Making theology involves expressing universal biblical constants in a meaningful way in a particular context. Having spent most of the last two decades establishing churches in other cultures, I would not have been able to reject this lesson even if I wanted to. they are continually challenged by the need to teach Christian doctrine while encouraging appropriate and contextually meaningful applications of this doctrine.
So how do we formulate a doctrine of belonging to a local church that is context sensitive?This is the question this article will seek to answer. Our doctrine of church membership must bring us closer to a universal biblical constant. , but formulating how this doctrine is lived culturally and contextually leads us to a variety of particular expressions of this universal constant.
A universal biblical doctrine of church membership
Church implanters in foreign contexts will want, together with local believers, to examine the scriptures and try to express a simple doctrine of the local church in appropriate language. This will involve not only looking at texts in which the word?Church? (ekklesia), but also reading entire Books of the New Testament. The goal here is to extract what the New Testament says about the local church, the identifiable community of those who believe. How do I draw the line between inside and outside?partners and disbelievers? It will be important to consider what the biblical text assumes and implies in books such as Romans, Hebrews, 1 John and 1 Peter, as well as domestic codes at the end of Paul’s letters.
For example, let me try to expose, for a pioneering context, the (universal biblical constant) doctrine of belonging to a church, as might be explained to a local first-generation church:
A local church has identifiable members of baptized people, according to the scriptures, based on a credible profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and a credible profession is a profession that is accompanied by continued repentance and faith in the gospel. . These members intend to be a local assembly in that particular place. Participation in gospel benefits is generally linked to the association and conclusion of an alliance with a local church, in which believers seek to develop all their relationships humbly in the light of the gospel, such as those whose true home is elsewhere.
Certainly, much more could be said about belonging to a church, such as the regular practice of taking the Lord’s food as a blessing of the gospel, but it is simply an expression of the doctrine of the local church of belonging to a new context for Christianity. a context in which the gospel has been unknown for at least a few generations.
Member terminology: Associates? Members? Participants?
The Bible assumes some form of belonging to the local church, but does not give us a specific word for “belonging”. So how do you talk or write about membership?In a way that is significantly understood in culture?The answer depends in part on the words we have in the local language. Does an intercultural church implanter need to consider what types of affiliation already exist to compare them to the biblical ideal?especially if we choose a more generic word for membership.
Membership in a biblical church is of a different type of membership or membership in a Hindu monastery, Buddhist temple, Islamic mosque or Sufi order. A church implanter should be aware of these differences.
Domestic and family life can offer some useful concepts of “belonging”. But the language of Belonging? It does not necessarily grasp the idea of ‘associating’, except perhaps in the context of marriage. But even here, have many cultures lost sight of what Genesis says about leaving their own family and becoming another?A new family unit.
In short, biblical doctrine does not change, but it is necessary to carefully consider how membership-related words translate into a particular context. In general, the planter will probably want to use the language “association”, “association” and the?fraternity to express the biblical idea of belonging to a church.
Contextual application: membership and written letters?
In the mobile and diffuse societies of the West, believers are free to gather without official interference or persecution. In such a scenario, written member lists are an appropriate application of biblical constants. They may even be needed to allow the congregation and its leaders to keep track of who they are and who is not a member of the church. The purpose of these lists is to distinguish church members from those who profess faith but are not responsible, and to keep track of those who receive corrective discipline.
But in a pioneering, restrictive, or hostile context, the few believers run the risk of meeting each other. Could it be that there is only one option for a local church, a meeting, not so public? in a local house or apartment. Or there may be a network of local churches in the apartment. Keeping membership lists here may not be prudent as it creates unnecessary risk to the local body when houses are searched and books and papers are confiscated. Also, there are no disconnected believers and the boundaries of the local church are very clear to everyone. The persecution clarifies the borders even more. When a person is baptized in such a context, it is very clear (to insiders and some outsiders) that they belong to Christ and his local assembly. The desire for baptism, in such contexts, is an inherently credible profession of faith. When a believer is expelled from his hometown and must identify with another local underground church, he is usually already known to the receiving church. News of the persecution spread quickly. Typically, you don’t need to write a letter of recommendation. Insisting on this practice is simply unnecessary.
In a more complex and diverse society, where Christianity is accepted and local churches enjoy legal authorization, member lists and written transfer letters are judicious applications of identifiable members.
The universal constant is that the local church must know who is a participant and who is still out. Cultural concerns guide how this constant is applied locally.
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See the author’s suggestions for cultural applications about membership and written letters, membership pacts, and the accession process.
This article is part of the 9Marks Journal
Translation: Vin-cius Silva Pimentel. Review: Vin-cius Musselman Pimentel. © 2014 Faithful Ministérium. All rights reserved. Website: MinistryFiel. com. br. Original: Ecclesiastical membership and contextualization.