More from Mark D. Roberts (regarding church unity and the current controversies in the mainline churches):
So many Christians today, especially of the American evangelical variety, seem to have forgotten Jesus's prayer in John 17. They leave churches for trivial or ill-considered reasons. They split churches as if God didn't care about keeping them together. More shocking still, sometimes they even strive to hurt the churches they have left. These are profound tragedies, not to mention profound sins.
I have often been asked why I've stayed in the PCUSA for so long, given the many crazy and unhelpful things the denomination has done over the years, especially through General Assembly votes. My answer has different components. Partly I've stayed because I believe that God has called me to the PCUSA. Partly I've stayed because I've hoped that I could make a difference for good in the denomination. And partly I've stayed become of a firm belief that since God cares so much about the unity of the church, so should I.
It seems to me that, in light of a biblical theology of salvation, Spirit, church, and Trinity, Christians should strive energetically for church unity. Unity is both a result of what Christ has done on the cross and a testimony to the world of this accomplishment. Thus one should leave a church, or split a church, only in extraordinary circumstances, and only when there are solid biblical reasons for doing so, and only after an extended season of prayerful, scriptural, and communal discernment.
Click on the title to read the entire article.
What is really difficult for me in all of this is that our senior pastor has suggested that those of us of a more traditional bent would be happier in the LCMS. Yet we have been happy here, in a rather conservative ELCA church. Now we have a pastor seemingly committed to making sure we are not a rather conservative ELCA church, but more in line with what you would find in Chicago or New York. Those who don't like it are welcome to leave and many have. Now we are in serious financial trouble. What I want to know is where is the concern for unity in all of this?
---Katie
1 comment:
The concern for community in all churches begins at baptism. God calls us to be his children, forgives our sin, blesses us with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and raises us to new life in Christ. As baptized members of the one true body of Christ, we are called to live in community regardless of our differences.
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