To get right to the point, I think Terry's idea for the e-church is a great idea, but I don't think we should refer to it as a church and those leading, as church leaders.
What are the marks of a true church? Some quote Jesus when he says, "where two or three are gathered in my name there I am in their midst" (Matt 18:20). Does that qualify as a local church? Does that mean if I had some of you guys over for dinner and we began to talk about God we would be having church?
I must confess, for most of my life I have had a very weak view of the church. Part of that is because I grew up in the highly individualized culture of sports. I thought Christianity was just me and my Bible. When I could I would go to church, but just to improve my relationship with Jesus, not to enter into community. FCA was great, baseball chapel filled a huge void, but those are not enough. Christianity is meant to take place among a community of believers.
So what are the marks of a true church?
1. The preaching of the Gospel. You don't have a true church where the Gospel is not preached. If I heard Terry correctly, this e-church is not for preaching, but for sharing our testimonies, devotionals, and words of encouragement. Even if preaching was part of it, who would preach? Are they theologically qualified? Are they gifted to preach? Has God called them to preach?
2. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The New Testament word for church is ecclesia which means “called out ones.” How do you identify with this group of called out ones? Through Baptism. Baptism is an outward display of what took place on the inside. That is how you identify with the church. How do you continue to identify with the church after Baptism? The Lord’s Supper. If these two things are absent then it would be hard to indentify what is taking place as church.
There are other characteristics of a true church but these are essential.
I want to reiterate that I think Terry has a great idea, I just think it should be an off shoot of e-fellowship. We can do exactly what he wants to do under the banner of e-fellowship. We are a parachurch ministry, we are not taking the place of our local churches.
Some of you might think I am making a big deal out of nothing, but I really believe it is important.
-Durham
4 comments:
I agree and was recently in a conversation with a guy who has discipled me over the years and when mentioning the idea he said "Great but I wouldn't call it a church", and he stated the two reasons that Tyler mentioned. Let's not lose steam, just get another name and reboot. Terry stay high and continue to push this we need it. Tyler good for being bold to speak what I believe God spoke to you, I dropped the ball.
Durham and Jules, we can call this whatever you want. Trust me, the name is not what I care about. I just kept using the "church" name because of the similarities. We will have a big group of people that hears a message from the same 4 people on the same day each week. That is a similar format to a church. I am by no means trying to start an actual church and I was very specific about the so-called leaders not being theologically qualified to preach. That doesn't mean they can't be leaders of whatever you want to call this. That is why I said the criteria will be Christ centered and Christ centered only. We are not going to be teaching about the Trinity, baptism, or any other topics that are better left to experts to discuss. I think everyone here is qualified to share with a group of people what Jesus is doing in their lives once a month. Anyone can call it whatever they want to call it. My heart was not set on the name of this but simply the thing itself. This however is not the same as e-fellowship because e-fellowship is a small group of Christian men only with similar backgrounds. This "new thing" is a ministry thats purpose is to reach anyone and everyone. It is not just for christians. It is not just for men. It's not just for adults. In fact I would encourage that we make an extra effort to include as many of the youth in our lives that we can. So we can call this thing whatever you guys can think of and the leaders of this thing whatever you can think of and then make this happen.
-TEvans
e-outreach?
Gentlemen, let me first introduce myself. My name is Jackie Farmer. I had the privilige of meeting Ben in the Dominican this past November. He was talking about your fellowship and I asked if I get your devotions for the High School Baseball team I coach. I would copy your emails into a new one, give the author credit, and send it into what grew into over 100 people. When this became a blog I copied from here becuase teens can be a little lazy.
I and a fellow pastor were so inspired we began an email devotion ourselves. Your ministry is reaching an incredible number of people. I just felt God wanted me to let you know. Based upon one conversation in the Dominican here is what I have been praying for:
Adam to be able to witness to Skip and he come to know Christ (that is actually on our church prayer list)
Each of your careers and health
The expansion of this blog
The expansion of your ministry
Keep up the good work, you may never know just how many lives you encourage, I have one athlete, who wants to live for God becuase of this ministry. Be encouraged.
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