BLOG. 9/3/14. COLONIES OF GOD’S NEW HUMANITY: THE BATTLE FOR INTEGRITY.
I had an interesting response to my last Blog (about these Colonies of God’s New Humanity being only possible by the Holy Spirit) from a friend, whose unfulfilled desire was to find such a colony/church and pastor. Yes, wouldn’t we all? But the creation of such colonies and maintaining them with integrity is no walk in the park. It’s not all that easy. Even when a community begins well, and has every intention of maintaining that integrity, as soon as it becomes fruitful, and known, it seems to attract along-for-the-ride folk, … or dissidents from other communities, or sightseer members, who want the blessings but have no intentions toward the costly discipleship which Jesus called for.
New church plants have the best shot at incarnating such colonies, such communities of God’s new humanity in Christ, but give them a couple of fruitful years, and subtle pathologies begin to set in, usually they come with ‘success’ and good reputation. There are always those who come making their (sometimes not so subtle) demands upon the congregation—demands for orthodoxy, demands for evangelistic fervor, demands for liturgical practices, etc.—and seeking to be the influence makers (sometimes of a pathological sort), rather than those who come as servants, and with the grace of gentleness, Christian maturity, and true humility.
When I was part of the leadership team of a Presbyterian Church that was to become quite vibrant and fruitful, our team realized this problem by making this following paragraph a part of its required Covenant of Membership:
“I come accepting the responsibility of being a part of this congregation as God’s gift to me and the community of people where He is at work redemptively. I do not come making demands of it, but rather giving myself to its unity, its peace, and its purity. I covenant with God and this congregation to encourage, to love, to bear the infirmities of, to pray for, to minister to, to be reconciled with, to forgive, and to be forgiven by my Christian brothers and sisters here in accordance with scriptures that the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace be maintained among us. ‘Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ’ (Eph. 5:20).”
That covenant has been in place now for over a half-century, and the church remains strong and fruitful, but the battle for its integrity has continually emerged. The subtle temptations, to subversion away from Kingdom integrity, always lurk in the shadows.
I currently participate in an unusually fruitful church, whose pastors and elders are good friends, and we discuss this this problem, and they struggle with it. But the church is on a roll, and there are those whom I described above who have become part of such a church, but with expectations and subtle demands that indicate that costly discipleship to Jesus may not be at the top of their priority list.
The problem is not new. Read, for instance, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together in which he spells out some these challenges even for that faithful witnessing church in Nazi Germany. I highly recommend that book, even if its context is light-years away from our own.
