In the 17th century the church's' work was carried forth through programs, edicts, enforcers and bureaucratic administrations. Ministers were choked in politics. In the midst of this cold and messy church environment Puritans set forth a warm and simple church model which they believed to be the church of God's design. Beginning with this post I will identify some elements of a Puritan church model and implications that can be drawn from them.
(1) The church is the congregation, and it is one congregation only. Congregational doctrine all the way back to the Cambridge Platform of 1648 declares that a church consists of no more members than can conveniently meet in one place at one time. Churches with multiple congregations meeting at different times under different banners or worship styles are outside the one congregation-one church identification with historic congregationalism recognizes as Biblical. Churches with arrays of program and worship options fail to provide a most essential option, the option of wholly belonging to the whole church.
(2) Church members are united in church covenant. By the church covenant Christians pledge to help one another walk in all the ways of the Lord to advance Christ's Kingdom. Church members regard one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, and in some senses they place their spiritual family ahead of their natural families. For obvious reasons churches simply cannot receive anonymous member candidates by formalities such as the show of hands. Neither can they afford to casually write off those who have ceased to participate in church life. All who enter into covenant must be regarded as family and loved and pursued as family. The Biblical/logical basis for church covenant is this: by the Scriptures we see that Christians are to be under the rule and discipline of churches, and churches can only have the ability to carry forth their rule and discipline as Christians individually, willfully, voluntarily submit to one another in the church by means of a covenant.
There is no virtue in being simply a small church. Small churches are frequently way outside of God's patterns. But small churches at least have the opportunity to be churches abiding within Biblical patterns wherein the pastor knows and shepherds his flock, the church is one undivided congregation led by the Spirit of God, Christian brothers and sisters watch out for each other, everyone can participate in the business meetings and folks are knowledgeable of each other's prayer requests.
Mega churches can broadcast the Gospel and send missionaries to the ends of the earth, but they cannot do that which is most necessary to fulfilling The Great Commission; they cannot be churches cut in the Biblical pattern which can be reproduced over and over around the world. American Christianity has an abundance of church staff, facilities, scholars, schools and programs. What is lacking is the existence of genuine churches cut in the pattern of Scripture, and these churches can exist with or without paid staff and facilities.
(3) Christ is preeminently present within His churches. Christ is present everywhere, but He is present in a special sense amidst His gathered congregations. The goal of every church should be to be known as that special place where those seeking to find the Lord and His help may do so. Within a worshipping congregation is a presence of Christ that cannot be transmitted through radio, television, the Internet or the printed page. It is the congregation's most valued asset, and folks must be present to experience what they otherwise cannot know.
John Bunyan, among other Puritans, saw the heavenly city of Revelations 21 as a metaphor for Christ's church, especially as it shall emerge upon the earth in the latter days. Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them. . .(Rev.21:3). That God is with His people is the covenant promise made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and David, repeated by the prophets, typified in the tabernacle and repeated in the last chapters of the Bible. Christ's presence is a reality within the worshipping congregation. The church exists to bear the moral image of Christ who dwells within her, and she exists to point to her own grand finale where tears are wiped away and joy reigns supreme. Everything not appropriate to Christ's presence and the church's end destination must be kept out of worship services and church business. Those things appropriate to the presence of Christ including kneeling in prayer, seeking God in salvation, singing Christ's praises and encouraging and exhorting one another must be continued.
The Puritans had vision---they believed that a kingdom of churches would gain in influence and momentum upon the earth until the very end of time. Today, the closest that many conservative Christians can come to having vision is to say that when Christ returns He will make all things right. But by the power of Christ's word and spirit His Kingdom will be advancing when He returns to receive it, and the gates of hell will not prevail over His church!
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7 comments:
The apparent success of megachurches needs scriptural scrutiny. I look forward to more of your contributions.
Sounds like envy or sour grapes to me---what could be wrong with churches growing larger. After all, isn't that what churches are suppose to be doing. Suppose a church simply has too many members to meet in the same place at the same time----then what?
To anonymous: Reaching lost persons with the Gospel is close to the heart of what churches are called to do. However, a church's first calling is to be a church in the model described and inferred in the New Testament. If a church will do this it will be of far greater help to those they reach. A church which has the happy delimna of having too many persons to meet in the same place at the same time should simply begin steps to begin a second church. Both churches could share the same facilities and even the same pastor for a period. Wouldn't it be great if every church building was housing two or more churches and if every growing church was on the verge a hatching a new church. Unfortunately, churches faced with the decision of growing larger,wealthier and more prestigious as opposed to birthing a new church will seldom choose the latter option---though some do.
However, large churches who do things smaller churches cannot is not always a negative thing. Smaller churches do not always have the resources or vision to accomplish as much outreach and often forget about the surrounding people "outside" of the church. For example, our church, the 2nd largest in Tennessee, has a focus very different from many other "megachurches". Hope is one of the few churches I have seen which focuses most of its resources on outreach within the city of Memphis as well as the congregation. Because of our size, we have resources available to sponsor an entire povery stricken community, which otherwise would have no hope. Yet, the teachings do not stray away from God's Word. How many churches do you know regularly send members to actually live in the streets so that we can minister to the poor and relate to them? All of this sounds like I am boasting about my church, but I have found something there I have never seen at a smaller congregation-not because they cant do some of these things, but because it is not part of their vision. If every large and small church had a vision like this-to be a church for the unchurched, minister to the community nearby first, they would ALL grow continually. While starting new churches is not a bad thing, a growing church is much better than a stagnant church, and may reach people who otherwise would choose no church.
Bethany
to Bethanyand John
Well said. I do not say there is no case for huge churches, but I'll let other folks set forth what that case is. I am disturbed that the only church vision many ministers and churches have is the vision of growing larger rather than growing by multiplication. Much of what the mega churches do could be done by smaller churches working closely together if they would. I agree that most smaller churches are stagnant, and these churches will never produce a healthy offspring. But I wish those smaller churches which begin to grow could catch the vision of reproducing, not just growing larger. Sounds like your church is doing some really great things, as are other large churches. But I hold to what I've already said---they are outside the Scripture's model (although certainly not unChristian) and they are not leaving an example of how to function as a church that can be easily reproduced. Most mega churches, I believe, work into modes of operating that work for them and are unique to them.
Large churches that are having lasting and appropriate ministries are more than likely composed of several smaller congregations within the church. It is in these smaller 'churches within the church'-whether they be SS classes, covenant groups, or whatever-where true fellowship and member ministry occurs. It is impossible to experience true fellowship within a large congreation unless one is plugged into one of these smaller groups. Those that are not 'plugged in' will drift apart or only be peripheral members. The concern, of course, with the smaller groups is that factions can spring up and destroy the unity of the church. Large churches provide ministries that small ones cannot, but the small ones provide true fellowship-an interesting dilimna.
Your comment is appreciated and true. Churches frequently evolve into patterns and relationships that meet the needs of their people. I know I am being idealistic, but why couldn't XYZ Church with 2500 members become XYZ association of churches with multiple congregations sharing the church facility while being united under one confessional statement. Instead of pursuing a vision to multiply congregations, churches just pursue the vison of growing larger. It would be a great goal of any church (denominational) group to aim for a minimum of two churches in every facility. Why think of such a thing? ---there appears to be a Scriptural pattern for the local church that suggests that churches can only grow so large before they become something other than churches.
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