When I first started out in the world of charity it was as a Christian minister. In my mind and experience, bringing food and medical attention to desperate people provided concrete evidence of God’s love. The problem I began to encounter was that while I was looking for ways to express God’s love for people out in the world, when I got home it was one battle after another: Christians against so-called Pretend-Christians, churches against churches, and etc.
Understand. The churches I grew up in pretty much had God’s Truth down pat. Before you could even complete your question, they had The Answer. There was no room for objection, no room for nuance, no room for friendly debate, and certainly no room for mystery. Sadly, there was also no room for love.
As time went by, I grew weary of the ”cultural wars” and the theological nitpicking that left people outside the Christian world wanting to have nothing to do with Christianity or the Church. “If that is your idea of God’s love, get me outta here!” So, I gradually began spending more time doing charity work in places like Kenya and the Sudan, than I did in church.
Around 15 years ago I could no longer stomach the constant condemnation, ridicule, and downright mean-spiritedness of people whose message appeared to be, “God hates everyone who disagrees with me,” so I pretty much walked away from having a formal identification with any particular church, and began solely giving myself to charity work. I am not saying my reaction to “church” was wise or mature, much less “loving”: I am simply sharing my own experience.
On the other hand, I believe I am also relating the experience of millions of others, as well. Read the surveys: the largest Christian “church” in America is probably the UN-churched! What is this communicating about people’s experience of “church”? What is this communicating to non-Christians?
I am sharing this brief personal history because I want to recommend a book to those of you who are interested in the topic of “Church.” My friend John Armstrong has written a book titled, Your Church is Too Small: Why Unity in Christ’s Mission is Vital to the Church’s Future.
When John says that your church is too small he is not writing about Church growth and mega-churches, but about the limits (historically, theologically, and relationally) we place on who is in the church and who is not.
The book is divided into three sections:
I Past: The Biblical and Historical Basis for Christian Unity
What John advocates in this section is a relational unity: a cooperational love.
“If ‘God is love,’ then our expressions of love within the Christian community must line up with his. It is his love that enlarges our hearts and forms our character so that we are freed to love others, whether they are a fellow Christian or an enemy.” (p 54)
“Unity” is not synonymous with “unanimity,” or “uniformity.” (pp 54-57) The unity that John is writing about is based in the universally shared reality of all believers: the life of Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, living in us all. The more we are filled with his life, the more we love him, the more relational unity we will experience with all those who share that same love.
The problem for many Christians is that, rather than starting with the fundamental truths to which all believers adhere (see The Apostles and Nicene Creeds), we start with our favorite Bible verse, or, even worse, with where “they are theologically in error.” Such an approach inevitably leads to arguments and divisions. On the other hand, if we base our conversations and relationships upon our mutual love of God and agreement on the core beliefs of Christianity, there is immediately space for us to work together for the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ.
II Present: Restoring Unity in the Church Today
One of the chief roadblocks to relational unity that John deals with is sectarianism: “a path, a way, a method, a party, or a faction.” Synonyms would be narrow-minded, parochial, and limited.
“The word implies mutual exclusivity, an exclusivity that thrives where people and groups believe they have a superior claim to truth. Sectarians believe their church/community/tradition can best ‘represent the body of Christ, to the exclusion or minimization of other genuinely Christian groups.’” (p 93)
He is not suggesting that we ignore or compromise our beliefs—this would only create a pseudo-unity. What he is suggesting is that we all remember that our beliefs are our best attempts at understanding Scripture, God, and his message for mankind.
“(A)ll theological truth claims must remain biblically contestable so the church remains fully open to the Spirit….This does not mean that all truth claims are relative or that Christian confession is nonbinding; It simply means that all human knowledge is ultimately provisional.” (p 95)
We are humans who “see through a glass, darkly.” The beliefs we assert are, at best, a close approximation to the Truth of God. This means that we should always be open to added meaning or nuance …or even to discovering that we are wrong.
Another roadblock John deals with is our understanding of “church.”
“One local congregation is as much the church as any other church. But the church is also the whole of all such congregations throughout the whole earth.” (p 108) If John is correct here—and I believe he is—what bearing should this understanding of “church” have on our attitudes and actions regarding other Christian communities? At the very least, I think it requires that we obey the laws of love (I Corinthians 13).
III Future: The Missional-Ecumenical Movement
“What is the Ideal Church?”
“Easy: it’s my church/denomination/tradition. Sure, we aren’t perfect, but we’re closer to the True Faith then the rest of ‘em.”
Evangelicals and Fundamentalist often teach – implicitly or explicitly – that you aren’t a Christian unless you adopt pretty much whatever theological hobby-horse they are riding. While Jesus said, “Follow me … Come unto me … Believe in me … Trust in me,” these folks scream, “NOT SO FAST! You need to ALSO believe the following system of theology.” Is it any wonder then that their churches are run more like boot camps for troops in the Special Forces? “The Few, the Proud, the Chosen!” Yup, that was Christ’s vision of his Church—the Body of Christ divided and at war.
Roman Catholics and Orthodox churches have their hobby-horses, as well. Of course, their horses are older than Protestant horses, but this doesn’t mean that they aren’t barriers to the good news of Christ being offered freely to all people, or to the relational unity that is possible with those outside their traditions.
As John sees it, it is the (relational) unity of the Church that points people and nations to Christ. “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” (John 17:21) Conversely, the more divided the Church, the more impotent it becomes in fulfilling its mission.
And what is the Church’s mission?
“The mission of the church is not to solve society’s problems or to gain political influence in order to change culture. And as important as adding members to a church is, recruiting new members for the church is not the church’s mission either. The mission of the church is ‘to participate in the reconciling love of the triune-God who reaches out to a fallen world in Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit brings strangers and enemies into God’s new and abiding community.’” (p 153f)
This mission requires that we exemplify God’s reconciling love. This doesn’t mean that Christians paper over their differences. It means that we have truthful and loving conversations regarding these differences, rather than mouth-to-mouth combat.
“(W)e can begin a healthy new conversation , a conversation that can lead to reconciliation in a context where the truth is profoundly important. This conversation could well become one of the Holy Spirit’s primary ways of pushing forward the ‘new ecumenism’—an ecumenism rooted in core orthodoxy and deeply shared love for Christ and his mission.” (p 167)
If you are weary of Church Wars and are seeking another paradigm for unity …
If you are sick of church in general and have chosen to go it alone …
If you think the way to unity is for everyone to see all Truth as relative …
If you think the way to true unity is for everyone to agree with you …
If you are a theology geek …
If you are a church-history nut …
If stories and anecdotes are needed to drive the point home …
This book is for you.
PS (For John): I said I didn't have any formal identification with a church: I didn't say I was not attending. I know ... I know ... pray for me.
Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2010
This book is for you.
PS (For John): I said I didn't have any formal identification with a church: I didn't say I was not attending. I know ... I know ... pray for me.
Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2010
1 comment:
Monte, like you I've had my winters of discontent with the church. Having been involved in interchurch engagements, I had struggled with its ugly divisions and nasty after-tastes. I've presided over church splits which in hindsight, laughably could have been avoided over a cup of Dunkin coffee donuts, Starbucks is expensive where I live.
But this drove me to study the "unity" component of other religious movements and gleaned precious lessons. For instance, in my country where Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion and thus the favorite hunting ground of evangelical Christians (when evangelicals talk about church growth, that's church subtraction from the RCatholics), churches don't split, don't steal from other flocks (how can they when members go to the RC church wherever in the globe, so there's no competition), have only one sermon so wherever the congregant goes, he misses nothing, content-wise(assuming that the sermon is worth missing), speak only with one voice (in my country, when the Council of Catholic Bishops speak on issues, that's the final say)that's why when the media refers to the "church," they mean,the Catholic church. I can list many more. But I guess I make the point.
As an aside, some Christian churches in my country are affirming the "effectiveness" of this one-sermon-for-all trick - they are now doing the same, crafting one sermon for all their local churches.
BUT my hope springs eternal that the time will come when the church can get its act together and be what the church should be - in answer the the Lord's John 17 prayer.
John's book will be very instructive and encouraging. I pray it will be heard. I myself will look for it while am here in the US.
Keep on keeping on as we Bible college students would say in times past. Meaning keep stirring (or nagging us) and disturbing the church (esp those who have grown so comfortable with its old paths - maybe many of us should reread and be rebuked by Sam Walter Foss's old poem "The Calf-Path") with your transformational thoughts, work and practice.
The fruit may not be seen n your lifetime but they can be seeds for a new generation of transformational leaders.
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