Quote 4 from Your Church is Too Small
This week (March 14-20, 2010), I’m taking part in a blog tour of John H. Armstrong’s new book Your Church is Too Small. Armstrong begins each chapter with quotes from various writers throughout church history. Each day this week, I’m going to highlight one of those quotes.
I believe very strongly in the principle and practice of the purity of the visible church, but I have seen churches that have fought for purity and are merely hotbeds of ugliness. No longer is there any observable, loving, personal relationship even in their own midst, let alone with other true Christians. -Francis A. Schaeffer
Real Unity – Is it possible?
In his book Your Church is Too Small, John H. Armstrong begins his argument for real, relational unity from Jesus’ prayer in John 17:
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (John 17:20-23 ESV)
Early in his book, Armstrong says, “I knew that I couldn’t be satisfied with loving a concept of the church. So I set out to find God’s people, to get to know people outside of my own tradition.”
Concept… We love in concept. We’re united in concept. We’re family in concept.
But, Scripture doesn’t describe or exhort a concept of church, love, unity, and family. Instead, as we read about the church in the New Testament, we read about a reality of love, unity, and family. However, like Armstrong, whenever I talk to people about unity, I hear these kinds of interpretations (taken from Armstrong’s book specifically of John 17):
- We should never try to unite different churches or congregations. The union of churches or denominations is not in view here. Jesus is not interested in such unity.
- We should never engage in serious dialogue with churches that we believe to be unfaithful to the truth. We will become disobedient if we follow this course.
- There is no common mission that churches are called to engage in; thus there is no reason to work together to achieve Christ’s mission in our communities.
- There is no concern in this prayer for the worldwide church, at least as seen in a visible form, since this will lead to ecumenism, a great twentieth-century enemy of the gospel.
- We must always keep in the forefront of our practice the serious biblical warnings about compromise and false teaching (see Deuteronomy 7:1-6; 2 Corinthians 6:14; Revelation 18:4). These great truths always trump concern for visible unity among churches and Christians.
How would you respond to the five objections above? Yes, no, why, or why not?
And more importantly, how do we as believers move forward toward unity, and how do we encourage churches to move forward toward unity?
Quote 3 from Your Church is Too Small
This week (March 14-20, 2010), I’m taking part in a blog tour of John H. Armstrong’s new book Your Church is Too Small. Armstrong begins each chapter with quotes from various writers throughout church history. Each day this week, I’m going to highlight one of those quotes.
Although the church of Jesus Christ is found in many different places, she is one true church, not many. After all, there are many rays of sunlight, but only one sun. A tree has many boughs, each slightly different from others, but all drawing their strength from one source. Many streams may flow down a hill-side, but they all originate from the same spring. In exactly the same way each local congregation belongs to the one true church. -Cyprian
Your Church is Too Small – a review
Last month, I received a review copy of Your Church is Too Small by John H. Armstrong (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009). From the buzz that I heard about this book, I was very excited to read and review this book.
When Armstrong says, “Your church is too small,” he does not refer to the size of a church building or to the number of people who meet together. Instead, Armstrong refers to “our all too common penchant for placing limits on Christ’s church – limits that equate the one church with our own narrow views of Christ’s body.” He has two purposes in writing this book: 1) for the reader to understand his/her own spiritual identity and 2) to better understand the mission of the church. Armstrong believes, and convincingly argues, that the two (unity and mission) are interrelated.
The book is a combination of exegesis (primarily of Jesus’ prayer in John 17), historical study, personal experience, and theological reflection. The argument is based primarily on the conclusion that the unity for which Jesus prays in John 17 is not only a spiritual or eschatological unity, but a relational unity that all believers should strive to maintain.
Armstrong’s book is divided into three parts: past, present, and future. In the first section, the author traces his own journey from sectarianism toward unity. He also reviews the perspective of the early church on unity given the four classical marks of the church: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.
Next, in his section on the present, considers how the church can restore unity today. Armstrong suggests that the cause of disunity in the church today is sectarianism based on intellectual certitude. Instead, the church should be recognized as local, city-wide, and universal, with a focus on the kingdom instead of the local congregation.
