Why Separate the Universal Church?

National Penny Farthing Championships, Evandale, TAS, Alex Archer 2012

A physical grouping of the church ceases to function as such when they deviate from the salvation gospel of Christ, dead and resurrected. I'm really pining for unity within the church and being in Sydney it was hard to envision that, because there are so many church groupings spread all over the place. Here in Launceston however, its not uncommon to have 2 or 3 within a block of one another. I want to see church unity happen, not just talked about. I also need to be fed.

We can never "give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing" (Heb 10:25). I'm not content however, with the view of being a part of a church grouping as the only way to experience church in its fullness. God will use people in different ways, we cannot rob Him of His power to do so. Out of the bounds of "I go to Christ Church of blah" or "I go to such-and-such Anglican", people can very well be sustained given they are still active as a member of the body. By very definiton you cannot be part of God's church in isolation. Church is a people, so to be a part of God's church you're already sorted into a grouping, which is alternative from what the bible would call, people "of the world".

Somewhere we have congregationalised the church. Naturally people are going to form into groups, but there is a difference between "meeting regularly with Christians" and "meeting regularly with the SAME Christians". In this congregationalisation of church we usually think that the latter is more true. In no way it negative to meet with the same people regularly, there are boundless advantages to meeting with the same people, but there are also disadvantages. Mostly the issue is that the bible is non-specific about church being "meeting with the SAME Christians," but instead "meeting together". It's a nice concept to think that one could go from there home town all around the world and experience the same level of fellowship with other Christian brothers and sisters, and as far as I can see the only barrier in the way of this is an individual ability to form relationships.

Some people have debated that if you're not meeting with the same people on a regular basis, then you cannot experience church or relationship to their fullness. I think this is not dealing with the same issue, although related. The problem is it makes the depths of our relationships based upon the circumstances of those relationships, and not solely upon the level of "lovingness" in our relationships.

In the bible we are called to love our neighbour. Who is our neighbour? Everyone! This is the command for ALL our relationships, and although our relationships may work out in different ways, I am not convinced that the DEPTH of our relationships should be any different. You are either loving or you are not. You may show it in different ways under different circumstances, but in all, there are two categories for love. When we have a God who sees and knows all about us, and sees and knows all about everyone around us and yet chooses us even "while we were still sinners... died for us," (Romans 5:8), we have anything to hide anymore? We're freed from the slavery of sin, so why should we still feel shame because of it as if we were still slaves to it? I'm not saying the shame will instantly go away, but I am saying there is no reason for it and it is to our detriment. In fact confessing our sins to each other as well as God, leads to healing! (James 5:16) We have nothing to withold from our brothers and sisters...

There are instructions in the ways certain relationship should look (1 Corinthians 7, Eph 5:22-33, 1 Timothy 5 amongst others) but the command to love remains constant. The depth of our relationships should be based upon, and worked upon in relation to our ability to love, opposed to the context and circumstance.

A saint cannot give up meeting other christians in the name of jesus for the glory of God without excluding himself in very essence from what is THE church. However, we are accustomed to congregationalised church, and just because we live in a society that has a congregationally based culture, doesnt mean God is powerless to produce church in a different fashion in the life of one of His chosen.

I guess, if you are a christian, you are in THE church of Christ and it is essential that you meet with other parts of the body (for encouragement, edification and the glory of God), but the way that one meets with the saints can take on many different forms and still be well within what I think is the biblical refinement of Church.

I hope this seems as worth thinking about to you as it does to me.

Peace and Blessings