The Church Covenant…
As a child of God, I am in covenant with God – the New Covenant. This is a covenant that he made with me, that he secures, and that he regulates. He sets the responsibilities and duties for this covenant. He also determines the blessings of this covenant. In ethical terms, this is a “political covenant” as opposed to a “social covenant”.
Our church also has a covenant. Each person who desires to “join” our church covenants with one another.
Now, church covenants can be a very good thing. Church covenants can remind us of the responsibilities and duties that we have toward one another: responsibilities and duties that given to all believers by God. In fact, Scripture speaks frequently of these requirements. Most of them include the phrase “one another”: love one another, accept one another, forgive one another, encourage one another, admonish one another, etc.
However, church covenants can have a detrimental effect on believers. Many times church covenants are used to separate the church into exclusive groups.
For example, I was recently asked if I felt that I was responsible for meeting the needs of a believer who was not part of “our church”. (Note, this was not asked by someone who was a part of our church.) I answered, “If God reveals a need to me, and provides the means to meet that need, then I am responsible for meeting that need, whether or not that person is a member of our church.” The other person disagreed with me. Why? Because I was not “covenanted” with the other believer. According to this person, I was only responsible for those with whom I was “covenanted”.
Also, the idea of “covenant” is sometimes suggested as a limit to church discipline. A person is only responsible for “disciplining” a believer if he or she belongs to the same church, i.e. they are covenanted together.
In these two examples, the “church covenant” is used as a means of separating the church into mutually exclusive groups.
However, I cannot find an example in Scripture of one believer being “covenanted” with another believer. Every Christian is in covenant with God, and because of the New Covenant, we have responsibilities, some of which describe how we should relate to other believers. In Scripture, these responsibilities are not limited to certain believers. Yes, I understand that I cannot carry out these responsibilities toward people that I have never met. I am not arguing for that. Instead, I am arguing that we are responsible for how we relate to all believers that God brings across our path, not just those believers with whom we share membership.
I enjoy reading the church covenant with our church. It reminds me of the responsibilities that God has placed on me… but not just toward certain believers… toward all believers.
The Interconnected Church…
There is a list of blogs that I frequent on the right side of this web page. If I go to most of those blogs, they will also include a list of blogs that the author visits regularly. If you navigate through those links, you will find other lists of blogs. And the cycle continues indefinitely… well, not indefinitely, but for many, many links.
There are a few people who frequent my blog. They interact with me through comments. I occasionally visit other blogs and interact with them through comments.
Could it be that this is a metaphor for the church in the New Testament?
Consider a believer in the New Testament. Let’s call him Joe. Joe knows several other believers. He interacts with them through normal relationships: family relationships, neighborhood relationships, work relationships, civic relationships, etc. Since these people are believers, they also gather regularly. Now, they may not all gather together at the same time. Perhaps some gather regularly at Joe’s house. Others gather regularly at Sally’s house. Joe occasionally meets with those at Sally’s house because he knows most of the people there. Also gathering at Sally’s house is the Smith family. They do not gather with the people at Joe’s house regularly, because the Smith family does not know them well. However, since they love Joe, and want to interact with him more, they will meet at his house on occasion. Meanwhile, once in a while, Joe will meet with another group with the Smith family. In this way, the interconnectivity is strengthened and grows.
In this scenario, there is interconnectivity among the church based on relationships. There is the church in Joe’s house, and the church in Sally’s house, and a few other churches; but they all recognize that they are the church in their city – because of the interconnectivity of relationships. They also recognize that they are somehow connected to groups outside their city, also through the interconnectivity of relationships.
If this is a valid view of the church in the New Testament, then could we be missing something today? Usually, when we talk about churches being connected to one another, we speak in terms of leadership networks, associations, etc. In other words, those in leadership from one church are connected to those in leadership from another church. This connection is not based on natural relationships, but on associations intentionally created to make connections. Meanwhile, many people in each church (specifically, those not in leadership) may find that they have very little connections with those outside their group, even with other churches with whom their leaders “associate”. Why? Because instead of being interconnected, the churches consider themselves mutually exclusive.
Are there any scriptural indications that an interconnected view of the church is valid, or that this view is not valid? What are some problems that might be caused by taking this view of the church?
Members Re-revisited…
Last week, I posted a short entry about members. Since then, there have been several comments. I thought others may be interested in joining the discussion that continues in the comments section.
