An early church leader named Cyprian once said, "No one can have God as his Father who does not have the church as his mother." Augustine also said, "Look, mother church is in labor; see, she is groaning in travail to give birth to you." In his book The Gift of Church, Jim Samra comments on these quotes:

The idea that the church is the mother of Christians was not only widely affirmed in the first few centuries of Christianity, it also found great traction among the Protestant Reformers. … John Calvin [said], "May [Christians] be guided by her maternal care until they grow up to manhood, and, finally, attain the perfection of faith …. To those whom [God] is a Father, the church must also be a mother."

Cyprian, Augustine, Luther, and Calvin all agree: the church provides Christians with the nurture, guidance, and encouragement necessary for spiritual development—most often associated with the role of a mother. But where did these church fathers and Reformers get the idea that the church is our mother? They found it in the Bible …. To ask how the church is our mother is really to ask, "How does the church provide the nurture, care, and maturation for spiritual growth?"

God gives us the church to help us form our identity as Christians. The church helps us to endure suffering, bringing comfort and encouragement in difficult times. The church nourishes us with the Word and the Lord's Supper, provides godly examples for us to imitate, and disciplines us when we go astray. In addition, we grow and are transformed as Jesus is uniquely manifested in our worship assemblies. The church provides maternal care for us in all of these ways, helping us to grow to become more like Jesus.