I find it difficult to belong. You would think it wouldn’t be that hard. I am a Christian who sees many positive things in many traditions. If feel quite comfortable in many types of church settings. I am however, in my core beliefs, an Evangelical.

The problem is that where I live, Evangelicals are in the minority. In my community of 27,000 there is one Evangelical church. I helped start it. It was a Pentecostal church, and although I am not Pentecostal I figured that having one Evangelical church in town was better than having no Evangelical church, and so I offered my help.

My wife and I served under two Pastors there. We led worship, served on the leadership team, served on the pastoral search committee, taught Sunday School, and organized outreaches and banquets. All the while I was dreading the time when the church would become large enough to receive its “organized” status. For when the church received this status, membership would have to be formalized. We didn’t qualify. Membership required agreement to the statement of faith, and we didn’t believe the Pentecostal teaching on tongues.

Eventually we felt God calling us away from this church community, and we had a very amicable parting of the ways. We ended up at a church in another community, which unfortunately due to competing visions within it’s elder’s board, ending up closing its doors three years later. As we looked at other churches, most had something in their statement of faith, that excluded us. They were either too Calvinist, or too dispensational, or too anti-Charismatic for us to fit.

After a long search we found a church in a third community. We quite love it, and I have some very good things to say about it. Again, we didn’t qualify for membership, this time because my wife’s mode of baptism differed slightly from theirs. Although we do not believe in rebaptism (especially for those who have already been baptized as believers), our desire to belong eventually became stronger that our distaste for rebaptism and my wife was rebaptized. We became members shortly afterwards.

Are there others like me who have difficulty belonging? Conversations with people at places like Internetmonk.com make me think that my experience is hardly unique. So here are some questions I would like us to consider:

1. Does requiring agreement with a statement of faith lead to increased fragmentation within the body of Christ?

2. Or are there essentials that need to be agreed upon no matter what in order for someone to be accepted as a member?

3. If Christ has accepted me as a member of his body, are there ways to make it easier for me to be accepted into a local church body?

4. Could we lessen the requirement of membership in many evangelical churches, so that prospective members do not have to give complete agreement to a statement of faith, but instead will agree to uphold it and not teach contrary to it?

5. Are there similar situations in other faith traditions? If so, are there resolution that have been seen to work?

6. Finally, what could you do in your church to help people in my situation become part of your congregation and membership?

I don’t have a problem with a church having a statement of faith. I feel it is a good tool to say “this is what we are about as a church.” Is it not possible to say that “We welcome those who have slightly differing viewpoints” as long as they agree to uphold and abide by the statement of faith”?

Your thoughts and comments are welcome.

And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 1 Corinthians 11:24

Why is it that participating in a meal together can invoke such strong memories, and not necessarily of the meal itself but of the people involved?  Let me tell you a little story.

Stoplog Lake Waterfall

For me, one of the best meals ever, had to be from one of the times my Dad and I made bread on a stick, cooked over a fire, during winter camping with his Scout troop.   The recipe and process were both simple.  You took Bisquick, mixed it with water, wrapped it around a long stick, and slowly browned it over a low fire.  Not only was it nourishment, but it warmed you up on the inside when the temperature might have been 20 below zero outside your snow shelter.  Of course it wasn’t just about the bread, it was about spending time with my Dad, learning from him, enjoying the outdoors together,  and all the memories associated with that.  And my mind goes so easily from those memories to memories of summer camping, portaging into Stoplog lake, fishing, mixing blueberries with instant pudding, for a quick delightful desert.  Memories like waiting with the canoe in a shallow rock cave at the edge of the lake while a rainstorm goes by.   They bring on other memories, like playing in the natural jacuzzi and waterfall created by the stream that enters the lake.   There are no bad memories of camping with Dad, but they are certainly powerful ones.

