The name on the church building. The overseers and deacons Weekly partaking of the Lord's Supper Singing The Sermon The offering Prayer Not a denomination I have yet to hear one of those sermon mention the most important "mark" of all
So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." (John 13:34)
Without love for one another, all those other "marks" are dead man's bones. It is love that puts ligaments, muscle, skin, and breath to those bones.
Read Colossians 3:12-17
12 Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 You must make allowance for each other�s faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are all called to live in peace. And always be thankful.
16 Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father.
And of course, the Bible defines love in 1st Corinthians 13. A famous preacher once said it was the most read, and the least obeyed, chapter of the Bible. Sadly he's right on both counts.
If the church back then was like the church as it is now, our New Testaments would a lot shorter, for the church today would not show forgiveness to Saul of Tarsus, the murderer of Christians, who would later become the Apostle Paul who wrote the scriptures you just read. Often we are unforgiving to our brothers and sisters as well.
If one sheep fell out of the church, would you be loving enough to leave the flock of 99 to go after that one lost sheep (Matthew 18:12-13) or would you be like the priest who passed by the half-murdered Jew lying on the road (Luke 10:31).
Can the church today love sinners so much that they would fulfill the Great Commission (to go out into the world to teach the gospel) in their lifetimes like the first century church? It isn't being done today and what is scary is that the blood of those unsaved will be on the godly peoples' heads at the Judgment, unless the godly brought the gospel to the unsaved and they rejected it.
To bring the love back into the church will require a group effect. We MUST be forgiving! As in any life-long human relationship, the only way it can last is through forgiveness, for all people make mistakes.
We must be loving when we reach out to those who have fallen out of the church. The most common excuse is "I can't worship with hypocrites." Tell them that Jesus will never be a hypocrite, so worship Him, and that you are not a hypocrite, so tell that person to worship Jesus with you.
If you have an unsaved friend, then show true love and tell that friend about Jesus and invite them to church. You can also leave tracts are doctor's offices and at doorsteps.
All of those marks I mentioned at the beginning that those preachers spoke of is only done at church services. Church is not a building. The church is people who have been called out of this world of sin by the Lord Jesus to become people who serve by love, the true, lasting, and eternal mark of the church.