The Church Is The Body Of Christ And We Are The Church

"And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way."  Ephesians 1:22-23 (NIV)

The Apostle Paul told the believers in the local church at Ephesus that as part of the group of baptized believers in Jesus Christ, they were a part of The Church, which is the body of Christ, and that Christ is The Head of The Church.

When Jesus, The Christ, established The New Testament Church, the body of baptized believers, based upon Peter's statement of faith and belief, He said upon this rock I will build My church. (Matthew 16:18)  In the early days of The Church, The Lord God added to The Church daily as He deemed appropriate. (Acts 2:47)  As The Church grew in numbers, they were persecuted by the Romans, and the believers were scattered. (Acts 8:1)  However, those who were scattered preached The Word of God wherever they went and The Church continued to grow. (Acts 8:4)  Today we seem to have lost sight of the fact that God is in The Church and The Church is within us, just as it was within those early believers. (1 Thessalonians 1:1)  We are The Church of God.  We tend to think of the church as the building where we worship, and not as the group of local believers who are being fed by a local leader.  That leader, by whatever title, leader, elder, overseer, bishop, apostle, prophet, evangelist, teacher, pastor, or under-shepherd, is also called the angel of that local church in that city. (Acts 14:23, 20:28, 1 Corinthians 12:28, Ephesians 4:11, Revelation 2:1, 2:8, 2:12, 2:18, 3:1, 3:7, and 3:14)  That leader has the responsibility preach the gospel to The Church and to feed the flock The Word of God. (Jeremiah 23:2, John 21:16-17, Acts 20:28, and 1 Peter 5:2)  We need to understand that Christ is The Head of The Church.  He wants us, His Church, to be holy, washed in The Word, without spot or wrinkle or blemish. (Ephesians 5:26:27)  We need His help to clean up our act, and to be The Church that He wants us to be.