The word “church” as found in the Bible is a translation of the Greek word ekklesia, which means “calling out.” This expression was commonly used by people when referring to a special gathering.

The Bible refers to the church as a divine agency, and it is called “the church of God” (Acts 20:28). Jesus entrusted the church with authority (Matthew 16:18, 19).

The Old Testament alludes to the church as the organized congregation of God’s people. From the earliest times the families who feared God—from the lineage of Adam right down to Seth, Noah, Shem, and Abraham—represented the preservers of the divine truth. These families, in which the father played the role of a priest, may be considered the church in miniature.

“The church of Christ is very precious in His sight. It is the case which contains His jewels, the fold which encloses His flock.

“Christ ‘loved the church, and gave himself for it’ (Ephesians 5:25). It is the purchase of His blood. The divine Son of God is seen walking amid the seven golden candlesticks. Jesus Himself supplies the oil to these burning lamps. He it is that kindles the flame. ‘In him was life; and the life was the light of men’ (John 1:4). No candlestick, no church, shines of itself. From Christ emanates all its light. . . . The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the light thereof.” 1

“The church is God’s fortress, His city of refuge, which He holds in a revolted world. Any betrayal of the church is treachery to Him who has bought mankind with the blood of His only-begotten Son. . . .

“Through centuries of persecution, conflict, and darkness, God has sustained His church. Not one cloud has fallen upon it that He has not prepared for; not one opposing force has risen to counterwork His work, that He has not foreseen. All has taken place as He predicted. He has not left His church forsaken, but has traced in prophetic declarations what would occur, and that which His Spirit inspired the prophets to foretell has been brought about. All His purposes will be fulfilled. His law is linked with His throne, and no power of evil can destroy it. Truth is inspired and guarded by God; and it will triumph over all opposition.

“During ages of spiritual darkness the church of God has been as a city set on a hill. From age to age, through successive generations, the pure doctrines of heaven have been unfolding within its borders. Enfeebled and defective as it may appear, the church is the one object upon which God bestows in a special sense His supreme regard. It is the theater of His grace, in which He delights to reveal His power to transform hearts.” 2

“God has a church upon the earth, who are His chosen people, who keep His commandments. He is leading, not stray offshoots, not one here and one there, but a people.

“There is no need to doubt, to be fearful that the work will not succeed. God is at the head of the work, and He will set everything in order. If matters need adjusting at the head of the work, God will attend to that, and work to right every wrong. Let us have faith that God is going to carry the noble ship which bears the people of God safely into port.

“When I voyaged from Portland, Maine, to Boston, many years ago, a storm came upon us, and the great waves dashed us to and fro. The chandeliers fell, and the trunks were rolled from side to side, like balls. The passengers were frightened, and many were screaming, waiting in expectation of death.

“After awhile the pilot came on board. The captain stood near the pilot as he took the wheel, and expressed fear about the course in which the ship was directed. ‘Will you take the wheel?’ asked the pilot. The captain was not ready to do that, for he knew that he lacked experience.Then some of the passengers grew uneasy, and said they feared the pilot would dash them upon the rocks. ‘Will you take the wheel?’ asked the pilot; but they knew that they could not manage the wheel.

“When you think that the work is in danger, pray, ‘Lord, stand at the wheel. Carry us through the perplexity. Bring us safely into port.’ Have we not reason to believe that the Lord will bring us through triumphantly?” 3

“Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation” (Exodus 19:5, 6).

“Seventh-day Adventists have been chosen by God as a peculiar people, separate from the world. By the great cleaver of truth He has cut them out from the quarry of the world and brought them into connection with Himself.” 4

“God has called His church in this day, as He called ancient Israel, to stand as a light in the earth. By the mighty cleaver of truth, the messages of the first, second, and third angels, He has separated them from the churches and from the world to bring them into a sacred nearness to Himself. He has made them the depositaries of His law and has committed to them the great truths of prophecy for this time. Like the holy oracles committed to ancient Israel, these are a sacred trust to be communicated to the world. The three angels of Revelation 14 represent the people who accept the light of God’s messages and go forth as His agents to sound the warning throughout the length and breadth of the earth.” 5

“Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein” (Jeremiah 6:16).

“There is to be no change in the general features of our work. It is to stand as clear and distinct as prophecy has made it. We are to enter into no confederacy with the world, supposing that by so doing we could accomplish more. If any stand in the way, to hinder the advancement of the work in the lines that God has appointed, they will displease God. No line of truth that has made the Seventh-day Adventist people what they are is to be weakened. We have the old landmarks of truth, experience, and duty, and we are to stand firmly in defense of our principles, in full view of the world.” 6

“Our only safety is to stand as God’s peculiar people. We must not yield one inch to the customs and fashions of this degenerate age, but stand in moral independence, making no compromise with its corrupt and idolatrous practices.” 7

“Choose poverty, reproach, separation from friends, or any suffering rather than to defile the soul with sin. Death before dishonor or the transgression of God’s law should be the motto of every Christian. As a people professing to be reformers, treasuring the most solemn, purifying truths of God’s word, we must elevate the standard far higher than it is at the present time. Sin and sinners in the church must be promptly dealt with, that others may not be contaminated. Truth and purity require that we make more thorough work to cleanse the camp from Achans. Let those in responsible positions not suffer sin in a brother. Show him that he must either put away his sins or be separated from the church.” 8

