Chapter Eleven ---------------------------------------- Feedback Box:

Identifying Church Members

Summary: The "Church" in any city consists of nothing more, nor nothing less, than all in that city in whom is the Spirit of Christ (or whose "hearts are right with God"). You can't "join" a real church. If you are a Christian, you are already in the one in your city. (There is only one per city.) We can't admit members, though we must discern members. You ask, "If a doctrine isn't good for keeping others away who don't agree with us, what is it good for?" Well, fellowship is so we can learn together and purify our doctrines. How can we do that if we only let people in whose doctrines are already perfect? When the Bible tells us to confess Jesus, it doesn't mean once, in front of friends. It means with every word we speak, even to people who hate Jesus. We look divided, but we don't have to become "one". We already are one. Just like a family which appears divided to the world, but really is held together by something beyond the senses. We just need to get along better so others can recognize our unity! How we get along tests whether our sermons about love, patience, and other Fruits of the Spirit are mere theory.

THE BELIEVERS ARE "THE CHURCH"

Nee, page 73: "The second chapter [of Acts] speaks of the salvation of about three thousand men, and the fourth chapter of a further five thousand, but nothing whatever is said about these believers forming a church. Without a single word of explanation they are referred to in the following chapter as the church--'And great fear came upon the whole church' (5:11). ...Acts 8:1...'There occurred in that day a great persecution against the church which was in Jerusalem.' From this passage it is obvious that the believers in Jerusalem are the church in Jerusalem. So we know now what the church is. It consists of all the saved ones in a given locality."

Actually the Greek word for "church", ecclesia, (the root of our word "ecclesiastical",) means "assembly". Acts 2:46 indicates the saved people met together. So that, without anything added, makes them an "assembly".

YOU CAN'T "JOIN" A REAL CHURCH

Nee, page 74: "The scriptural method of founding a church is simply by preaching the gospel; nothing further is necessary, or even permissible. If people hear the gospel and receive the Lord as their Savior, then they are a church; there is no need of any further procedure in order to become a church.

"If in a given place anyone believes on the Lord, as a matter of course he is a constituent of the church in that place; there is no further step necessary in order to make him a constituent. No subsequent joining is required of him. Provided he belongs to the Lord, he already belongs to the church in that locality; and since he already belongs to the church, his belonging cannot be made subject to any condition. If, before recognizing a believer as a member of the church, we insist that he join us, or that he resign his connection elsewhere, then 'our church' is decidedly not one of the churches of God. If we impose any conditions of membership upon a believer in the locality, we are immediately in an unscriptural position....

"Let us note well that the ground of our receiving anyone into the church is that the Lord has already received that one. 'Him who is weak in faith receive...for God has received him; (Rom. 14:1, 3). 'Therefore receive one another, as Christ also received you' (15:7). Our receiving anyone is merely our recognition that the Lord has already received him. Our receiving him does not make him a member of the church; rather, it is that we receive him because he is already a member....If we demand anything beyond his reception by the Lord before admitting him to fellowship, then we are not a church at all, but only a sect."

WE CANNOT ADMIT MEMBERS, THOUGH WE MUST DISCERN MEMBERS

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine [Gr: test, usually translated "tempt"] yourselves, whether ye be IN the faith; prove [Gr: test, as metals are tested, after which their purity is certified] your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? [Gr: rejected as an impure metal, after testing]

If our faith cannot survive trials, we were never all the way "into" it. But we must not wait for trials to test us before we begin testing ourselves. And since it is the plural "yourselves", we are to test each other, as members of a body. That this passage means we are also to test each other is evident from the context; it is Paul himself whose credentials are being questioned by the Corinthians, so Paul is telling them they should even test him:

2 Corinthians 13:6 But I trust [hope] that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.

Nee, page 75: "Unless the qualifications for church membership are clearly defined, there will always be the danger of excluding from the church those who truly belong to it and including those who do not."

And indeed, this danger is more the rule than the exception:

Page 75: "...many so-called churches...exclude those who should be in the church, and include those who should be outside."

