Articles of Religion Revisited Part 5 -- The Church

After an extended break, I will now return to the regularly scheduled posting of my revisiting the Articles of Religion.

Article Number V-- We believe the Christian Church is the community of all true believers under the Lordship of Christ. We believe it is one, holy, apostolic and catholic. It is the redemptive fellowship in which the Word of God is preached by people divinely called, and the sacraments are duly administered according to Christ's own appointment. Under the discipline of the Holy Spirit the Church exists for the maintenance of worship, the edification of believers and the redemption of the world.

I have become fond of thinking about the church as a glorious mystery. At its best there is not other organization or collection of people like it on the face of the planet. At its less than best, it can be just like any other organization that is fully human and obtains a huge capacity to not live to its capacity. Yet, we are left with the church, the "institution" that Jesus initiated through his life, death and resurrection. The quotation marks are necessary because I am not convinced Jesus intended another institution to enter the world. The church can most easily be put as the people of God who are committed to following Jesus, while inviting others to join in the journey. Before getting to that, the first stop is remembering the connection of the church with Jesus. Before worship, discipleship, and evangelism come into focus, first and foremost the church begins with Jesus Christ. As Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus reminds us, Jesus is the Head of the church and all things grow up into him who is the head. The life of Jesus showed the church how to live, the death of Jesus opened the door for the grace-filled reconciliation of the church with God, and the resurrection of Jesus invited the church into new life. If we remove Jesus Christ, and a wholehearted focus on Jesus from the church, then we do not have the church at all it is simply a group of people gathering around an ideology, also known as religion. Not to be lost in this, is the concept of the Lordship of Jesus. Simply put the Lordship of Jesus is remembering that Jesus is over all things, and ultimately we submit ourselves to him.

Once the relationship to Jesus Christ is appropriated, attention can be turned to the actions, or functions of the church. The Article is pretty clear on this, the maintenance of worship, the edification of believers and the redemption of the world. All of this is done through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Worship can happen in many forms, styles, places and times. All of them are important, and all of them need to connect with at time of corporate worship where the church gathers as the body. It is impossible to live a full life of discipleship outside of the community gathering for worship and other functions of the church. Care must be taken to understand the form and presentation of worship will vary from context to context and from time to time. We must not worship the style, only God to whom we direct our worship. Also the work of edification is needed. This is the ongoing work of transforming our lives to be more and more like the life of Jesus. In order to move in this direction, the gathered people learn and grow together through the Scriptures, prayer, serving and simply doing life together. The church is there to oversee, assist and encourage this growth. Finally the church is in existence to spread the message of Jesus Christ to the very ends of the earth. The language of redemption of the world can be off putting because of the baggage centuries has added to it. Perhaps it is more simply put, the church is about extending the invitation to live in the grace and love of Jesus Christ. For others to join the journey that leads to life.

Before closing, it is important to note what is not a part of the church. It is not a political entity. Yes saying that you are not political is a political statement. However, the church is not in existence to further one political ideology or another. In present terms the church is not a Democrat or Republican, it is not defined by policies and right thinking about hot button issues such as guns, immigration, sexuality and poverty. Certainly these, and more, are all a part of our world and our relationship with Jesus should inform our interaction with them. Yet, the primary role of the church is not ideas and policies rather it is the transforming grace of Jesus Christ being lived in community that worships, grows and invites.