“God has selected a people in these last days whom He has made the depositaries of His law, and this people will ever have disagreeable tasks to perform. . . . It will require much diligence and a continual struggle to keep evil out of our churches. There must be rigid, impartial discipline exercised; for some who have a semblance of religion will seek to undermine the faith of others and will privily work to exalt themselves.” 9

“Toward those who fall into sin, the church has a duty, to warn, to instruct, and if possible to restore. ‘Reprove, rebuke, exhort,’ the Lord says, ‘with all long-suffering and doctrine’ (2 Timothy 4:2). Deal faithfully with wrongdoing. Warn every soul that is in danger. Leave none to deceive themselves. Call sin by its right name. Declare what God has said in regard to lying, Sabbath­breaking, stealing, idolatry, and every other evil. ‘They which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God’ (Galatians 5:21). If they persist in sin, the judgment you have declared from God’s word is pronounced upon them in heaven. In choosing to sin, they disown Christ; the church must show that she does not sanction their deeds, or she herself dishonors her Lord. She must say about sin what God says about it. She must deal with it as God directs, and her action is ratified in heaven. He who despises the authority of the church despises the authority of Christ Himself.” 10

“The world must not be introduced into the church, and married to the church, forming a bond of unity. Through this means the church will become indeed corrupt, and as stated in Revelation, ‘a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.’ ” 11

“The names of those who sin and refuse to repent should not be retained on the church books, lest the saints be held accountable for their evil deeds. Those who pursue a course of transgression should be visited and labored with, and if they then refuse to repent, they should be separated from church fellowship, in accordance with the rules laid down in the Word of God. . . .

“Those who refuse to hear the admonitions and warnings given by God’s faithful messengers are not to be retained in the church. They are to be disfellowshiped; for they will be as Achan in the camp of Israel—deceived and deceiving.

“Who, after reading the record of Achan’s sin and punishment, can think it according to the will of God that those who do wickedly, refusing to repent, are to be retained in the church? To retain them would be an insult to the God of heaven.” 12

“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).

“Until Christ shall appear in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, men will become perverse in spirit and turn from the truth to fables. The church will yet see troublous times. She will prophesy in sackcloth. But although she must meet heresies and persecutions, although she must battle with the infidel and the apostate, yet by the help of God she is bruising the head of Satan. The Lord will have a people as true as steel, and with faith as firm as the granite rock. They are to be His witnesses in the world, His instrumentalities to do a special, a glorious work in the day of His preparation.” 13

“The church is God’s appointed agency for the salvation of men. It was organized for service, and its mission is to carry the gospel to the world. From the beginning it has been God’s plan that through His church shall be reflected to the world His fullness and His sufficiency. The members of the church, those whom He has called out of darkness into His marvelous light, are to show forth His glory. The church is the repository of the riches of the grace of Christ; and through the church will eventually be made manifest, even to ‘the principalities and powers in heavenly places,’ the final and full display of the love of God (Ephesians 3:10).” 14

We would like to take the opportunity during this week of prayer to appeal to the dear family of God:

a) Let us keep ourselves loyal to the truth and “contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3).

b) Let us study the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy more. Isaiah 8:20; Revelation 12:17; 19:10.

c) Let us not neglect to hold morning and evening worship in our homes and in our institutions. 3TT 91.

d) Let us advance in the practice of health reform, depending less and less on animal products (for the diseases in the animals are increasing day by day) and let us use more fruits and wholesome food. “If we wish good health, we must take special care of the health that God has given us, deny the unhealthy appetite, eat less fine food, eat coarse food free from grease.” 15

e) By the grace of God, let us eliminate from our homes everything which has brought upon us His displeasure—unsuitable dress, unsuitable music and videos, readings which will not edify us in our spiritual life, and let us maintain our stand against the wrong use of TV and similar devices. Isaiah 33:15; Ezekiel 20:7.

f) Let us keep our first love regarding tithes and offerings, especially the first-fruits (Proverbs 3:9). Let us not forsake our regular worship hours in the church, our active exercise in missionary work, and let us not exclude ourselves from the communion service as a part of God’s family. Let us maintain the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation so that the church may be always in unity as a true family. Ephesians 4:31, 32; 1 Corinthians 1:10.

g) Let us remember the appeal made during the General Confer­ence sessions in 1967, 1971, and 1979, that we should appeal to our churches all over the world, calling the people to a deeper consecration and lifting up of our standards. 2 Chronicles 15:12–15.

• Lift up our principles (purity and integrity).

• Faithfulness and living up to the light which God has given us on health reform, Sabbath reform, and tithes and offerings.

• Regarding dress reform, so that our churches be not demoralized (4T 647, 648); separation from the world and its pleasures (such as TV, games, novels, amusements), vanities and festivities.

• Shunning improper friendship and association with those that lack true conversion.

• Exercising care in recommending candidates for baptism, and allowing only those to be baptized who thoroughly understand the doctrines and have given proof of their genuine conversion and new life in Christ Jesus.

Dear brethren and sisters, may the Spirit of God illuminate our understanding so that during this week of prayer we may have a deeper understanding of the solemn and great mission of God’s church, and that by His grace we may have a part in the final work of the church and participate in the latter rain. Amen.