxim “because we always have” closer to their hearts than the call of Jesus that echoes throughout eternity. That call is, “Follow Me.”

Please do not be offended as offense is not the point. The point is that every Christ follower must examine their beliefs and therefore their hearts. We must look past the because and into the why.

How do we do this? We must examine the Scripture so that our lives conform to what we profess in the saying, “Sola Scriptura.” Therefore we must commit ourselves to the word together. We will begin with the Luke-Acts codex and read through the epistles.



Before we begin our study of Scripture, let us first ask the following:

What does the word para mean?
What does the Bible mean when it says church?
Is there a difference between the church and a church?
Has this definition changed over time? If so, how?

The word para is a Greek preposition that, depending on its contextual use, can mean from, of at, by, besides, near, and sometimes contrary. In the context of Christian belief we see it used in the transliterated word paraclete which refers to the Holy Spirit. It means a comforter, a consoler, and an advocate. I am not plowing unknown ground here and will refrain from commenting further on this subject.

How does this relate to the phrase Para church? In this question we will attack several inquiries at once. First we must define the church. The Bible never refers to denominations in the sense of Presbyterian or Methodist, but it does talk about division in the Corinthian church.

Paul addressed it this way,

“One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Peter”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?

And later,

“What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe-as the Lord has assigned to each his task.”

The problem with denominations is that people cling to them for salvation instead of to Jesus. I once met a member of a southern denomination that told me that his “church” worshiped and lived the right way, that his church’s preferred translation of the Bible was inerrant and that anything else was erroneous. Those are controversial statements which I attempted to disprove, but failed. I used Biblical text and the overall theme of Scripture, but his stance did not change. Instead, he clung to his denominational ties instead of to the actual word of God.

The popular Socratic quote that the only life worth living is an examined one is correct. We must examine our lives continually in light of Scripture. Our standard is not that which is set by men and tradition, but by the Word of God. Please understand that this is not an indictment against denominations. Instead, it is a call to find truth.

To further belabor the point let us look at the word for church used in The Bible. The word is ecclesia and denotes a group of people or community. Denominations are large communities that agree on both essential and non essential articles of faith. They function by providing a place for Christians to fellowship, study, and worship. The most important function of a denomination or any church is to further the kingdom of God. If a group ceases to build the spiritual kingdom of God, it directly violates the mandate Jesus gave in the Great Commission.

In essence, many groups that are considered para church are actually churches themselves. Programs like YWAM or Fellowship of Christian Athletes fulfill the Biblical pattern of the church. They are a group of people who seek God together. Unfortunately, in these settings it is often asked, “What church are you from?”

Why is this an unfortunate question? It is because the emphasis of the question is the manmade distinction based upon the practice of non essential doctrines. Although outwardly it seems to be a question to determine what culture someone is from, at its root it is an irreverent and irrelevant question that refuses to acknowledge the life changing power of Christ that unites the ecclesia or called out ones and separates us from the rest of the world.

The bride of Christ cannot live effectively with multiple personalities. We must agree on what it means to be a Christian. To do this we must peel hundreds of years of tradition back to reveal a simple truth. According to Acts 11:26 the name Christian was given to the church in Antioch. This name is the believers’ only true identity. All other attempts to classify my following of Christ are rubbish.

One day, Jesus was asking His disciples who people thought He was. The answers were the recently executed John the Baptist, the fiery prophet Elijah, or the weeping prophet Jeremiah. He then asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus then called him blessed! Why? Because human wisdom did not reveal this to him, but it was by the revelation of God that Peter was able to declare this. Peter is now the first recorded convert to Christianity. He has confessed with his mouth and through his actions it is evident he believed in his heart.

What is at stake is the personhood of Christ. We must distinguish the name of Christ from amongst a host of good men and moral teachers. Even if one truly believes that Christ was a good man, the fact that He did not dissuade Peter from calling him the Son of God leads to two conclusions; He is the Son of God or He is a liar. If He is a liar, He cannot be a great moral teacher because his life work was based on people believing in the salvation He offered and in that sense only God can offer that. Either His life was a giant lie or He really was the Son of God, the full revelation of God to man.