I have shared this same observation with several pastors: that a church will not extend full fellowship to someone of another "denomination" who is obviously a Christian, but it will extend full fellowship to a member of its own church who is obviously not a Christian. The reaction I got from pastors was a faint, brief, ironic smile, of the magnitude reserved for a clever but familiar saying which requires neither comment nor further thought.

We assume there is this wide, unbridgeable gulf between membership in the Church Triumphant (the True Church) and membership on human-recorded sectarian church membership rolls. Of course, we assume, men cannot discern with accuracy which humans GOD has accepted, so it is absurd to even try to come close. All we mere humans can do is develop strict rules for acceptance by ourselves.

Nee disagrees.

Nee, page 75: "Before we proceed to discover who really belongs to a local church and who does not, let us first inquire who belongs to the universal Church and who does not, since the condition of membership in a church is essentially the same as in the Church. When we know what kind of persons belong to the Church, then we know also what kind of persons belong to a church."

In other words, our duty is to discern no less than whether, to use a popular idiom more valuable for its familiarity than for its accuracy, those who would fellowship with us are "going to heaven".

BUT HOW CAN WE KNOW HOW GOD SEES ANOTHER'S HEART?!!

When we are challenged to declare whether a particular person is "going to heaven", we rightly despair at our impotence to judge "the secrets of mens hearts":

1 Corinthians 4:3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. 4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

But True Membership discernment is not a burdensome responsibility.

Although our goal is to discern whom God has admitted to Heaven, we are not responsible for admitting people into Heaven!

The only thing we are responsible for is admitting others into our own confidence.

Nor is True Membership discernment some far off, unattainable discernment of hearts which only God can see. Most of the time the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian quickly becomes obvious as we get to know people. Of course, American "church" services of this generation are not places to get to know people! But if we follow 1 Corinthians 14, we are promised that the secrets of hearts will soon become obvious!

1 Corinthians 14:24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: 25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.

The usefulness of this promise to our responsibility to discern Church Membership is another clue to the Biblical format of a fellowship service. It is a clue that the church discussion should be more like a plow, which turns up every inch of mental soil, than like a dialectical rocket engine soaring above the reach of the concentration or interest of all listeners.

The mere existence of vigorous, robust Biblical discussion, in which everyone is free to fully participate, is not enough.

To present a view, and to field all objections, until no one is left willing to raise their hand to articulate opposition, is not enough.

To pay attention to each member, whether they seem to be "on the same page", is enough.

Not that God wants us to embarrass everybody. Not that God wants to turn us into Thought Monitors. Not that we need to press people to take positions on matters where they have formed none. But we can at least keep the discussion clear enough for everyone to follow. People are much more responsive to a discussion they can follow.

Not that our goal is to peer farther into our brother's heart than he is willing to open to us. After all, the promise of 1 Corinthians 14:25 is not that we will be able to read minds, but only that a sinner will voluntarily confess to us that God is in us; which implies that the revelation of the "secrets" of his heart will also be voluntary.

A format like this, open enough to handle the most unusual insights and yet laid out clearly enough that everyone can follow it, will truly allow the group to obey the Unity Scriptures.

Romans 12:15-16 describes being "of the same mind" in association with a list, not of intellectual, doctrinal pursuits, but of just plain old friendly characteristics. Ordinary, everyday empathy (v. 15), and "down home-ness" as opposed to the pride that kills friendships.

Romans 12:15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

Romans 15:5-7 doesn't describe a Doctrine Purification Lab either, when it speaks of acting "with one mind". Unity has more to do with "patience and consolation", v. 5, than with intellectual concurrence. God isn't asking us to, "with one mind and one mouth" agree on the Four Steps to Salvation, but "with one mind and one mouth" to "glorify God", v. 6. If we do this, we will not search out justifications for separating from one another, but we will "receive...one another", with all the mercy for each other's faults Christ demonstrated when He "received us", v. 7.

