A church constitution explains how a church organizes. It provides the answers to basic questions about how a church operates. Questions like: Does the church have membership? What do the members do? How do they become members? Who’s responsible for church decisions? How do leaders become recognized as leaders? Who decides how the church will spend its money? What happens to the church’s assets if it permanently closes?

If you are a believer today, then you are—by virtue of your belief in Christ—a member of the Universal Church. But as we continue to read through this letter, it becomes clear that Paul is giving instructions that cannot possibly be accomplished by individual believers on a global scale. In other words, the NT instructions for the church can only be meaningfully accomplished on a smaller scale—in local communities. These smaller groups or communities are called local churches.