Here's a summary of what I see as the three eras/ethei (ethoses) of our body. (These descriptions are copied from an earlier post.)
It's the middle era, the Church-es of God, that is the focus of this post. Many pastors/parish priests and congregations in our body in the year 2020 fit that description:
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1. The Church of God, the movement which envisioned itself as joining in a "new Reformation," and that formed around the ministry of John Winebrenner and others, which was blessed and thrived from before its first moment and which inspired the "planting" of about 800 congregations within 60 years.
2. The Churches of God, the denomination that rejected the radical to settle for being a small, respectable, Protestant, church, which progressively institutionalized the former movement, created the beginnings of a hierarchy and which witnessed the beginnings of what is, by now, a generations-long trend toward spiritual decay and numerical decline which continues to this day.
3. The CGGC, the effort to reverse the disaster that was the Churches of God, attempting to end decay and decline by increasing the size of the denomination's hierarchy and adopting a leadership model which describes its highest ranking official as the denomination's Chief Executive Officer, and which defines a disciple as a person who attends church worship and which has seen the spiritual decay and numerical decline of the Churches of God continue.
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In our body today, there are many pastors and congregations who understand Christian righteousness...the life of the disciple...to be centered in the clergy/laity divide. This is the hallmark of the Churches of God.
For these pastors and their people, following Jesus is essentially, but not necessarily entirely, centered on what takes place in the so-called "worship service" where the pastor provides certain religious products and services and the laity consumes them.
In our context, the most important religious product provided by the clergyman is the sermon.
But, in a larger sense, the entire well-planned "service" itself is an important religious product.
Certainly, the presence of congregational music that the consumers enjoy singing, or listening to, is vital to the laity's contented consumption.
In our context, the occasional practice of the ordinances in a way that is pleasing and uplifting to the consuming laity is also an important part of the clergy/laity, provider/consumer of religious products and services package.
In these ministries in our body, the core of obedience to Christ is centered around the "worship service" and the religious products and services the clergy-person provides for the laity to consume, hopefully, as contentedly as possible. That is, follow Jesus is to "go to church."
An issue which, I believe, causes tension in our body, and makes the existence of community among us virtually impossible,...
...is that the Churches of God way of defining righteousness is a bold and naked rejection of everything that was most important to the founders of our movement.
The people who gathered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in October 1830 to form the Church of God intentionally rejected all that clergy/laity, provider/consumer stuff to form our body.
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To the point raised by the title of this post, one characteristic of the Church of God, which is rejected by the Churches of God, is a fierce commitment to the notion that followers of Jesus are people for whom justice and mercy are important matters of the Christian life. (Mt. 23:23)
For Church of God people, righteousness begins the moment the gathering ends.
For Churches of God people, obedience is focused on the attendance of the "worship service" and the religious products and services the laity consumes.
Church of God people see the gathering as the time when disciples spur each other on the love and good works.
For Churches of God people the worship service is the biggest part of their love and good works.
A life in which the Church of God person becomes a warrior for racial equality flows naturally from what the Church of God is.
On the other hand, to live a life of justice and mercy, to become, for example, a warrior for racial equality simply doesn't fit easily into the way the Churches of God pastor/parish priest nor the consumers of his/her religious products and services.
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How do Churches of God people become warriors for racial equality?
Honestly, I don't know.
Honestly, I don't think they can.
Honestly, I think they start out rejecting everything that makes a life of justice and mercy possible.
Honestly, I think that, in the context of our body, their only hope is to be broken of their unrighteousness and love for unbiblical tradition, to become what they've rejected and to join with the people of the Church of God.
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Perhaps, though, you can see another way. If so, respond on or off the blog.
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