It is too bad that we don’t have direct memories of that last meal that Jesus spent with his disciples.    Imagine how sharing a meal with Christ would make our memories of his so much stronger.  I would love it if  I could remember Christ in the same way that I remember the time I spent with my Dad.   But in many ways partaking in the Lord’s table, how ever often you do it, is building memories of your relationship with Jesus Christ and of all he has done for you.  Thinking back on how a meal spent with my Dad now means so much more to me that just the meal itself.  Next time I take communion, I will certainly remember that this is more than just a little ritual, it is meant for us to think long and deep about Christ and all that he went through in order to bring about our salvation.

And yes, Bread on a stick, is certainly an experience I am going to have to share with my kids this winter.   In doing so I will have to tell them the story of how I did it with my Dad, and how Christ did something similar with his disciples, and told them to continue to doing it as a way of remembering him… Just like I do with my Dad.

Thanks to Darrell Pursiful for the post that rekindled these memories.

Here is a question for my readers.  Do you have similar things that have happened to you that invoke powerful memories?  I would like to hear some of your experiences.

Michael Spencer over at jesusshaped.wordpress.com laments about the division within the church. He writes:

Most of what we call churches behave as if they are the true church finally arrived, and the guy three doors down is someone getting it all or mostly wrong. Evangelicals reinvent the faith and the church every time they get bored. In the proliferation of churches in small communities in my part of the world, the differences are primarily stylistic, not substantial.

The comments to the post show that this is a frustration that is shared by many.

I had been meaning to write about this topic for some time, but from the other side of the coin, because as an Eclectic Christian I am interested in ways that believers and churches can work together.

In the heart of the Muslim world lies a very unique church. Here is a recent article about the church from the outside perspective of the Gulf News.

Abu Dhabi: More than 2,500 Christians from 21 different denominations celebrated on Friday the construction of the new facility for worshippers.

“This is a historic day as we celebrate 30 years of the Christian community in Abu Dhabi in this facility,” said Cameron Arensen, pastor of the English-speaking Evangelical Community Church.

The Evangelical Church of Abu Dhabi is home to 21 different churches that hold services back-to-back from Thursday to Saturday. For more than a decade, 21 different churches and denominations have been meeting in the small facility in the Khubairat area. The churches’ new home now has the capacity to accommodate the growing numbers of its congregations.

“The land was granted to us by the rulers of this country, who have been very generous. The old facility was getting way too small for us and this is a very exciting new phase for us as a church,” the pastor said…

Pastor Stuart Briscoe from the UK delivered a message on unity and worship to the congregation…

“The significance of all these different churches meeting in one facility is to give a visible demonstration of our unity as a Christian community despite the many nationalities and cultures,” Arensen added.

“It has been amazing to see new nationalities from around the world coming here every week… The government has been extremely good to allow different faiths to live and work together,” [John] Kochummen [a member of the church] said.

Of these 21 congregations, only a couple are solely English Speaking. (The article is a little misleading when it talks about 21 denominations. The division is primarily along linguistic and cultural lines.) In the Evangelical Community Church, the largest of the congregations in the Evangelical Center, about 700 Evangelical Christians from over 40 different countries and denominational backgrounds gather together to worship, pray and learn from God’s word.

I asked Peter Heath, one of the worship leaders at ECC, to join this post to describe a little more what that looks like, and to explain how they cope with theological differences and practices:

Hey Mike, thanks for the vine. Somebody once said that necessity is the mother of invention. Indeed, the good things that we see in the church community of Abu Dhabi are a result of the circumstances of life here. This is a Muslim country – the weekend is Friday/Saturday, and Sunday morning is just another workday. That in itself changes church life. Further, it is impossible for every congregation to have its own facility. Expats are not allowed to purchase land in Abu Dhabi; besides, most congregations don’t generate enough revenue to manage their own building. Fortunately, the government of Abu Dhabi has given land for four church facilities, of which the Evangelical Center is but one. From these facts of life come some really interesting and mostly wonderful dynamics.