Romans 15:5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: 6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

2 Corinthians 13:11-12 associates "one-mindedness" with being perfect (Gr: mature; remember 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 associated denominationalism with immaturity), and with comfort, peace, love, and even affection between members! Think about the people you call "friends": surely none of them agree with you on everything you care about. But does this mar your friendship? Of course not! It is emotional compatibility, far more than intellectual compatibility, that enables friendship, isn't it?

2 Corinthians 13:11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. 12 Greet one another with an holy kiss.

Philippians 1:27 speaks of "one spirit, with one mind" in the sense of a unity of commitment to search out the Scriptures and learn Truth. This is the only one of the "one mind" Scriptures which even touches on doctrinal unity! And yet it is not doctrinal consensus which is the measure of unity, but the commitment to search together as brothers!

Philippians 1:27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

Philippians 2:2 makes the test of "one mindedness" whether all have "the same love". We are to be "of one accord", which refers not to intellectual unity but, again, emotional unity. Here is the Logos Lexicon definition of the Greek "sumpsuchos {soom'-psoo-khos}": 1) of one mind, of one accord. This word is made up of two [Greek] words "sun" ([which means] together with) and psuchos (soul, self, inner life, or the seat of the feelings, desires, affections). So the word refers to being united in spirit or harmonious (A&G). Paul desired the Philippians to be united in their affections - one in Christ in all desires! - Wayne Steury

Philippians 2:2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

1 Peter 3:8 measures "one mindedness" by compassion, love, pity, and courtesy! These are ALL the "one mind" verses in the Bible, and NONE of them requires unity of doctrine!!!!! (Well, 1 Corinthians 1:10, as shown in Chapter 9, means not that our minds would become like each other, but like Christ's mind. 1 Peter 4:1 clearly urges us to have the "same Mind"-set Jesus had.)

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:

Again I point out that my purpose in making these points is not to minimize the value of doctrines. I love doctrines! I love to stuff my brain with every doctrinal detail I can scrape together!

But hearts is where the action is. When we focus our X-ray screens less on brains, and more on hearts, we will have a better indication of the health of our spiritual patients.

And yet even when we fail to correctly discern another's acceptance into the True Church, inaccuracy is not so catastrophic as to excuse us from God's command to try. Matthew 18:15-17 shows us not only how to handle mistakes in judgment we have made, but it shows us that membership is not so much a matter of having our standing with God perfect by our own individual private accomplishment, as much as it is a matter of making ourselves teachable.

Matthew 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

It is important for us to try to discern the hearts of others as well as our own. But there is no official action we may Biblically base upon our discernment. We may not use it to exclude non-believers from our fellowship -- Scripture does not provide for the exclusion of anybody just because they are unsaved.

1 Corinthians 14:24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned,....

Churches under persecution, which must meet in secret, do their best to restrict their invitations to fellow believers with whom they trust their lives. But sometimes they are imprecise. Or to be more precise, their experiences prove that no matter how certain we may be that a fellow believer has the spirit of God in him now, we cannot know how firmly the Spirit has taken root in him in relation to his future trials. Nor do we know about ourselves; that is why God tells us to test ourselves: to search for weaknesses, so we may strengthen them.

But our duty to discern membership in the Church Triumphant does not mean we must reach a precise conclusion by some deadline within a certain length of time after we meet someone, so that we may take the official action of formally accepting or rejecting somebody.

Rather, we are not authorized to take any official action of rejecting somebody, except by a process outlined in Matthew 18:15-17 which is so exhaustive as to greatly reduce the chance of error, and even that process is not meant to be final but is designed to create the optimum conditions for healing and reconciliation.

Rather, our duty to discern is a duty to keep on discerning. Not just once, for a single official purpose and then you forget about the guy, but to keep on testing, and strengthening, in order to help each other prepare for the worst trials, so that they may overcome all, and fellowship again in Heaven.

HOW, THEN, DO WE DISCERN?

Nee, page 75: "How can we know who is a Christian and who is not? 'If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him' (Rom. 8:9)....Whoever has the Spirit of Christ is inside the Church circle...a non-participant of the Spirit of God has no part in the Church."

