Inside or Outside the Church?

This week I received an email from a woman unknown to me who wrote me, among other things, the following:

“For some time now I have ‘given in’ and believe in the Reconciliation of All and everything that belongs with it. But now I am running into ‘problems’ during the sermons on Sunday morning in church. I attend a … congregation in … but in recent times I have not even once been fully in agreement with the preacher. Also some songs I now find difficult to sing because I cannot stand behind them 100%…”

I receive this kind of email quite regularly. People hear the good news as Paul proclaimed it concerning “the Saviour of all men,” and come to accept it. Wonderful, of course! But almost always a problem then arises. In virtually no Christian community can they bring this news. Evangelical or Reformed, or… it makes little difference. The preaching one hears in church or congregation usually stands in direct opposition to what one has come to understand from Scripture. Talking with the minister, pastor, or others usually yields little understanding and much strife. In short, alienation from “the church” is the result. Some continue to attend their church or congregation as best they can, if only for social reasons. Or to proclaim the good news in the “church square.” Wonderful! But often it is not easy. The rejection that befalls you when you open your mouth to tell the best news of all time can be very discouraging. That is why there are also many who, after one or more negative experiences, choose to become unchurched. And I understand that very well.

Note well, I am a strong proponent that believers seek one another out and meet around the Word. That goes without saying, for believers in Christ Jesus belong together as “one Body.” It is therefore certainly not the intention that we would go our way solitarily. But indeed independently! Nowhere do I read that a believer should live under an ecclesiastical yoke. On the contrary, the truth would make us free! To come “independent of ecclesiastical traditions and authorities” (as stated on the front page of this site), to a better understanding of Scripture and to walk in the light of it. But do not be mistaken: this “independence” can also be quite lonely. That is the downside of the same truth. It means gaining the experience (inside or outside “the church”) of being an outsider. Or perhaps even an outcast (= a castaway).

“And thou — watch in all things; suffer evil; do the work of one proclaiming good news; of thy ministration make full assurance.” (YLT)
2 Timothy 4:5

Delen: