Tag Archives: church

Us and Them in the church

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dog and catI wanted to continue the discussion about “us” and “them” in the church. I think one of the greatest challenges that Christians continually face is this question of groups/factions/cliques/parties within the church.

On the one hand, let’s accept the fact that we are always going to find those with whom we feel more affinity than others. It’s okay to have friends. As I heard Lynn Anderson say once, it’s okay to have circles in the church if everyone is in a circle.

I’m talking about rivalries. That feeling that “they” are trying to do something that “we” don’t want them to. Sometimes it’s about language. Oftentimes it happens based on age. Sometimes it’s about outlooks. It can be about worship styles, preaching styles, songbooks or pew Bibles.

The problem is, for most of us, this suspicion of “them” arises time and again throughout our Christian life. It’s not a one-time decision, but a continual choice to NOT label, to NOT distrust, to NOT scheme to get our way instead of their way.

We need to emphasize the things that unite us, for they trump all that may divide. In Christ, there is no us nor them, there is only we Christians, we church members, we brothers in Christ.

I’d like to hear your suggestions as to how to overcome the natural tendency to be factious.

photo from MorgueFile.com and Longridge Kennels

A week of thankfulness: Church heritage

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I was raised in the church of Christ (big C, little C). And I’m thankful. I’ve gone from “Hebrew of Hebrews” to cynical college student to one who has made his faith his own. I’ve seen the good, I’ve seen the bad, and I’ve been a part of both. Today, I’m thankful.

I’ve written before about how growing up in the Johnson St. church shaped my faith. I was blessed to attend Abilene Christian University at a special time, studying under some amazing men. I’ve been a part of other congregations that have impacted me: the Highland church in Abilene, the 37th and Atlantic church in Long Beach (as we called it then), the University church in Abilene, the Alto Alberdi church in Córdoba, and the church in Stockdale, Texas. Each of them has contributed to making me who I am.

A few years ago, I wrote an article for Chris Gallagher’s blog. I posted it here, but it seems appropriate to post these thoughts again:

I love the church in her ideal state:

  • The unblemished, purified Bride of Christ, waiting to meet her Bridegroom
  • The new Jerusalem, descending from heaven as God’s dwelling in the midst of His people
  • The body of Christ, growing up into the very image of the One who bought her with His blood
  • The earthly manifestation of the Kingdom of God

I love the church in her flawed reality:

  • The congregation whose off-key singing makes a strong argument for instrumental music
  • The brothers who check off the five acts of worship on their scoresheet each week
  • The new Christian who discovers that word he’s always used isn’t as appropriate as he thought it was
  • The free spirits who launch into anything and everything without considering the ramifications

I love the church at her very best:

  • People opening their homes to strangers because they share the same Savior
  • Christians giving sacrificially so that others may learn about Jesus
  • Widows and teenagers and bank presidents dressing up as biblical characters to entertain and teach at Vacation Bible School
  • Believers gathering to praise and worship God even though that very thing could land them in jail

I love the church at her absolute worst:

  • Members fighting over personal issues, masking them behind alleged doctrinal differences
  • Christians falling into the very same sins that plague the people around them
  • Leaders giving into the human temptations of power and position, lording their authority over those around them
  • Longtime churchgoers who continue to feed on spiritual baby food, whining and crying when they don’t get their way

I love the church in the world today:

  • The family of God, loving one another as children of the same Father
  • Strangers and aliens, pilgriming together to the Promised Land on the other side of Jordan
  • Royal priests, heavenly ambassadors, holding out the Word of God to an unbelieving humanity
  • Faithful witnesses, enduring ridicule and shame for the sake of the Name

I love the church in all her manifestations, in all her glory and all her failings, because all of those things represent who I am as a Christian. I am a sinner, and I am forgiven. I am flawed, and I am perfection waiting to happen. I am human, and I am supernatural, a holy temple of God.

I am the church. My place in the Kingdom of God is an inseparable part of who I am. When I criticize her, I am really criticizing me, for her flaws are merely a reflection of the human condition of which she is made. When I praise her, I am praising my God, for her goodness is only a reflection of His.

I love the church. As it has been. As it is. As it someday will be.

*****

I am thankful for my church heritage.

Restoring the church

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Before moving on, I want to touch on one other statement I made last week, one that touched off quite a bit of discussion. I said that I disagree with the idea of restoring the first century church. Even I wrestled with the wording of that, and I may not be expressing it well. I see a difference between seeking to restore New Testament Christianity and seeking to restore the first-century church.

