Doctrine | Session 10 | Doctrine Ten: The Church, God’s Kingdom Big Ideas: • The Church (ecclesia) • Fellowship (Koinōnia) • Catalyst Unity Compass The Church, God’s Kingdom. We understand that we are the Church and God’s Kingdom on Earth. We are to be the expression of His love and produce the fruit of righteousness through the Holy Spirit housed in us. Jesus is the Chief Shepherd and Senior Pastor. He said that He would build His Church and we strive to follow Him in that. We believe that the Church is the Bride of Christ and is comprised of all believers in every age. The Church is also God’s primary instrument through which he is fulfilling his redemptive purposes in the earth. We believe that God has called the Church to preach the gospel to all nations, and especially to remember the poor and to minister to their needs through sacrificial giving and practical service. We also affirm the priesthood of all believers and the importance of every Christian being joined with and actively involved in a local community of the saints (Isaiah 58:6-12; 61:1; Matthew 16:17-19; 28:18-20; Luke 4:18; 21:1-4; Acts 2:17-18,42; Galatians 2:10; Ephesians 3:14-21; 4:11-16; 1 Timothy 6:8; Hebrews 10:23-25; 1 Peter 2:4-5,9-10). Ephesians 2:19-22 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Ecclēsia: “Called out ones; an assembly or a congregation.” Some historical definitions of this word go as far as to say this word means “a select civil body called out for a specific purpose.” 1 Peter 2:9, 10 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Koinōnia means fellowship, communion, joint participation, contribution, sharing, community. Catalyst Unity Compass (some of these concepts adapted from the Anglican Compass Rose) We celebrate God’s diverse and unique creation within the larger Body. (Unity in Diversity) “We understand that God has created us all in His image, yet with individual uniqueness. In love, we place value on people from all walks of life, including history, age, race, personality, social/economic background, denomination, and giftedness.” “In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity.” -Augustine Orthodox & Charismatic (North & South) Orthodox (fellowship through God’s attributes) On the north end of this bar are those who we will call orthodox. This group sees God as far away or separate from us. Because of this view, they tend to focus on Godly attributes such as holiness, omnipotence, etc. and not on Him in any personal way. They love established, proven, and long-standing traditions as a means to fellowship with God. An extreme belief system like this could lend to a deist or pharisee mindset. Strengths: • High regard for God’s Word, Christian tradition, and church history. • They have a high view of God's sovereignty. • Traditions matter a lot because they pass on God’s truths in a safe and clear system. • They learn from the mistakes of church history as well as secure truths to future generations. Weaknesses: • God is far off, ultimately leading to a deist mindset. This could be like the Pharisees of Jesus day. They had the law and traditions but hearts were far from God. (For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—Mark 7:8) • They can tend to live in the past and neglect God's fresh illumination to His body. • They can label anything that is not rooted in their tradition as heretical. (they like to use the word heresy a lot.) • They can have a low view of free will. • Many times neglect the person of the Holy Spirit's continued work in expressions like sanctification and gifts of the Spirit. Charismatic (fellowship directly with God) On the South end are people who see God as intimate, and close. He is their friend, their brother, and lover. They can fall into the mindset that the Bible is less important to their personal relationship with God. They claim that God speaks to them in their hearts and minds, through subtle impressions. They say things like “God told me to do that or say this.” They have a high regard for the person of the Holy Spirit and His gifts. Strengths: • They have learned to walk in an intimate abiding fellowship with Christ. • They value the continued work of the Holy Spirit in His church through the expression of gifts of the Spirit and sanctification. • They are willing to be sensitive to seeking God for what fresh ways God wants to illuminate truth in this day. Weaknesses: • Can lend towards a low view of scripture and put God’s name on anything they feel. • Emotions and feelings trump church accountability, tradition, and even sometimes the bible. • Can become critical of orthodox as being religious and stuck in the law and church history. • They tend to ignore the clear biblical admonitions to police the gifts of the spirit through proper church governance and accountability. • They can quickly move into biblical error and heresy because of the lack of accountability and low view of scripture. Me (personal) & We (communal) (West & East) The (Me) on the west side of the document represents people who see their faith as fully personal. These people understand their faith to be about me, Jesus, and the bible. They might go to church but they don't see church as essential to their faith. They tend to put more stock on their personal journey than on the biblical community. Strengths: • They are prone to have a high view of the Bible. • They tend to have a solid lifestyle of spiritual disciplines and fruits of the Spirit. • They are usually very active in practicing what they preach and live out a biblical worldview. Weaknesses: • Can produce a “spiritual vagabond” mindset that leads to isolation and avoidance of accountability. • They miss out on the extreme benefits of receiving ministry from the Body of Christ and ministering within the Body of Christ. • They ignore or disobey the clear Biblical commands around gathering, church governance, and the multiple ways God expresses His grace within a healthy biblical community. • They can end up with tunnel vision on certain biblical topics because they have little accountability and live in an echo chamber of their own truth. • They can become very unapproachable and prudish to others not like them. The (We) represents those whose faith focus is more on communal. They identify as Christians mainly because of the people they belong with. They value loyalty to their faith community more than they value a personal spiritual life. They often are a part of a specific denomination because they were raised that way. They are not as concerned about the particular beliefs of the denomination but the sense of belonging to the larger community. Strengths: • The local church organization can thrive on the commitment levels of this group of people because they have a love for the corporate gathering and making sure it is healthy. • They can typically rally in large numbers to accomplish ministry projects and mission outreach. • They have a strong unity in what they believe about the bible and tradition. • They tend to have purpose in most aspects of their worship. Weaknesses: • Their relationship with Christ centers around corporate gatherings and they miss out on personal discipleship. • They tend to have a weak personal understanding of scripture, proper Biblical hermeneutics, and personal responsibility for their spiritual maturity. They are typically spiritual babes who have been doing church for a long time but have not learned to self feed on God’s truth. • Care to the body can be neglected because the individual is not seen through the high value put on the corporate. • They don’t like change and like to know that each time they gather to corporate worship, they will know what to expect. Conservative (Stop) & Entrepreneur (Go) (Northwest & Southeast) The conservative leaning Christian, likes things the way they are and puts the brakes on change. They are regularly making statements like, “can we get things back to the way they used to be?” They value stability and predictability. When confronted with a problem they try to figure it out based on how they have done it in the past and neglect to look for new innovative ways to surge ahead through the issue at hand. Strengths: • This group tends to preserve the orthodox Christian doctrines, creeds, and traditions. • Winston Churchill once said, “don't tear down a fence until you know why it was built.” This group honors the foundations that our church has been built upon and will fight to preserve them when others want to tear them down. • In a culture that is changing constantly this group does not change their belief system based on cultural shifts. Weaknesses: • It is easy for this group to ignore the generational changes and adapt old ways of doing things for a more applicable modern approach. • This group can label anything that is not how we have always done it as bad and miss innovative ways to spread the Gospel to this generation. The entrepreneur, or go group, is marked by wanting to always move forward. They ask hard questions and are energized by forging new paths. They value relevance and responsiveness. When confronted with a problem they try to find the best solution even if it's never been done before. Strengths: • This group can help the church break out of non essential traditions so that we can more effectively reach this generation for Christ. • This group is innovative and creative in their approach to church ministry. Weaknesses: • This group can do the opposite of the Churchill quote and rip up foundational things that sustain the church for the sake of relevance and moving forward without even realizing it. • This group could compromise essential truths or traditions in their quest for relevance. Be (Inward) & Do (Outward) (Northeast & Southwest) The (Be) focused person thrives on being accepted by God. Faith is about what God has done, not what they do. They are suspicious of those who tell them what God wants them to do. They are very contemplative in their faith and are consistently looking inward. Strengths: • This person usually has a healthy understanding of righteousness and grace. They tend to linger in the places in scripture that point out God's attributes like love, compassion, mercy, grace, and peace. • They are usually very good with others in a one on one situation to help compassionately help people in difficult places emotionally and spiritually. Weaknesses: • This person can tend to minimize the truth of God’s word and call that grace. They neglect to see that God’s grace empowers us to good works. • They can go as far as calling any good work a form of legalism. They often use the words pharisee and religious when referring to people who point out the truth. • This group would not do a lot of evangelism or compassion ministries. The (Do) spectrum consists of the strivers. Their religion is about doing the right thing. Faith is a choice, and it leads to action. They are concerned about personal ethics and morality, as well as the way institutions treat people. Many of them are dedicated to justice for the poor and the needy. They can come across as “Christian activists.” Strengths: • This group tends to lead a variety of compassion ministries to help others in need. • They rally other believers to get outside of the walls of the church and take the love of Christ to hurting the world. Weaknesses: • Sometimes the individual ministry gets lost in this person's self-righteous tendencies to be doing things for God to please Him. • They can lose sight of the gospel in their pursuit of social justice, equality, and meeting basic human needs. They are so amped up to do horizontal ministry that they neglect the fact that Christ came to save the lost, not just offer them compassion-based ministry and their soul remains lost. • Much like the Church at Ephesus, this group can have a lot of good works at the cost of leaving their first love, Christ. “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally – not a 20 percent traitor.” Ronald Regan Take Away: • Can you appreciate that there may be other biblical interpretations of open-handed topics things that you hold dear? • Are you willing and able to do life alongside others who believe differently from you and can affirm their belief with Scripture? • Are you willing to have the tough conversations and seek understanding among those in whom you do not see eye-to-eye on some of these topics?