Finally, in his section on the future, Armstrong recommends missional-ecumenism as a way forward toward unity. By “missional-ecumenism,” the author means that believers should have relational unity with God and one another, including unity in our mission as God’s “sent ones.”
Throughout the book, Armstrong demonstrates that unity is more than a good idea. Instead, it is our primary apologetic. He says, “How we act and treat one another really matters, because our actions represent the nature and identity of God to those who do not know him.”
Furthermore, Armstrong encourages the respect and consideration of different Christian traditions. All believers have traditions, and Christianity has a basic tradition that was handed down throughout the ages (often called the “Rule of Faith”). Problems arise when our traditions teach us that we are part of the one, true church while all other traditions are in error.
Instead of asking who is in and who is out when it comes to the church, the author recommends that we encourage active faith of all who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ.
This is an important book. I recommend it highly. However, I do not want this to be a book that I just read and encourage others to read. Armstrong describes a unity that cannot remain a concept; it must be lived. This is the direction that I’ve been moving, and a reality that I want to continue to seek.
In a future post, I’m going to discuss some real problems toward unity and, hopefully, start a discussion that can help us all live in unity as brothers and sisters in Christ – not by demanding uniformity, but by appreciating our diversity.
Quote 2 from Your Church is Too Small
This week (March 14-20, 2010), I’m taking part in a blog tour of John H. Armstrong’s new book Your Church is Too Small. Armstrong begins each chapter with quotes from various writers throughout church history. Each day this week, I’m going to highlight one of those quotes.
Do not call yourselves Lutherans, call yourselves Christians. Has Luther been crucified for the world? -Martin Luther
Quote 1 from Your Church is Too Small
This week (March 14-20, 2010), I’m taking part in a blog tour of John H. Armstrong’s new book Your Church is Too Small. Armstrong begins each chapter with quotes from various writers throughout church history. Each day this week, I’m going to highlight one of those quotes.
Whoever tears asunder the Church of God, disunites himself from Christ, who is the head, and who would have all his members to be united together. -John Calvin
Sectarianism manifests itself
Yesterday, in the comments, I asked John Armstrong, author of Your Church is Too Small, when he thought the church began to manifest sectarianism. I thought he gave a great answer, so I wanted to share it here:
It seems to be right in the New Testament text from what I can see, at least the root of the matter. But by the late second century is was stretching things and by the third and fourth it manifests itself clearly. Once we get to the latter councils and the icon debates and then the Middle Ages and the 16th century Reformation it becomes full-blown on every side, including the Orthodox and Catholic, not just those who left. I see it as a spirit that results in attitudes and responses to people and the whole need to preserve unity.
There is something fundamental about fellowship
So, I seem to be on a “unity” kick lately, huh? I’m probably thinking more about unity because I’ve been reading John H. Armstrong’s book Your Church is Too Small. But, actually, I’ve been thinking about and writing about unity for quite some time.
Three years ago, I wrote a post called “There is something fundamental about fellowship.” This post casts our unity with one another in the language of fellowship. Our fellowship with one another (or lack of fellowship) is a demonstration of our fellowship with God (or lack of fellowship).
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There is something fundamental about fellowship
Fellowship… There is something about fellowship that makes it fundamental to the church. When Jesus was asked to name the greatest commandment, he answered:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40 ESV)
There are at least two amazing things about this passage. First, Jesus did not stop with the commandment to “Love the Lord your God”. It would seem that commandment would be enough. Instead, he said there is a second command that is like it. Similarly, Jesus said that the Law and the Prophets depend on both of these commandments. Again, the Law and Prophets do not just depend on “Love the Lord your God”. The Law and the Prophets also depend on the commandment “Love your neighbor as yourself”.
There seems to be a fundamental connection between our relationship with God and our relationship with other people. John said something similar in his first letter:
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7-8 ESV)
This seems very simple. If we love God, we will love others. If we do not love others, that demonstrates that we do not love God. The two are fundamentally connected.