Members revisited…
Recently, I was talking with someone from the western part of North Carolina. He is part of a church there that does not have “membership”. They certainly have members, as anyone who is in Christ is part of the body of Christ, and all are members of Christ and of one another.
Looking through Scripture, I cannot find where believers met together, yet considered themselves members of separate groups (different churches).
Thinking about this led to a question: If you met with a believer from a different area (perhaps another state), would you consider yourselves members together? Or, would you be members of separate churches?
Church members…
I’ve read several blogs recently concerning church membership and baptism. Most of the studies that I have read treat the subject from church history – especially baptist history. What happens when we study church membership from a biblical perspective? As I’ve studied various passages, a couple of questions come to mind:
1) How many churches are there? Certainly there are thousands of groups who call themselves a church. But, from God’s perspective, how many churches are there? I think there is only one.
2) How does someone become a member of that church? Scripturally, someone becomes a member of the church at the point of salvation – regeneration by the Holy Spirit.
If this is correct, and I’m open to listen to other suggestions, then when God commands us that “the members should have the same care for one another” (1 Cor 12:25), He is commanding us to care for all believers, not just those who happen to associate with the same local group as ourselves. When He commands us to love one another, serve one another, forgive one another, bear one another’s burdens, admonish one another, edify one another, and bear with one another, He is referring to our relationships to all members (i.e., all believers), not just those believers with whom we agree and meet regularly.
I understand that groups of believers associate together and call themselves a church. I understand that those believers then create membership requirements for their association. However, we must never blur the distinction between belonging to a local assocation of believers and being members of the church. Also, we must never assume that Scriptural mandates only apply to our local association.
When we ask the question, “Who is my neighbor (a member)?” is our answer as broad as God’s answer?
Are Pastors Part of the Body?
Consider the following (imaginary) statement:
Bro. Smith: Well, Bro. Jones, several of the men met together. We believe that it is time for you to move on to another ministry. Yes, we know that God called you to this church, and we believe that. However, we believe that God is now telling us that it is time for you to leave.
If this statement was made to a pastor, it would be troubling. But, what if this statement was spoken to someone who was not the pastor? What if “Bro. Jones” was just a “regular member” of the church? Would our feelings about this statement be any different?
Statements such as this are made to pastors far too regularly. We do not like it, but we understand that it happens, and we accept it. Why do we accept it? Because, we understand that, in reality, the pastor is not truly part of the body. We understand that the pastor came to our body from somewhere else, and we understand that eventually the pastor will move on. The pastor is not a “regular member.”
However, Scripture indicates that pastors ARE members of the body. And, pastors should be recognized from AMONG the body, not from OUTSIDE the body. There is not one instance in Scripture of a PASTOR/ELDER coming from outside the body. (Yes, I know that many times Timothy and Titus are considered elders, but Scripture does NOT call them elders. As a matter of fact, they were to appoint elders for the churches, not be elders themselves.)
Perhaps, when churches are seeking pastors/elders, they should seek those men among their own body instead of hiring others from outside.
Members or Membership?
This is actually a continuation of yesterday’s post. If the church is not a corporate singularity – only a group that meets in the same place at the same time – then how can we understand the church?
Let’s start by looking at the use of the term “membership” for the church. “Membership” is a term commonly associated with an organization. I can have “membership” in a gym or civic organization. What does this mean? It means that I am a part of an organization. I can remove myself from membership, or I can be removed by others.
However, Scripture uses the term “member” for those who are part of the church. Isn’t this the same as “membership?” No. When the Bible uses the term “member,” it speaks of a person being a part of an organism… a limb of a body. How does a person become a member of the body? By regeneration… the new birth… being a new creation in Christ. When a person is born again, he or she immediately becomes a part – a member – of the body of Christ. I do not make myself a member, and no one else makes me a member. In the same way, I cannot remove myself from being a part of the body, and no one else can remove me from being a part of the body. I am a part of the body – a member – by the grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ. I am indwelled by the Spirit of God in order to properly function as a member of the body.
So what does this have to do with the nature of the church? If I am a member of the body of Christ, and you are a member of the body of Christ, then there may be times when we gather together and become “church” even though we do not share a common “membership.” What makes a gathering of believers a “church”? Keep studying… I know I am…