There is perhaps no more urgent subject than this at the present time in the United Kingdom. From my vantage point it seems that there is often so much confusion as to how the church should function. Our chief concern is the honour and glory of our God but also the well-being and the spiritual care of Christians. In every generation we need to come back to first principles. The rule of faith and practice for the church can be no other than the Holy Spirit speaking in Scripture. Is the teaching of Scripture the rule for how you understand the church?
I intend this to be a mini-series of blogs on this subject. I am part of the church planting committee for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of England and Wales. Often I make the comment that 'I am not interested in planting churches ... but I am interested in planting the right kinds of churches'. These are churches who are committed to the three marks of a true church.
Do you know what the three marks of a true church are?
They are:
1. The preaching of pure doctrine
2. The right administration of the sacraments (these are baptism and the Lord's Supper)
3. Church discipline; a church needs to be well ordered.
While this is an obvious question for those who know something of church history, it is not commonly taught among Christians in the UK today. Why is this the case? Well if Christians were better informed then they would and could legitimately begin to ask searching questions for their own church's practice. If Christians in the UK were asked today, 'what are the marks of a church?', how would they answer? It would probably include the following:
A contemporary worship band
A lively and relevant talk that addresses my needs
Friendly fellowship
A good range of programmes for the children
Somewhere close to where I live
Lots of opportunities for me to use my gifts
An evangelistic or missional vision
These ideas may sound attractive but do they measure up to Scripture? The answer to solving a problem is often-times to simply get people to recognise that there is a problem in the first place. This blog post sets the 'ball rolling'. Until I write the next blog post a good piece of homework for further study is John Calvin's Institutes, Book 4, Chapters 1-5.
And he [Christ] is the head of the body, the church. Colossians 1:18.
2 comments:
Hiya Kevin, thanks for the post, would you not put a fourth mark of the church - to have a focus on sharing the gospel with unbelievers? This was a strong mark of the early church in acts and also part of Jesus' commission to us, so I have always seen that as being an essential mark of a true church. You have put having an evangelistic focus in your second list which seems to suggest that it is not an important mark of a church ... What are your thoughts? X
Emma,
Thanks for your comment and question which is a good one and an interesting one. There is a difference between the marks of a true church and then the expected actions of a true church. There is a very good book by William Still on 'The Work of the Pastor' and he complains of an obsession with evangelism in his current day. What he means is that the role of elders is to feed the sheep, they then become healthy and the result is true spiritual growth. I agree with his point. I have a blog post covering this subject which is: http://kevinbidwell.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=william+still
If I were to put down five functions for a true church and I use the word functions deliberately rather than marks, I would include worship and the diaconal ministry. There is a difference between what something is and the fruit it produces. An apple tree produces apples because that is what it is, but the apples do not describe the tree. Similarly, the members of the church explaining the unique claims of Christ is the fruit of a healthy tree but not the mark of the tree itself. In Acts 8: 4-5 we read that the people were scattered about preaching the word but it was Phillip who came down proclaiming Christ.
There is a difference between the role of ordained ministers and elders and their function, and the equally important role of church members. The two Greeks word for preaching and proclaim are different. The church members 'evangelise' but the elders 'proclaim' in a declaratory and propositional sense.
A further note is the danger of Arminian methods which can promote the false idea that the saving of the lost is the church's job. The church has to be faithful to uphold pure worship, pure doctrine and pure church government but it is the Triune God who saves and draws people to himself. Church growth alone is not a measure of truth and true success.
This answer is longer than I intended but I hope that it helps a little. Keep reading the blog and this series on the three marks of the church.
Post a Comment