Page 78: "One Body and one Spirit, even as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all' (Eph. 4:4-6)....

"(1) ONE BODY. ...Anyone who has received Christ belongs to the Body, and he and we are one....we have no reason to reject him (unless for such disciplinary reasons as are clearly laid down in the Word of God.

"(2) ONE SPIRIT. If anyone seeks fellowship with us, however he may differ from us in experience or outlook....If he has received the Spirit of Christ, and we have received the Spirit of Christ, then we are one in the Lord, and nothing must divide us.

"(3) ONE HOPE. ...We hope to be with the Lord forever in glory. There is not a single soul who is truly the Lord's in whose heart there is not this hope, for to have Christ in us is to have 'the hope of glory' in us (Col 1:27)....If we are going to share the same future, shall we not gladly share the same present?

"(4) ONE LORD. ....all who recognize that God has made Jesus of Nazareth to be both Lord and Christ are one in Him....

"(5) ONE FAITH. The faith here spoken of is the faith -- not our beliefs in regard to the interpretation of Scripture, but the faith through which we have been saved...that Jesus is the Son of God (who died for the salvation of sinners and lives again to give life to the dead)....

"(6) ONE BAPTISM. Is it by immersion or by sprinkling? Is it single or triune? There are various forms of baptism accepted by the children of God, so if we make the form of baptism the dividing line between those who belong to the church and those who do not, we shall exclude many true believers from our fellowship. There are children of God who even believe that a material baptism is not necessary, but since they are the children of God, we dare not on that account exclude them from our fellowship. What then is the significance of the one baptism mentioned in this passage? Paul throws light on the subject in his first letter to the Corinthians. 'Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?' (1:13) The emphasis is not on the form of baptism, but on the name into which we are baptized. The first question is not whether you are sprinkled or immersed, dipped once or three times, baptized literally or spiritually; the important point is this: Into whose name have you been baptized? If you are baptized into the name of the Lord, that is your qualification for church membership."

I wonder if Nee ever ran across the United Pentecostal Church denomination, or its equivalent, which teaches that the words said during baptism must incorporate a particular one of the titles of Jesus Christ, and is invalid if it refers to Jesus by one of His other titles? Nee's point is not to affirm the divisive doctrine of verbalizing one of Jesus' titles as opposed to other titles, but rather to affirm the proclamation of the Person to Whom the Name "Jesus" refers, as opposed to any man, or any denomination, or any pagan god.

Nee resumes, "By this we do not imply that it is of no consequence whether we are sprinkled or immersed, or whether our baptism is literal, and is by immersion, but the point here is that the manner of baptism is not the ground of our fellowship...."

"But if the form of baptism is not the ground of our fellowship," you ask, "then what OTHER argument remains for its importance?"

That is like asking: "If a doctrine isn't good for keeping others away who don't agree with us, what is it good for?"

The fact that we reject the form of baptism as The Foundation of our fellowship does not mean that once we are fellowshipping together, we will not study the Word together that we may grow towards perfect understanding of God's mind on the subject!

It is not necessary that we be theologically perfect before we may be permitted to fellowship. The reason God tells us to fellowship is so that we may learn from each other, and test each other, and prepare each other for coming trials.

We need only be BORN again before we may begin fellowshipping. We need not be completely grown up to manhood again. Before we were born again we could not even swallow milk. But once we are born again and drinking milk, we must aspire to grow until we can chew meat. What shall we say of a brother who likes milk so well he stubbornly refuses to read the Bible so that he may progress through mashed baby foods all the way to meat? If he does not like the fellowship of God's Word on earth, will he like it in Heaven where it is far more concentrated?

"(7) ONE GOD. Do we believe in the same personal, supernatural God as [being] our Father? If so, then we belong to one family, and there is no adequate reason for our being divided.

"....If we apply any test but these seven, such as baptism by immersion, or certain interpretations of prophecy, or a special line of holiness teaching, or a so-called Pentecostal experience, or the resigning from any denominational church -- then we are imposing conditions other than those stipulated in the Word of God. All who have these seven points in common with us are our brothers, whatever their spiritual experience, or doctrinal views, or so-called church relationships."

