Shaping the Church

Brief Description

No group can claim to be the New Testament church because nobody knows just what the shape of the various churches in the first century was. We can affirm, however, that there are good churches in every one of our nation’s differing denominations, as measured by the call of God. The central theme of Shaping the Church is to do just that, to examine various aspects of the church’s life in the effort to determine what we can legitimately say about what the New Testament teaches us and how that differs from what many of us believe about the church.

About the Author

Malcolm O. Tolbert is the author of several books and numerous articles. He is a former professor of Greek New Testament at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and of New Testament Interpretation at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. In addition, he has served as a pastor in Georgia and a missionary to Brazil. He lives in Louisiana.

Table of Contents

Foreword
The New Testament Church: One “True” Church?
The Importance of the Church
Pentecost: The Birth of the Church
Baptism: The Door into the Church
The Meaning of Church Membership
Women in the Church
Ministry in the New Testament
Worship Elements
Worship: Holy Places
Worship: Holy Hours
Christianity and the State
The Mission of the Church