I was challenged today by a friend's comment to one of my previous entries. He, and others, have interpreted some of my statements as being anti-church. So I just want to share my response here in order to clear up my approach to ecclesiology. I replied...
...Yes, the Church is and will be the "bride of Christ." But the church (local and
denominational expressions) is not always the same as the Church. What else
could Jesus mean by his indictment...many will say to me "Lord, Lord..." I'm
sure he meant it in an individualistic way. But it would take little exegetical
stretching to apply it in a corporate sense as well.
I am literally a fourth generation pastor in the Church of the Nazarene. I am in no hurry to turn my back on that heritage. But I certainly don't believe for a moment that even 80% of our churches are primarily committed to the missional task of
Matthew 28 and Acts 1:8.
So hopefully you can see from that response that I am committed to the "Church" in it's philosophical and authentic forms. I am not committed to expressions of church which do not live up to biblical missional expectations. That is NOT to say I'm looking for a "perfect" church. But I am looking for a community of sojourners who are willing to experiment and evangelize in ways which might mirror the model of Christ who certainly stirred up defensive reactions from the "church" of his day.
I am not trying to stir up trouble, but stir up discussion. If you have ANYTHING to add to the discussion, please chime in. The more voices which are heard, the more complete our mosaic of public opinion will be. However, all of our voices might need to yield (mine included) to THE VOICE of God's opinion.
1 comment:
Being from your same lineage. I agree to your reluctance to give-up your heritage, yet desire to see things done differently. Regretfully in my situation, we have run out of options in the Nazarene denomination that are willing to even speak of changing styles, or even be accepting of disagreements in vision. No longer in the denom, and thoroughly enjoying our new found non-denom community, we're excited about the future. A mass exodus from "churches" won't fix the problem, a mass refocus and commitment from those wanting a new approach and renewal in purpose I believe is the answer. To both of my brothers, keep it up!
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