In the prologue to his first letter, John also discussed our relationship with God in terms of our relationship with one another:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life – the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us – that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship (κοινωνία) with us; and indeed our fellowship (κοινωνία) is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:1-3 ESV)
When we have fellowship (κοινωνία – koinonia) with one another, we are demonstrating our fellowship with God. Verse 3 could even be translated as follows: “… that you too may have fellowship with us, and that fellowship of ours is truly with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ.”
We cannot separate our love for God from our love for other people. We cannot separate our fellowship with God from our fellowship with other believers. Fellowship is fundamental in the life of a believer and in the inter-connected lives of a group of believers.
But, just as we cannot create love for God and others, we cannot create fellowship either. Instead, the Spirit creates a bond between His adopted children that humans cannot create on their own. The fellowship (“sharing”) that we have in common is the presence of the Holy Spirit. And, this fellowship exists between all believers. Certainly relationships can be deep or shallow, intimate or surface-level, but fellowship between believers is created by the Spirit, not by our interaction with one another. Relationships that are based on this Spirit-created fellowship should be nurtured, strengthened, encouraged, and sought through continued interaction. But, those relationships must be built fundamentally on Spirit-created fellowship.
What does it mean for fellowship to be fundamental to believers and the church? Here are two examples:
Discipleship depends on fellowship…
When we recognize that discipleship is more than simply teaching facts to someone, then the fundamental role of fellowship becomes clear. Discipleship requires sharing life together. Without fellowship, discipleship is reduced to the transfer of information, which is not true discipleship at all.
Discipline depends on fellowship…
When a brother or sister is living in unrepentant sin, we are taught to disassociate with that brother or sister. In modern times this has been reduced to preventing attendance at certain activities. However, if there is true fellowship involved, then discipline requires the rupture of vibrant relationships: like divorce in a family, back when divorce was not an accepted option.
Fellowship… There is something about fellowship that makes it fundamental to the church. I want to learn more about fellowship. Perhaps others could share what they’ve learned about Spirit-enabled, Spirit-created, Spirit-driven fellowship…
More on unity and doctrine
I left a comment similar to this on facebook, and I thought I would add it here too:
The differences that I and another believer have are subordinate to the covenant which unites us (that would be our mutual covenant/relationship with God, not a covenant that we devise between ourselves). In many ways differences between believers actually serve that unity. However, we can allow our differences to separate us when we attempt to base our unity in our common doctrines, dogmas, or beliefs.
Our unity is found in our common relationship with God. Since God is our Father, then we are brothers/sisters. We do not have to create this union, we only have to live according to it, such that we do not allow our differences to become more important than our mutual family relationship.
“Doctrines” and “dogmas” are different teachings that must be subordinate to our mutual relationships. Of course, as Paul, Peter, and others point out in Scripture, there are some beliefs that demonstrate that we are NOT brothers and sisters (i.e. a doctrine that God does not exist, or a belief that Jesus is not the son of God, etc.). However, for those we recognize as brothers and sisters because we recognize that Christ has accepted them (Romans 14:7), then we are bound by our relationship with God to accept them as brothers and sisters as well, and to treat them as brothers and sisters.
Today, we tend to acknowledge that someone is a brother/sister (Christian) based on the mercy and grace of God, but we only treat someone as a brother/sister based on their doctrines, dogmas, or beliefs. However, according to Scripture, if we acknowledge someone as a brother/sister based on the mercy and grace of God, then we must also accept that person as a brother/sister and treat that person accordingly.
An enormous common ground
In an unpublished letter to a friend, C.S. Lewis wrote the following:
When all is said (and truly said) about the divisions of Christendom, there remains, by God’s mercy, an enormous common ground.
Do you think that Christians today tend to focus on the “enormous common ground” or on the “divisions” (or distincitves)? Why do you think the focus is where it is? Do you think it is possible for believers to find unity in the “enormous common ground”? Why or why not? Should followers of Jesus Christ seek unity (true relational unity, not spiritual unity) in spite of differences? Why or why not?