Monday, March 31, 2014

Session Eight: The Community of Faith


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. 

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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