The Church in the Creed. Chapel on the Hill, Don Bosco Batulao - 8

The Church is Apostolic.

That is to say, it is the community that Christ founded with the Apostles as nucleus. We read of the first Christian converts added to the Church at Jerusalem that "the continued steadfast in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and the prayers." (Acts 2:42)

In order to be a Christian, it is not enough to be in the Apostles' teaching. You must also be in the Apostles' fellowship. To be a Christian does not mean simply holding a certain set of beliefs, even if accompanied by appropriate behavior. It means belonging to the Christian community, to the Church. When God sent an angel to the centurion Cornelius (Acts 10), the angel did not instruct him in Christian doctrine and tell him, "Now, if you believe what I have just said, that makes you a Christian." Rather, he told him how to get in touch with the Christian community by sending a messenger to Peter in Joppa. When Saul was on the road to Damascus, Christ spoke to him. But He did not instruct Saul in Christian doctrine. Rather, He told him to go into Damascus and wait for instructions, and then He sent Ananias, a Christian, to receive Saul into the Christian community. And one of the marks of that community is its continuity with the community that Christ founded and upon whom the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost.