Fundamental #17

Memory Scripture

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.—Matthew 28:19-20 

Summary Statement

The Church of God is described in the Bible as a group of people who are baptized and are being led by God’s Holy Spirit. The Church is not a building or a human-led organization but is instead made up of the people God is working with and has worked with throughout all human history. The name given in the Bible to describe this group is Church of God, not Church of Christ or any other description.

The purpose of the Church of God has two major parts: 1) to tell as many people as possible about the message of the Kingdom of God, which is called the gospel, meaning the good news of God’s plan; and 2) to help all Church members grow in character and become more like our example, Jesus Christ.

Church members do not have loud and pushy religious conversations in public to try to make people believe in God or follow His way, because the Bible tells us that whether someone responds to the gospel message is completely up to God’s timing and desire (

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New King James Version (NKJV) The Holy Bible, New King James Version ©1982 by Thomas Nelson" > John 6:44 ). He decides who He wants to follow Him now, and He has a future plan for all people who do not respond to His calling now or who never responded in the past. God does not forget anyone.

Begin Your Study

Read through the memory scripture together with your children, then read through the summary statement (remember to simplify the statement, if necessary). Have your children cut and paste the summary statement from this page in their “Fundamentals Bible Study Journal” (as suggested in the Memorizing Scripture resource “The Fundamentals”). Next, have your children read and write the memory scripture, Matthew 28:19-20, in their journals.

Ask your children what job they would like to do when they get older. Ask, “Did you know that you have a job right now?” The Church has two very important jobs: teaching the world about God’s plan and helping God’s people. Ask, “How do you think the Church teaches the world (those who are not church members) about God’s plan? How do you think the Church helps God’s people?”

Discuss with your children the ways the Church fulfills its mission on a large scale, and then discuss how each of us fulfills our roles individually. Tell your child that we do our job of teaching the world about God’s way by our actions. We do what God tells us (being a light to the world) and others notice how God’s way works.

We can do our second job of helping God’s people by getting to know everyone in our congregation, helping out at church services, asking your parents to invite families to your house for meals or activities, sending cards, and many more things! In their journals, have your children write down different ways they can think of helping others in the Church.

Digging Deeper Interaction #1

Go through the memory scripture. Tell your children that to get to know other church members, we are going to plan to have a special meal with one or two other church families! As a family, plan who you will invite and what meal you will make. This would be a great opportunity to invite a family, couple, or single person that your family does not know very well. Then have your children make homemade invitations that you can mail or deliver at church services the week before your dinner. Your children may even want to create special decorations and name cards for each plate!

Digging Deeper Interaction #2 

Review Matthew 28:19-20 from the beginning of today’s interaction. Now have a contest with your children or the entire family to see who can learn the names of every member in your local congregation! Create a personal local church photo album and use this to learn the names of each person. Together, pray for each family in your congregation, maybe one family each day.

For children with an interest in writing, with your pastor’s permission, help your child create a monthly congregational newsletter. This could include local congregation events and member interviews to get to know others in your congregation.

Bible Story: The Early Church

Review that the Church of God is a group of people who have the Holy Spirit working in them. Next, read through Acts 2 with your children. Discuss with your children how the New Testament Church was created on the Day of Pentecost and how God gave the gift of His Holy Spirit. God has not only given us the amazing gift of His Holy Spirit but has also given us a spiritual family: the Church of God.

Bonus Ideas

There are several scriptures in the Bible that use the phrase “Church of God.” Challenge your children (and yourself!) to find some examples. They can add them to their journals if they like. (Hint: Several epistles begin with a greeting using this phrase. It seemed important to the apostles to greet Church members by their shared, spiritual group name. Discuss possible ideas on why the apostles did that.) 

For a deeper study on the beginning of the New Testament Church, please refer to the EEI resource “Feast of Pentecost” located in the Word of God section.

Choose a song from the hymnal about God’s Church and sing it together! “We Are God’s People” (#160) might be a good place to start.

Locate the EEI resource Preach the Gospel Bingo, which is in the Additional Resources section, and learn about the commission given to the Church.

Wrap-Up Activity

Cut out a large circle to make this week’s scripture poster and have your children write the memory scripture on it. Then have them draw pictures of all the people in your congregation or have them draw pictures of Church members from all over the world, demonstrating that the Church is the people God is working with.

To end your study, have your child recite the memory scripture for a small audience, perhaps for the family or families you invite for a special meal or for the door greeters at services.