TEST OF THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST IN US: ALL OUR WORDS

1 John 4 describes a test specifically designed to test whether someone else really has the Spirit of God which he claims. Unfortunately the test has been trivialized into how to test a doctrine, rather than a man, even though the result is an interpretation which seems to let in almost every doctrine! It describes a "doctrine" so basic that it is hard to imagine any quasi-Christian group failing this test! Few deny that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. When this test is turned into a requirement for a particular verbal profession by men, before an audience supportive of the profession, it seems utterly vulnerable to liars.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

The modern scenario of "confessing" is a ritual verbal affirmation of an intellectual concept in the presence of supporters of that same intellectual concept. For example, standing in front of a church and telling them you agree with their doctrines.

The examples of Jesus, and of the saints of the Bible, indicate confession is not always so comfortable.

When you confess that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came in the flesh, in the hearing of wicked hearers who become furious at the very mention of Jesus, or of what Jesus said about their sins, now that is a confession. Verbal confession before friends is too easy. If we ask who lives as if they realize Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, fewer hands go up. And, by the way, the hands which are up are not necessarily the hands with the greatest intellectual concepts.

(Technical note: "Confess" is the KJV translation of the Greek word "homologos". It combines "homo", which means "the same as", (it's in our English prefix to such words as "homogenized" and "homosexual") with "logos", which means "word".)

When John said we can identify Christians by whether they "confess" that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, there is no reason to assume John was thinking only of the words one utters in answer to a ritual question before a supportive audience at but one single time during his lifetime. The Biblical examples of the confessions of martyrs, and the Bible's lessons about the power of words, give us reason to assume John was talking about whether every word we utter during our lifetime "confesses", or proclaims, or at least is consistent with, the life-changing wonderful news that Jesus Christ came in the flesh!

Matthew 12:33 ...the tree is known by his fruit. 34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. 36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

How to get "there" from "here

Yes, christians really are "one"! Already! <> Getting along with fruitcakes <> What we can do / ecumenism <> Criteria for permissible fellowship discussion topics: they must be relevant to how we live <> "Works" can be words

YES, CHRISTIANS REALLY ARE "ONE"! ALREADY!

Nee, page 81: " Our oneness is not based on our appreciation of the truth of our oneness, nor on our coming out from all that would contradict our oneness, but upon the actual fact of our oneness, which is made real in our experience by the indwelling Spirit of Christ."

Page 76: "By what means has Christianity caused these people, with their thousand differences, to become truly one? It is not that, having a grand convention and agreeing to be one, Christians become united. Christian unity is no human product; its origin is purely divine. This mighty mysterious oneness is planted in the hearts of all believers the moment they receive the Lord. It is 'the oneness of the Spirit' (Eph. 4:3).

"...Christians of all ages, with their countless differences, have this one fundamental likeness--the Spirit of God dwells in every one of them.

"....There is no need to be united; we are united by the one Spirit who dwells in us both. Paul besought all believers to endeavor 'to keep the oneness of the Spirit' (Eph. 4:3); he did not exhort us to have the oneness, but merely to keep it. We have it already, for obviously we cannot keep what we do not have. God has never told us to become one with other believers; we already are one. Therefore, we do not need to create oneness; we only need to maintain it.

"We cannot make this oneness, since by the Spirit we are one in Christ, and we cannot break it, because it is an eternal fact in Christ; but we can destroy the effects of it, so that its expression in the Church is lost. Alas! that we have not only failed to preserve this precious oneness, but have actually so destroyed the fruits of it, that there is little outward trace of oneness among the children of God."

