 FELLOWSHIP
A congregation is a voluntary association of Christians who choose to worship and serve God together. New members are added as friends, neighbors and relatives are taught the gospel and choose to commit their lives to Christ.
As a self-governing body, a congregation has the prerogative to accept or reject those who present themselves for membership. The church in Jerusalem was hesitant to accept newly converted Saul of Tarsus into their fellowship until Barnabas vouched for him (Acts 9:26-29). If we have reason to think a candidate for membership is a criminal, a thief, a violent person, we would be within our rights to decline his request for acceptance (I Cor. 6:9-10). Should a person, living a brazenly immoral life come for membership, we have the same discretion (I Cor. 5:9-13). Of course our first duty would be to urge them to repent and set their house in order. But if they refuse we are not obligated to accept them simply because they ask us to do so.
If the person applying for a place among us is known be a factious person who surely would make trouble for our church family, we need not accept him or her. Paul wrote to Titus, "A factious man...reject" (Tit. 3:10). Who then can we fellowship? First he must be faithful child of God (Col. 1:2). We become God's child when we are baptized into Christ (Gal. 3:26-27), for the remission of our sins (Acts 2:38). All who are children of our Father in heaven, are our brothers and sisters. It is only reasonable that those who desire a place among Christians, be committed to living the Christian life (Tit. 2:12).
What of those who many not see eye to eye with us on every subject? If they are content to work and worship with us in peace, without agitating their peculiar views, we welcome them and share our fellowship with them. Our forefathers in the faith had a slogan: "In matters of faith unity; in matters of opinion liberty; in all things love." The truth of this motto will still serve us well today. If we stand united on the fundamentals of the faith, then we should be tolerant of each other on lesser matters.
Over the last hundred years there have been several issues that arose to trouble the unity of the Lord's church. Today, far removed from the personalities and conditions that fired the discussion of those issues, we meet folks who are like us in every essential way. They have obeyed the gospel. They wear the sacred name Christian. They identify their congregations as churches of Christ. They worship just as we do. The things that stand between us might seem foolish to us, but they have been drilled into their consciences as matters of faith. If such a brother or sister desires to worship and serve God with us, we should accept them on the basis that they not agitate their peculiar views among us. It usually doesn't take long for us to discover that those precious truths we hold in common are far greater than any small differences we might have. Our love for Christ, his Church and his Word provide a strong bridge that makes it possible for us to reach across the chasm of our differences and embrace each other as beloved brethren in the Lord.
JHW
|
