I dream of walking boldly and wildly in my faith among people who obey 1 Corinthians 12. Sadly, I believe, I don't.
In that critically important passage from the writings of Paul, Paul says that those of us who are in Christ are a body made up of many parts, where the foot won't say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," (v. 15) and where the eye can't say to the hand, "I don't need you." (v. 21)
All who are in Christ are unique members of something larger than themselves. All of us have our own role. Therefore, we need to respect the other parts of the body and, more importantly, submit to and recognize our dependence upon the other members of the body.
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I know very well that I'm unusual among the community of people who follow Jesus.
I'm content with who it is that I am in Him. I accept the reality that He's made me to be who He has made me to be...and I, certainly, don't want everyone else to be like me.
No doubt, it's because I am so much unlike most other Christians that I'm so focused on 1 Corinthians 12.
With that in mind, attempt to consider what it would be like for me to read the following passage from the latest eNews in which Lance is discussing the CGGC's ministry in the nation of Kenya. Pay special attention to the part I highlight:
The ministry of the CGGC in Kenya works under the name of Voice of the Gospel Ministries. Several years ago, a group of pastors reached out and sought to affiliate with the Churches of God, General Conference. You might wonder why the different name in a different country? My understanding is that there is significant baggage around the name Church of God and its connection with the prosperity gospel in that part of Africa: thus, the need for a different name to identify this group of churches working with the CGGC. I’ve often thought that John Winebrenner might have landed on a different name for our body if he had started it a different era than 1825: today we have a much more difficult time explaining which “church of God” we are or aren’t.
Wow. Just wow!
Gang,
John Winebrenner (along with the entire movement associated with his ministry) was consumed by a desire to make New Testament Christianity come to life in his time and place.
Winebrenner called this vision, "the New Testament plan," and he outlined that plan on the day our body was formed in Harrisburg in October 1830. The Church of God organized around that vision and brought it to life.
An essential...foundational...fundamental element of our body's understanding of the New Testament plan is that it is biblical for a group of followers to be known as "the Church of God."
Believe it or not, the conviction that a group of believers should be called the Church of God held an importance among the first people of our movement along side their belief that Jesus is the Son of God.
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As a matter of cold, hard historical fact, Lance could not be more wrong.
John Winebrenner was, more than anything else, a man who sought truth and who didn't compromise on what he considered to be the truth, no matter what his belief cost him, or the difficulty it created for our movement.
If, at a time later on than 1825, John Winebrenner was convinced that the correct name of a group of believers is the Church of God, he would not have, could not have "landed on a different name for our body," no matter how difficult the marketing and branding issues might have been.
For the Church of God, in the days that it was a dynamic, growing, blessed movement, truth was all. It wouldn't be compromised...for any reason.
As much as I love the holders of institutional authority in the CGGC, in my opinion, this difference over something as seemingly trivial as our name, explains why, in Winebrenner's generation, we couldn't manage our rapid growth and why today's CGGC can't reverse its numerical decline and spiritual decay.
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As I said, I know I'm unusual among Jesus followers. I don't want everyone to be like me. But, I also believe that who I am, I am in Him.
With that in mind, I'll say this:
What Lance has "often thought" is misguided and it's lack of concern for biblical truth out of interest in superficial issues of marketing and branding is one important factor in our increasing numerical decline and spiritual decay under his regime.
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And...
...If, in the CGGC, we were people of 1 Corinthians 12, three things would be true that are not now true.
1. I could say what I just said without paragraphs of introduction.
2. I'd be respected for my out of the mainstream opinion. And,
3. I'd realize that I'm offering my opinion as only one part of a very diverse and highly interdependent body.
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I've hesitated in writing this for days because I'm torn.
Most who read this, if they've gotten this far, think I'm making a huge point out of nothing.
(And, if Lance had not written, "I've often thought...," I'd have probably moaned and grimaced and dropped it. But, I believe Lance. He's honest. He has, no doubt, thought that about the founding of our movement. And, he's wrong. Lance is completely disregarding the role biblical authority once had among us.)
If we were people of 1 Corinthians 12, I could have written this freely and without inhibition.
I could walk in my calling and say, in an honest way, that I believe that Lance is way off base here and that his brief, passing comment is more important than it might appear at first...
...I'd be very well prepared to be told that I'm overdoing things...and, that I'm doing it AGAIN...
...I'd be prepared to laugh about that...
...I'd smile. I'd explain myself and, in a loving, interdependent, mutually submissive community, we'd work it out on way or the other.
But, that's not a possibility in today's CGGC.
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I'm convinced that this is how New Testament era disciples functioned. I'm convinced that this is the practical living out of 1 Corinthians 12.
But, we don't live as a wildly diverse and interdependent body. We don't love in the New Command, "as I have loved you" way. We don't live, "submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ."
What we do is disobedience. It's unrighteousness.
And, the proof is that we are in the midst of generations of numerical decline and spiritual decay.
We must repent.
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