So let me try and dig the hole a little deeper. :-) In last Thursday’s post, I wrote,

We are to attempt to be the church that God wants us to be. We should be a biblical church, seeking to live out the norms of the Bible in a twenty-first century world. The goal of the early church was to be like Jesus. We should imitate that goal. We don’t try to be like the first-century church. We try to be like Jesus.

I see a difference between trying to restore the ideal of the New Testament church and trying to restore the first-century church. The first-century church was trying to be the New Testament church in their own setting. There was much failure. Much humanness. I don’t want to restore that. I do want to strive for the same ideal they were after.

Let me quote myself a bit more (!), from some of the comment thread from last week’s post:

The problem I see is that there is this myth of uniformity among first-century congregations. That’s why, for example, people take the qualities of elders list from 1 Timothy 3 and combine it with the one from Titus 1, rather than recognizing the differences that exist in those lists. They were similar, but not exactly the same, for the needs of the different congregations were not the same.
It was right for the Jerusalem church to continue practicing Judaism. It would have been wrong for the Galatian church to do so. Holding up the portrait of “the first century church” ignores the fact that the church of the first century was quite diverse.
Those Christians were living out the principles of Christ in their situation, both in terms of time and in terms of place. Going back to the elders lists: it was right for the Ephesian church to avoid the appointing of new converts. That church had existed for decades when Paul wrote Timothy. Not so the Cretan church, which is why that qualification doesn’t appear in the list Titus received. By talking about “the first century church,” we overlook those elements and try to create a homogeneity where there was none.

Again, maybe I’m reacting to the connotations around “restore the first-century church” or the misapplication of that idea. What I fear is that people think that the first-century church enjoyed this idyllic pure form of Christianity which led to a golden age of peace and harmony. I’ve grown up hearing, “If we could just restore the first-century church, Christians around the world would be united.” The idea is that if we can restore the exact practices those Christians, we can enjoy a time of unity.
But they didn’t. If we restore their practices precisely, we can expect to have precisely the same types of problems they did.
I see “New Testament Christianity” as describing the ideal, not the flawed human pursuit of that ideal. I’m much more comfortable with pursuing the ideal…
When Josiah found the Book of the Law in the temple, his reform didn’t consist of looking to see how previous generations had lived the Law. It consisted of looking at the Law and studying to see what God expected of people. I think that’s what restoration should be about.

So does any of that make sense anywhere outside of my own mind?

The church and her music

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I want to spend some time here on the blog talking about music. Specifically about music in the church. I’ve grown a bit weary of the subject outside of this forum, yet I feel like there are a lot of things I’d like to share on the subject and even more I’d like to learn.

In the past, I’ve talked some about singing and about the words to our songs. I want to delve into that a bit more. I also want to take a bit of time with the instrumental music question, minefield though it may be. I want to share some likes and dislikes. And I’d like to offer some suggestions.

But first off, I’d like to get some direction from you. What are some of the passages that you’ve found especially helpful when examining the church and her music? What are some basic principles that you feel need to be kept in mind? I don’t know that I can get to them in the days, but what are some resources that you would suggest?

Thanks for the help!

Spiritual realities and the true church

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In my travels, I often run across literature with titles like “The marks of a true church” or “How to recognize a New Testament church.” I won’t claim to have read all of them, but the ones I’ve seen fail to do what they claim to do. That is, they don’t focus on the things the Bible says about what makes a church a true church.

Yesterday we talked about online behavior and spiritual realities, how our behavior on the Internet affects us spiritually. That doesn’t just go for what we do on the computer; I think we need to see that how we treat others affects who we are, as well as making a statement about who we are.

The big “mark” to look for, of course, is love. That can sound trite, yet the Bible repeatedly identifies that as the most important thing. If what we’re doing doesn’t lead us to love, doesn’t produce love, doesn’t reflect love, then what we’re doing isn’t godly. It’s that simple. Again, I know that Jesus got angry and Paul wrote some harsh things, but none of that gives us license to proceed in a way that doesn’t reflect God’s nature. God is love.

We also need to be looking for the rest of the fruit of the Spirit. A Spirit-led life will produce the things listed in Galatians 5:22-23. And we will pursue those things, as a church, or we will be a carnal, worldly church.

None of that impedes our obeying God and seeking to do His will. But if in that pursuit of God pleasing we quit following the Spirit, we will never achieve our goal. You can’t “do the right things” without the fruit of the Spirit.

That’s why we need the big picture. That’s why we need theology. Focusing merely on behaviors won’t get us there. We need to look at the spiritual realities behind the behaviors.