The Church!
The
ancient Creed affirms that we believe in “one holy catholic church.” The
word “catholic” here is an adjective (as it only was in the early centuries of
Christianity) meaning “universal, whole, complete, general, all-embracing” and
should not be confused with a proper name of a denominational entity that
applied the adjective to itself later, turning it into a proper noun and legal
moniker for itself.
We
affirm the “mystical union of all believers,” “the communion of saints,” the
“community of faith.” ALL believers in
Jesus – across the centuries and continents – are united by our common faith in
Christ as our Savior, united into the “household” or “family” of God, united as
the “Body of Christ.” This communion,
the church, is not limited by time or geography or institutional
affiliations. We are all brothers and
sisters in Christ. The church is
CHRISTIANS – not an institution. Pardon
the grammar, but “It’s not Jesus and ME, it’s Jesus and WE.” This is the primary and foremost meaning of
“church.” See Ephesians 2:19-22,
Ephesians 4:4, 1 Peter 2:9, Romans 12:4, Ephesians 1:1, Luke 17:21, etc.
We
affirm in the Creeds that this corpus of Christians (past and present) is “one,
holy, catholic, communion of saints.”
Christians are bound together as one community of faith in Christ. We are holy because through this faith in
Christ we are forgiven, we are catholic because together we are the whole
corpus of believers, and we are a communion or community or fellowship of
saints (those made so by faith in Christ).
See Matthew 16:18, 1 Peter 2:5 & 9, Mark 16:15, Romans 15:25, 1 Cor.
14:33 and 16:1, Eph. 1:1).
Congregations…
Christians
usually associate together, congregating or assembling typically for the
purposes of public worship, mutual cooperation, edification, support and
accountability. Such a gathering in a
given place and time is technically called a “congregation” (although the term
“church” may be used here in a secondary sense as in Shepherd of the Valley
Lutheran Church; this use is seen in Scripture, too – see Galatians 1:2, 1
Thessalonians 1:1). These associations
may assume some institutional aspects (like our congregation) but the “church” is
the people, not the institution. Actually, the Christians who associate in
that congregation are but a small, tiny part of the “church catholic” – the
whole number of believers, past and present.
By
their very nature, congregations include non-believers in their midst (some
seekers, some “hypocrites”), Matthew 13:47-49 seems to indicate we should not
be too obsessed about that, just preach the word and love all people (God will
sort it all out). Of course, clearly unrepentant
sinners and heretics should not be embraced since they can harm or even destroy
the fellowship, and give a “false witness” to the community.
Because
Christians are spread out all over the world, it’s no surprise that there are
literally millions of congregations – some huge, some tiny, some with institutional
aspects, some just an informal gathering in a living room. Several congregations are mentioned in the
New Testament (Galatians 1:2, 1 Thessalonians 1:1, 1 Corinthians 1:2,
Revelation 1:4, etc.).
A
good congregation is where the Word is rightly taught and the Sacraments
rightly embraced. Too often, people join
(and leave) congregations for reasons that are secondary – at best! They may even overlook the important thing
for largely irrelevant things. Some are
on a never ending search for the “perfect” church – but finding such in a world
of sinners is a bit like trying to search for a “perfect” family.
The
function of the church is to teach (Matthew 28:20, Deuteronomy 6:7, 2 Timothy
4:2), make disciples (Matthew 28:19,
Ephesians 4:12-13, Acts 1:8, 1 Peter 2:9), worship (Hebrews 10:24-15), share
Holy Communion (Acts 2:42), forgive the repentant (Matthew 18:21-22, Matthew
18:15-20), offer comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-4), care for the sick and needy
(James 5:14, etc.), encourage and hold each other accountable (1 Thessalonians
5:14), serve and minister for the Gospel since ALL CHRISTIANS are ministers –
everyone is a part of the team (1 Corinthians 12:4-26, 1 Peter 4:10). It is a cooperative, community, US
ministry. To misquote President Kennedy,
“Ask not what your church can do for you, ask what you can do for your
church!”
