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All one in Christ JesusA passionate appeal for evangelical unityALL ONE IN CHRIST JESUS David Coffey, President of the Baptist World Alliance, has opened his heart in what he describes as a humble call to the evangelical family to take our disunity seriously and to put our house in order. You can feel the pulse of the book in the following extract: ‘What is lacking between the tribes at present is agreement about core evangelical commitments. We need to find ways of articulating what is primary and what is secondary. In which areas may we exercise legitimate plurality? How do we interact graciously with those we differ from doctrinally? There need to be ground rules for articulating our differences graciously. These debates need to take place in a forum which includes all the tribes.’ LayoutThe book comprises five parts:* Part One addresses the meaning behind the verse ‘All one in Christ Jesus’ and considers some current example of evangelical fragmentation and why evangelical unity matters. * Part Two looks at the essentials of unity and explores some key biblical principles on which the church is founded. It explores the differences between primary and secondary truth. * Part Three examines the issues which divide us, with particular emphasis on the authority of Scripture and some ground rules for interpreting the Bible. * Part Four focuses on the local church and considers dangers to avoid in relating to other Christians, with some suggestions on how to disagree without being disagreeable. These principles have the widest application beyond the local fellowship. * Part Five is about mending broken bridges, with illustrations on the healing of broken relationships, the strengthening of Christian community with special reference to accountability and church discipline, and the urgent need for a greater unity in mission and life evangelism in a broken world. These are worthy aims indeed. We know how passionate the Lord Jesus is about the unity of his people, because through the church the manifold wisdom of God is made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 3.10). What is an evangelical?For many years, David Bebbington’s ‘quadrilateral of priorities’ has served as our standard definition of what an evangelical is. Evangelicalism is characterised by: * Conversionism — the belief that lives need to be changed; I like that; it shows how all-embracing is the power of the gospel to change the life by captivating the heart, informing the mind and motivating the will. Whether ‘evangelical’ is still a useful label is a moot point. We all want to be evangelicals these days, it seems. The secular press uses it of anyone who is passionate and displays a ‘missionary’ zeal about their thing; my neighbour thinks it describes Christians who ‘leave their brains at the church door’ and ‘swing dangerously from the chandeliers’. Are evangelicals as divided as David believes they are? Yes, we are divided. I guess two of the questions that arise are these. Is this new? What should we do about it? We’re always tempted to view the past through rose-tinted spectacles. The scantiest knowledge of church history reveals that gospel people have always been divided by doctrine, practice and, most especially, personality. I observe three features of the situation today that may be new. Firstly, there is the breadth of view now encompassed under the title ‘evangelical’ that probably would not have been countenanced in previous generations. Secondly, in a (proper) concern to be contemporary, we seem to be more willing than our forefathers to overturn the heritage of the past. And, thirdly, in our pursuit of satisfying relationships, ‘love’ has become the new ‘truth’. What counts as ‘unity’?Is there a risk of making secondary issues primary ones — and how do you avoid that? The soul of Christianity is a heart-deep devotion to the Lord Jesus that delights in who he is and obeys what he has commissioned us to do — disciple the nations. That means evangelical unity is not simply a shared commitment to some ancient doctrinal standard or to some endangered spiritual heritage; it is a shared commitment in real time to the living, reigning and returning Lord Jesus that expresses itself in everyday gospel faithfulness. Any FIEC General Secretary will warm to David’s turning to E.J. Poole-Connor for support. Poole-Connor was a doughty contender for the evangelical faith who was not afraid to express his conviction that evangelicals should not remain in ‘mixed’ denominations with those who denied evangelical principles. However, one only has to look at the vision he expressed in the formation of FIEC in 1922 to see his passion for unity among evangelical Christians. Few have been as consistently hostile to sectarianism as Poole-Connor. Interestingly, FIEC has sometimes been seen as narrow and restrictive. In fact, it is anything but. We are not narrow doctrinally; we delight in a doctrinal basis that focuses on primary gospel issues about the Trinity and the Bible… about the human race and salvation… about the church and the future. But we allow each other great generosity on secondary issues — like how churches should be run or baptism administered. We are, therefore, not narrow credally; neither are we narrow culturally. FIEC does not represent one brand of Christian expression — we serve churches that are traditional, others that are progressive and everything in between. What binds us together is a commitment to the authority of Jesus’s will expressed in the Bible. The bottom line is that we trust each other to take the Bible seriously and submit to its authority completely. Way forward?David is right to feel a sense of dismay at the levels of suspicion that characterise the modern church. He tackles a thorny issue with disarming clarity and honesty. I guess, for me, it’s not what he says but what he doesn’t say that leaves me feeling uneasy. I notice, for instance, that he avoids engaging with recent debates over penal substitution. I understand why; I suspect this issue represents the modern evangelical’s worst nightmare — trying to address what many of us regard as a serious doctrinal aberration (heresy?), while not repudiating those who are regarded as respected national figures. The Apostle Paul didn’t seem to share our reticence; you can’t help wondering if he had submitted his letter to the Galatians to today’s Christian press whether it would be published! And, as for his public rebuke of Peter — well, that’s so First Century! Courage for confrontationBut let’s dwell on that encounter for a moment. Try to imagine the courage that’s required for Paul (of all people) to publicly stand up to Peter — the main man for most Christians — and charge him with hypocrisy. Whatever possessed him to do it? Love: love for the truth, and love for Peter. This is Paul practising what he preaches — speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ (Ephesians 4.15). In a world that fears confrontation, am I driven by that kind of love for the truth and for my fellow Christian leaders? So, around what sort of initiative can evangelicals unite today? In recent years we’ve seen a blossoming of social action and I welcome that. The gospel always has a social dimension. We’ve witnessed this in the success of initiatives like Hope 08. What concerns me is that the social dimension must always have a gospel heart. The one thing that evangelicals are uniquely gifted and called to do is to proclaim the good news about Jesus. In a world gripped by guilt, we need to tell people how to find forgiveness. No one else can do that. Yes, let’s use every avenue to add value to our communities through acts of mercy and justice. Let’s bring beauty into a brutalised world. But, above all, let’s call on our friends and our neighbours and our colleagues and our families to be reconciled to God. If we can unite around anything, let’s unite around this. Its good to talkWe don’t need grand unity schemes; we do need the will to talk to each other and pray with each other — for the sake of the Lord Jesus and for the sake of the lost. And that will take time, effort and perseverance. Reading All One in Christ Jesus doesn’t give us all the answers, but it does insist that we ask the questions. Temperamentally, we’re either ‘love’ people or we’re ‘truth’ people — we’re either natural ‘uniters’ or natural ‘dividers’. We need the courage to be counter-cultural like the Apostle Paul and to be both — to stand with those who share our gospel convictions and stand apart from those who don’t. And when we’ve sorted that out, we need to find ways to engage with those who don’t with Christ-filled grace and Christ-like compassion. Richard Underwood© Evangelicals Now - January 2010 |