Paul McCain at Cyberbrethren has a good, short piece on a faulty distinction being made between working for the Church and working for the Kingdom of God.
My guess is that those who promote the latter see the church today as being in ruins similar to John Nelson Darby in Ireland and Alexander Campbell in the U.S. about 150-175 years ago. Basically, the message was that the institutional church had abandoned its proper place and something needed to be salvaged from the vestiges: allow what was called "church" to self-destruct while true Christians were to come out and continue the work of the Lord. And therein is the faulty thinking.
The church is an organic unit whether or not we like its condition. What is sickly or self-destructive affects the whole and needs to be dealt with. Semper Reformanda is not a uniquely confessional slogan but one that each local church, denomination, etc. needs to realize for itself.
The work of the Kingdom is accomplished by the church. Why do we think it can be trashed for something new?
1 comment:
Thanks for your stimulating comments! You might enjoy visiting Joe Ortiz' blog "Our Daily Bread" (the one dated November 12th) and reading, for example, a piece labeled "Edward Irving is Unnerving." Paige
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