THE BODY LIFE

                 "Governing Principles for Building Up the Body of Christ"  - by Tom Finley

                       (Revised edition, 2008)

This booklet explains six critical principles for the spiritual growth of the local church.  These six principles are:  Christ is All; Christ is the Head; Oneness; The Body Builds Up Itself; Building Up in Love; Building Up Through the Cross.  Lack of attention to these principles is the reason for the spiritual immaturity and division witnessed in churches today.  The practice of these principles will bring a local assembly into a mature and unified corporate expression of Jesus.

                "Knowing the All-sufficiency of Jesus' Name in God's Ecclesia" - by C. H. Mackintosh

C. H. Mackintosh, a giant of the Scriptures, wrote this article in the 1800s.  It is as relevant today as when it was written.   The exhortation here calls us to turn away from the religious systems of man and to seek to practice the true assembly of God, according to the light of the Scriptures. 

                 "The Church which is His Body" - by T. Austin-Sparks

The spiritual truths of the body of Christ are expounded here.   The church is covered in its heavenly aspect, its basis of oneness and its nature.  This booklet stresses the reality of the corporate nature and innate oneness of the body of Christ, which is in contrast to the practice of most believers today.  The author applies the truths to our living, emphasizing our great need to apply the cross and live in union with the resurrected Christ in order to experience the reality of the body life.