Denominations…
Congregations
may be denominational or non-denominational.
“Non-denom” congregations are autonomous, independent and separate –
with no formal relationship with any other congregation and with no
accountability beyond itself.
“Denominational” congregations have bonded together with others in a
formal manner, usually for reasons similar to why Christians bonded together
with others in congregations. These
congregations work and serve together, provide mutual accountability, etc. Our denomination (The Lutheran Church –
Missouri Synod) for example, helped start our congregation (financially, too!),
loaned us the money to build our facilities, trained and supervises our pastor,
operates two seminaries and a dozen colleges and the largest Lutheran publishing
house in the world, sends out missionaries all around the world – and much
more. Our denomination consists of
about 7,000 congregations in the USA.
Usually
denominations have a common “Confession” (statements of doctrines and beliefs),
a common name and a common governance and polity. In some, this is well developed and regarded
as binding, in some it’s all pretty loose with a lot of “room”
for the local congregation to apply such as they see best.
for the local congregation to apply such as they see best.
There
are no examples of denominations in the New Testament. While some historians argue there were none
until the 4th century, we do see at least some very elementary
aspects of cooperation in the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) and the collection
for the saints. For the first 300 years,
Christianity was an illegal, “underground” religion – more a movement than
anything, often “on the run” and meeting informally and occasionally even
secretly in “house churches.” This
changed when Christianity was made legal and then the official Roman religion
in the 4th century.
Today,
there are literally thousands of denominations, although about 90% of
Christians are in 8 groupings of such. The fact that there are billions of Christian
people, millions of congregations and thousands of denominations has no
relevance to the fact that there is ONE, holy, catholic, communion of
saints. Irrespective of our
institutions, WE are ONE by virtue of our one Lord Jesus, our one faith in
Christ, our one baptism (Ephesians 4:5-6, Romans 12:5, Ephesians 4:25, 1
Corinthians 10:17 and 12:12-26).
A Word About Governance ….
Most
denominations are dogmatic about what specific forms of governance must exist
in the congregation and/or denomination.
Lutherans are not. Yes, we can
see certain offices mentioned in Scripture but the functions of those are
obscure and not mandatory. In Europe,
Lutherans are USUALLY “episcopal” in governance – much like the Catholic,
Orthodox and Anglican church communities.
In the USA, Lutherans are USUALLY a mix of episcopal (top down) and
congregational (bottom up). In our own
LCMS for example, congregations are largely autonomous in all EXCEPT doctrine
(and finances; our “books” and policies ARE accountable). We have bishops (we call them District
Presidents) but outside the areas of doctrine and some issues of pastoral
conduct, they are mainly counselors (although often of considerable influence). In our church, individual congregations hold “title”
to their property (and are responsible for their own mortgages). Individual congregations “call” the pastor –
although with considerable participation by the bishop.
The
point: We aren’t dogmatic about this; the Lutheran Confessions are silent on
how congregations and denominations must be governed.
DISCUSSION….
1.
Organizations
such as “Weight Watchers” and “Alcoholics Anonymous” have regular
gatherings. What similar reasons might
suggest that Christians should gather together regularly? Is there something inherently selfish about
the one who keeps away and insists he’ll practice his faith by himself,
“worshipping in the shower?”
2.
The worship time is called a “worship
service.” While the term “service” here
also means “structure” or “order,” it’s true in the primary sense, too! There is SERVICE going on! God is serving us – feeding, forgiving,
edifying. But who else is serving his
fellow Christians? How so?
3.
People
have lots of reasons for associating with a particular congregation. Some have SOME relevance – location,
programs, friendliness. Some are pretty
questionable – beautiful buildings, charismatic pastor, popular place to
belong. But what would you regard as the
biblical and most important reasons?
4.
While
denominations are optional (the Bible never once mentions them – for or
against), what advantages do you see to a congregation being a part of a
denomination?
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