GETTING ALONG WITH FRUITCAKES

Nee, page 90: "How the flesh would like just to include those holding the same views, and to exclude all whose views differ from ours. To have constant and close association with people whose interpretation of Scripture does not tally with ours, is hard for the flesh, but good for the spirit. God does not use division to solve the problem; He uses the cross. He would have us submit to the cross, so that through the very difficulties of the situation, the meekness and patience and love of Christ may be deeply wrought into our lives. Under the circumstances, if we do not know the cross, we shall probably argue, lose our temper, and finally go our own way. We may have right views, but God is giving us an opportunity to display a right attitude; we may believe aright, but God is testing us to see if we love aright. It is easy to have a mind well stored with scriptural teaching, and a heart devoid of true love.

"Those who differ from us will be a means in God's hand to test whether we have spiritual experience, or only scriptural knowledge, to test whether the truths we proclaim are a matter of life to us, or mere theory.

"Romans 14 shows us how to deal with those whose views differ from ours. What would we do if in our church there were vegetarians and Sabbatarians? Why, we should consider it almost intolerable if in the same church some of the believers kept the Lord's Day and others the Sabbath, and some ate meat freely, while others were strict vegetarians. That was exactly the situation Paul was facing. Let us note his conclusions. 'Now him who is weak in faith receive, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his considerations' (v. 1). 'Who are you who judge another's household servant? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will be made to stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand' (v. 4) 'Therefore let us judge one another no longer, but rather judge this: not to put a stumbling block or cause of falling before your brother' (v. 13). Oh, for Christian tolerance! Oh, for largeness of heart! Alas! that many of God's children are so zealous for their pet doctrines that they immediately label as heretics, and treat accordingly, all whose interpretation of Scripture differs from theirs. God would have us walk in love toward all who hold views contrary to those views that are dear to us (v. 15).

"This does not mean that all the members of a church can hold whatever views they please, but it does mean that the solution to the problem of doctrinal differences does not lie in forming separate parties according to the different views held, but in walking in love toward those whose outlook differs from ours.

"By patient teaching we may yet be able to help all to 'the oneness of the faith' (Eph. 4:13). As we wait patiently on the Lord, He may grant grace to the others to change their views, or He may grant us grace to see that we are not such good teachers as we thought we were. Nothing so tests the spirituality of a teacher as opposition to his teaching."

WHAT WE CAN DO / ECUMENISM

"Any group of believers less than all the believers in a place is not qualified to be a separate church."

But how can we convene all the believers in our city?! Our cities are already divided up into hundreds of little sects and denominations! We want to come together in fellowship patterned after 1 Corinthians 14, and yet will that not constitute yet one more sect? One more pretend "church"?

And yet, remember that a "church" is nothing more formal than all the Christians in a city. So if we convene a meeting of all the believers in our city, and all but a handful ignore our invitation, is it any less a bona fide Church meeting?

It is our exclusion of others that makes us a sect, not who won't respond to our invitation. It is who we invite that makes us a Church, not who comes.

It is the conditions we place on membership in our Church which make the difference. Do we accept those in whom is the Spirit of Christ, even if we "don't agree with them?" If we cannot do this, we are a sect.

The test of whether we really live by this principle, or only use it to legitimize our latest sect, is how we welcome Christians we "don't agree with", and how we respond to others who convene a City Assembly. (In Greek, "Church" really means "assembly".) Another test is how patiently we interact with those we "don't agree with", to break down fences made of doctrines.

Besides Church meetings, we may also convene committee meetings. Paul and Silas were commissioned "apostles" during a meeting of just the "prophets and teachers" of their church, which proves that the Bible permits small groups, or "committees", within churches, to assemble for special purposes.

May we not convene a "Church Restoration Committee" within a city? We may, so long as we never consider it a self-contained "church", with no agenda for ever reuniting in fellowship with the rest of "them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints" (1 Cor 1:2) in our city!

And so long as we do not reject, as members, those whom God has accepted, through membership criteria which require more than acceptance by God. (For example, not only that one is born again, but also that one has attended membership classes.)

Most such criteria in use today also require less than acceptance by God. (For example, so long as one passes Membership Classes and repeats a formula of words, one may join, even if one's heart is as cold towards Jesus as his vast pile of gold.)

For more about how we can "get there from here", see The Plan, Chapter 17.

Chapter 12 "Managing Bible Discussions"

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