I'm keen to relay our experience of brothers and sisters
choosing to leave us. It's an area that many don't publicly comment
on because anything that doesn't work out is deemed as failure. Who wants to admit something has failed? Er... we do actually!
The reason people are so guarded or often deceptive about
church splits is because they have invested their own identity in the forming
and momentum of their gatherings. We
have purposely avoided the idea that any of us have purposed a gathering. We have simply offered a space and a bunch of
songs with simple chords. We feel it is
the Lord's will to have people meet together in a format that allows the Lord
to have as exclusive lead as possible.
Within this my role is to lead in the sense of keeping the group within
Biblical parameters and protecting what we feel the Lord has sent us to
do. Because we feel we have been led to
champion the cause for first century ekklesia, small groups meeting around a
meal with open and equal sharing, we are candidates for all sorts of responses.
The idea is over time the group appoints
Elders. This doesn't happen
overnight.
In Christ
It is my observation that those who can gain much following
in these times are the ones who are about accommodating the 'whatever' of
people's opinions and views. Our
position has been to usher people into not just Biblical practice but also
pursue Biblical Doctrine. To be
perfectly clear, we are not about 'doctrinal snap!' People come to us hopefully with the core
Christian beliefs in place. The non
central themes like eschatology or some of the chestnuts of the faith that
don't affect our daily walk are all for healthy discussion. Sadly this is a departing point for
many. We have always set out our terms
of fellowship on 'being in Christ together.'
All the rest of our position on XYZ is academic compared with the
astonishing awe of being in Christ together.
Tragically this fundamental truth of why we should meet is lost in the
rush to be right for being right's sake.
Not about self
We believe there are people who want to join us in the
pursuit of authentic Biblical practice by readdressing the way the first
century ekklesia met and how subsequent historical leaders departed from the
Apostolic pattern set by Jesus at the Last Supper and practiced by the Apostles. In our offer of a biblical model that
endeavours to flee the historical church patterns and positions we have and
will attract people from many backgrounds.
People are welcome to pursue the non-agenda approach, the unbranded and
un heralded gathering. That some will
choose to not flow with this is inevitable well intentioned people will choose
not to. We have been called to an
expression of ekklesia, a pursuit of a life in kind that offers little of
self. We offer no platforms,
grandstands, eschatological catwalks or self-branding masquerading as spiritual
gifts. We do offer the pursuit of
authenticity, a stand against all the powers of the air and an ongoing
commitment to walk in obedience to the instructions of the Lord as revealed in
the original rendering of the Scriptures.
The comings and
goings
So dear brothers and sisters left us. The reasons had form. The overarching principle however was that
flawed humans didn't see past self to the glorious phenomena of
'in-Christness.' This kind of thing is
lamentable but is not failure. For it to
be failure to me means the growth of this church is my success.
If this is the case, my pride needs to be
torn limb from limb and nailed to a tree as I have stepped into a position of
head of a church and claimed the work of the Lord's to be my own.
That I should set myself up for attention,
applause and adoration because of any Graces afforded me is to my utter shame. Thus I don't see a church split as failure
because none of what occurs here impacts on me personally. I cannot succeed and I cannot fail. I simply issue forth that which the Lord
wills on earth. How pure is this? How Gary-less is this issuing forth? Should the fruit of Jesus' issuing forth
result in growth and Acts-like success?
This is my prayer but for now we are endeavouring for the authentic
first century church and rendering ourselves on the daily death list for the
Holy Spirit's work.
The outcome of a small group approach can only do what Jesus' life on earth did...
filter those who can bear such a message outworked on earth. Rejection, rebellion, salvation, healing,
murder, attack... the list continues. What
is never did was create a status quo, a plateau, a consensus. Splits show there is at least an
offense. We feel it was caused by the
gospel outworked.
God has his purposes.
Note the full stop.
Gary Ward
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