Eclectic co-operation comes in a couple of flavours. My church, the Evangelical Community Church, is a collection of over 40 different nationalities. Everyone can speak English, but most have a different mother tongue. Church members tend to hang out with their own culture, and that can be a good thing. The South Africans have their own Bible study during the week, conducted in Afrikaans. The Filipinos are constantly on the lookout for new “Pinoys” to bring into the congregation. But it is not all little national cliques. The board is deliberately very diverse. My own worship team is a mix of four different nationalities. And every Christmas we have an International Carol Service where we can celebrate the birth of Christ in as many ways and languages as there are in the church. We learn from each other in Adventures in Fellowship. And our children learn that the Church really is worldwide.

Regarding church sacraments, ECC takes a “less-is-more” approach. Communion is usually prefaced by a comment from the Pastor that this is for anyone who has made a commitment to Christ. No membership implications or anything like that. We use flat bread cut into little pieces and little cups of grace juice – very similar to my church in Canada. Baptism is also done very simply. Actually, this is a necessity, since we often have over 20 people baptized at any one time. And the only interesting thing is that both the Senior Pastor and the Associate Pastor are involved. The Senior Pastor stands outside the tank and asks the candidate if he/she believes if Jesus is the Son of God, if he/she is going to live for Him, etc etc. After an affirmation of these things, the Associate Pastor dunks the candidate. (This provides better visibility, and ensures that no microphones drop into the water and electrocute the pastor!) These approaches to the sacraments follow the leadership’s position on many things, including the church’s Statement of Faith. The Statement is pretty short, and covers core beliefs only. Everyone believes the statement … plus some other things. The “other things” vary from person to person, but there is a large area of common ground. While this may make ECC a little on the vanilla side (especially for liturgical or charismatic folks), it provides basis for a wide swath of ministry in a city with over 100 nationalities living and working. And quite frankly, vanilla is the best base flavour for making a good ice cream sundae

The other side of eclectic co-operation can be on Fridays. Worship services begin at 8:30 AM and go all day long. Most of the time, there are two or even three services running concurrently. (Thank God for concrete!) At the end of ECC’s second service, my band packs up its guitars, etc. while the Filipino band starts setting up their equipment. We have learned to work around each other cheerfully. As I leave the building, other musicians are taking their gear to the basement or upper chapels. After the Filipino service there are Indian services, Ethiopian services, etc etc etc. The Center itself was designed to accommodate multiple congregations and multiple services. There is a large outdoor courtyard where people can chat after services. We all love eating breakfast there after the Easter Sunday Sunrise Service. And the facility itself is designed with a multitude of big, medium and small rooms, as opposed to one really big room and only a few smaller ones. This means that ECC started in the new facility with two services and will likely expand to three services in the near future. This is all because the leadership of ECC (the biggest and richest congregation) looks for the good of all congregations rather than just its own good. Really, that summarizes the attitude of church leaders here – the common good of all. Lots of variety, but a common Saviour, a common confession, and a common Spirit.

Is this perhaps more of what we should be striving towards in North America?

All Christians are united with Christ by the sovereign, gracious work of God himself. All the benefits of salvation come to us because of union with Christ. So how does union with Christ relate to your understanding of the sacrament of
the Lord’s Supper?

Growing up that I had been taught that one of the differences between Roman Catholics and Protestants was whether Christ was physically present in the bread and the wine, or whether he was just spiritually present. I also knew that there were a variety of opinions on the topic. As I discovered in reading the comments to Michael Spencer’s post, these opinions were quite varied, and held quite fervently. So fervently in fact that I found two things happening.

1. People were less than charitable in describing each others positions.
2. A number of people would not take communion with you unless you shared their opinion.

In response to the comments I was reading, (and I would encourage you to read the thread), I made the following comment:

I realize that this is an important topic to many by the impassioned comments on this blog, but the comments are really over the top. I am tired of people who proclaim that my (take your pick) denomination/mode of baptism/communion/union with Christ/experience of the holy spirit/version of the bible/understanding of the scriptures/understanding of truth – is better than yours.

