Chatting about Church

For many years I had the desire to study theology and to work in ministry.  Ironically, getting fired from my teaching job allowed me to enroll as full-time student in an M. Div. program.  After a few years I graduated, but at that time there seemed little prospect in getting a position in ministry.  Although I kept getting positive confirmations of a calling, the local Reformed churches treated me either as a heretic, a liberal, or as stubborn student who preached too long.

So, with some friends we decided to offer free ESL classes, for which we could use the meeting rooms of our downtown church building.  It took some patient perseverance: the first month nobody came. Then a small group of Korean Christians came who wanted to improve their English language skills. Finally we got our first Chinese student: a medical doctor from South China!  After several months we got more Chinese friends, and we were happy that they wanted to learn more about Christianity and the Bible.  Several of them would attend church with us, and the second year we started a Saturday night Bible study group.

The church members, many of which were senior Dutch immigrants, had a mixed response. While some were delighted to have Asian seekers attend the services, others were not so happy. One older sister explained her concern.

We have relatives (or friends?) in New Zealand.  The Dutch immigrants worked hard there to get a congregation, a building, and a pastor.  Yet, they were not content to be a “Dutch church”, so they started to invite the local population, trying to make them feel at home.  This was so successful that eventually the worship style and services changed (in response to the shift in membership backgrounds).  After some time, the church no longer felt like the “good old religion” or like the traditional church the Dutch had grown up with.  So, the older pioneers started to leave, and tragically they lost their church to others.

In such situations we are forced to evaluate our priorities. What is our purpose? Are we trying to build the church of God, or do we seek to build a place and community where we feel good, and where our own felt needs are met?  Are we prepared to leave our comfort zone or lose our possessions if that would serve to build God’s Kingdom?  In Acts 8 (vss. 1 – 8) we see how the Enemy tried to destroy the church, scattering the disciples. Yet, God used this persecution to spread the Gospel.  The letter to the Hebrews reminds Christians how they had joyfully accepted the confiscation of their property, because they knew that they had better and lasting possessions. (Hebrews 10: 34b)

In the Bible the concept of ‘church’ never refers to a building. Yet, in western culture, it’s the first thing that comes to mind. When you Google for ‘church’ pictures, you get mostly church buildings. As most people today seem to confuse “church” with “church building”, it should not surprise us that the building can become an idol for the congregation.  In Jesus’ days, the Jews used God’s Temple (The House of God) as evidence and proof that God was with them.  Ezekiel (ch. 10) already warned that God would leave his temple so that the majestic buildings, the pride of the Jews, would become an empty shell.  Jesus himself declared that He was God’s Temple: It was in Him that God dwelt among His people: Immanuel.  The temple buildings would soon be destroyed, while God would build His house in the disciples of Jesus Christ.

There is a second misconception about the church. Already in Romans 14 we read about divisions in the church, and over time we can see a growing list of issues regarding the interpretation and the application of the Word of God. Add to that the cultural diversity of humankind, which results in a variety of worship styles, and it is easy to see how the church of God could become fragmented.  As it is natural for culture groups to protect and propagate their own convictions and practices, so church groups often ended up viewing their own ideas and lifestyles as superior to all others and a hallmark of the (only) proper way to be a Christian.  So, over time, the focus often shifted from the Gospel and Christ to membership in the correct group with the right doctrine.  Indeed, in my home tradition for instance, the word “Reformed” was considered more important than the word “Christian”, and there was more emphasis on following John Calvin than on being a disciple of Jesus Christ.  All this well-meant ‘protection of the truth’ often resulted in another form of idolatry, where Christ was no longer at the center.

When I studied at a Baptistic seminary, I noticed that while the Reformed folks would question the Baptists in their faith, as they publicly despised the Sabbath by going to a restaurant on Sundays, the Baptist folks would question the Reformed since these ‘Christians’ did not hesitate to enjoy a good glass of wine or a nice cigar.  Also, in the traditional Reformed churches they would agree that Baptist churches could not be churches of Jesus Christ as they refused to baptise the infants of believers. Meanwhile the (FEB) Baptist churches defined the church as “the gathering of immersed believers”, which would exclude most Reformed-Presbyterian churches.

We must mention a third area of confusion when it comes to defining the church.  In the Bible we see the church described from two distinct perspectives. The most common reference is to regular local meetings of Christian believers. Local Christians might be meeting (at least) every Sunday in somebody’s home. There they would study the Word of God, unite in prayer and song, and ‘break bread’ to remember Christ crucified (and risen from the dead).  The other biblical perspective looks at the world-wide gathering of all Christian believers, whereby all (true) Christian believers belong to Christ’s Body, which is the church (Col.1).

Now, it is clear from various N.T. letters that not all those who are ‘in the church’ (as members of a local gathering) are true believers ‘of the church’ (that is: they are not by true faith united to Christ’s body).  On the other hand (Hebr. 10:25), we find reference to Christians who did not consider it important to attend regular worship meetings in a Christian community.  Yet, while it is essential to have true faith, it is also very important to belong to a local church for mutual encouragement and strengthening, for united praise and prayer, and for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.  Furthermore, in the church we must exercise and experience the love of Christ, for it is in this love that we can be built up in unity, and it is in this way that God wants us to demonstrate that Jesus is the Son of God. Those who refuse to live in community with other Christians are often full of pride or lacking in Spirit fruit. If we grow as disciples of Christ, we must (more and more) walk and talk like Jesus did (1 John 2), and consider others as better than ourselves (Phil. 2).

The Bible is full of apparent contradictions and areas of tension. In most of these areas we see some churches and Christians overemphasize one particular perspective while others underemphasize the same.   So, in modern society with its promotion of personal freedom and selfish ambition, we can find many who insist that faith is a private relationship between “Jesus and me”. The new generation hates to make long-term commitments in fear of losing their freedom.  Yet, there are also churches that don’t want to talk about ‘universal church’ or ‘Body of Christ’. In the Canadian Reformed Churches, the common understanding used to be that the total membership of their churches (and their sister churches) was pretty much congruent or equivalent with the total of all true believers.  If you belonged to the right church group, you were presumed to have true faith unless or until you publicly failed to follow a specific code of conduct, or if you publicly challenged their particular theology or teaching.

Although I had always been respected as a good church member, my publication of “Praying for Rain” suddenly put a stop to this. In my “heretical teachings” I had shown myself not to be a Christian, and therefore I was “excluded by the elders from the Christian congregation and (in their judgment) … by God Himself from the kingdom of Christ.” (Heidelberg Catechism. Q, A 85) My wife, when asked, told the elders that she supported me. So, she too was placed under discipline and treated as an unbeliever.  Interestingly, at one of the monthly elder visits (where they refused to discuss the theological issues) one elder exclaimed, ‘I am happy that in all this trouble, you and your wife are still united.’  I replied, ‘What? You are happy that not only I am on my way to hell, but that my wife is joining me there?’  He was shocked with my explanation; he really did not know what he was doing.