If you want to know why young people today are being turned off of organized religion, denominationalism and the church, then just reread some of the comments posted above. As for me, I cherish my union with Christ, which has been deepened through many different experiences. My table and fellowship is open to all those who have also expressed a union with Christ, no matter what their background.

I know that there is such divergent Christian thought about so many topics that I can’t possibly get it all right. But I can try to earnestly follow Christ with all my “heart, soul, mind, and strength.”

When we get to Heaven someone may point at me and say to Christ, “He believed incorrectly about topic X”. Christ will say something like, “I died for him, and he has chosen to follow me as best as he knows how. He belongs to me. Why did you exclude him from my table/my church’s membership? He is welcome at my table and in my church.”

Bror Erickson responded:

Quite frankly I haven’t heard anyone here say you or anyone else won’t be in heaven, where all sins will be forgiven even sins of the mind.But that doesn’t mean false doctrine should be tolerated, or doctrinal divisions should be glossed over here in the church militant. God has given us his word. If we love him with all our heart and with all our mind we will take that quite seriously. And those that are teaching things contrary to the word of God should be told as much, warned, marked, rebuked and avoided, it really is the only charitable thing to do. It is infact what the New Testament tells us to do in many places. It may not be nice by worldly standards, it may not be politically correct, it may even come off as unloving. But we don’t get to choose what parts of the Bible to believe, and what parts to ignore.If I was to take what you said to heart, I would have no choice but set aside my ordination, forsake all my Lutheran distinctives, and swim either the Tiber or the Bosphurous. If doctrine doesn’t matter, than none of us had any reason to break with Rome, or Constantinople for that matter. Nor do we have any reason to split from a creedal Church chanting the mantra “only the Bible.”I’d much rather be open about our differences and discuss them candidly. No one is served by anything less.

Feeling as if I was being understood, I made the following comment back to Bror:

I think you have misunderstood my post on a number of fronts.

I agree with you that false doctrine should not be tolerated and doctrinal division should not be glossed over. I agree that “those that are teaching things contrary to the word of God should be told as much, warned, marked, rebuked and avoided…”

My point is that I am a member of Christ’s church. I believe, like the creeds, in the “holy catholic (universal) church.”

When we disagree on secondary doctrinal matters, I say, let us agree to disagree, but as long as we both hold to a classic Christian faith as expressed in the creeds, you are welcome at my church and at my communion table. Because it is not my church, and not my Communion table, but Christ’s, and if he has accepted you into his family, then I call you brother and accept you into mine.

It saddens me that I would not be welcomed into your church and allowed to participate in your communion in the same way I would welcome you into mine.

You state that you would “rather be open about our differences and discuss them candidly. No one is served by anything less.” I am totally in agreement with that, as long as it is done with a spirit of gentleness and generosity. I have felt like that gentleness and generosity has been sadly lacking in many of the posts above.

Bror respoded:

Thats just it. I think if you agreed with me, then you wouldn’t see Lord’s Supper as a secondary issue. It’s not, not for Lutherans. It is the “New Testament” Christ’s Last will and Testament, in his blood. How serious does it have to be before it is not a secondary doctrine? Your messing with God’s Testament here. For us Lutherans it is quite simply the gospel itself we are consuming. As I have said before it is at the heart of everything we believe, teach and confess. What you confess about the Lord’s Supper colors everything you confess about Christ and who he is.

And for this reason I would not want to join you in what I can only see as a profanation of the Lord’s Supper. And for that reason I would ask that you wait until you are thoroughly instructed as to what us Lutheran’s believe teach and confess, before you make a common confession of faith with us at the Lord’s Table, so that you understand what it is you are receiving and why.It may be a secondary issue for you. But understand for us it isn’t, we ask that you respect that.

So that was the start of our discussion. What do you think? I will be adding some further thoughts a little later.