Hey all!
The Sunday before last (June 7), my wife and I visited two megachurches as part of the Eucharist Project. One was part of our own denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, so it technically didn't meet the requirements of our project, but I wanted to get a taste for some of the diversity of operation found in our convention. This was the famous Saddleback Church, headed by Rick Warren, who is a major national Evangelical leader at the moment (and who gave the invocation at President Obama's inauguration).
The other is what is known as the Crystal Cathedral, headed by the Rev. Dr. Robert H. Schuller for over 50 years. The church is part of the Reformed Church in America. We chose this church, partly because we hadn't shared communion with any Reformed churches yet, but also because the leadership had close connections to Fuller Seminary, where I currently attend, namely in that Robert A. Schuller (H.'s son) and Robert V. Schuller (H.'s grandson) both got their MDiv's at Fuller. Finally, Robert H. Schuller is originally an Iowa native (just like my wife and me).
So, we were able to attend their worship services (the Cathedral in the morning and Saddleback in the afternoon), and celebrate the Eucharist with each. I also had the priveledge of having an extended conversation with an Elder at the Cathedral and a Greeter at Saddleback, and had a pretty good tour of both campuses. What follows are the observations my wife and I made concerning each church.
The Crystal Cathedral
We attended the morning service at the Cathedral, and spent much of the early afternoon touring the grounds, which were absolutely beautiful! They've got a very artfully designed cemetary, a fully operational k-12 school, a tower for offices, the old Church building, built in the 60's (which is now the home of Robert V. Schuller's church, The Gathering), the Cathedral itself (which, with the Bell Tower/Chapel are truly monumental in their architecture) and a series of gardens, fountains and statues depicting biblical scenes. Inside the Cathedral, there are a row of fountains (which flow higher at pre-designated times during worship, mainly in conjunction with the organ and the opening sky light) and another statue as one enters the place of worship (which I'll get to in a moment). They've even got a little museum detailing the history of the church and are currently building a library.
Besides the exemplary art to be found in the architecture, sculpture, gardens, fountains, cemetary and paintings (they have a small gallery for those, too), the worship was a well-crafted artistic experience. It consisted of a rock-style worship team for contemporary songs, a full choir, a magnificent organ (maybe the largest I've ever seen), an acapella group and even a string ensemble. These were all professional in their quality and allowed for a varied, high class worship experience.
As Marcia and I sat there in awe of all this, things really began to fall through as soon as the teaching began. You see, Robert Schuller espouses what is called the "Positivity Gospel". It's not quite the "Prosperity Gospel", but it basically believes you can be restored and whole by "believing in yourself" and having a positive psychological disposition. The elder I spoke with after the service explained it this way: he said that when a cancer patient comes to church, they don't want to hear about how crappy they are; they're in need of uplifting, and this church provides that.
The problem is that this is really only part of the Gospel. Our salvation is mutlifaceted, and when we say to God, "I believe that your Son died for my redemption, please forgive and restore me," we recognize a number of things:
(1) Christ alone conquers sin, death, corruption and sickness. The brokeness in our lives cannot be fixed simply by our own "positive thinking", we rely totally and utterly on Christ to pick up the pieces and put us back together, restoring us in the process.
(2) Christ alone justifies us in the eyes of God. We don't just need to be made to feel better. That cancer patient does need encouragement in the face of their illness, but they must also know that they are a sinner (just like the rest of us) and that the consequence of sin is death (but that the sole remedy is the grace of Christ's forgiveness, found when we put our faith in Him). Even if we could heal their cancer, if we left them to rot in their sin, we (the Church) wouldn't be doing our job.
(3) We are called to take up our crosses the moment we become disciples. This means facing persecution, suffering and even death, fearlessly as we hold fast to our God. The problem with "positivity thinking" theology is that it doesn't prepare the disciple to willingly chose their own suffering so that others may be saved. It's a very "me" oriented society. It places the individual above the community, the self above others and self-fulfillment/happiness above obedience to God (all things Jesus preached against).
Sure, it's excellent to have confidence. And Christ can restore the confidence lost through a life of sin and broken relationships - but that is only a piece of the whole puzzle, to put all our weight on that little piece is foolish at best, heterodox at worst. Before we move on to the other observations, I noticed the main argument for the "rightness" of their teaching was to say, "look at this great building we've got, could we do this if God wasn't in our ministry?" i dunno, God blesses lots of people for lots of things, but having a great building and campus (no matter how spectacular) is still no substitute for the truth of the Gospel.
Finally, we noticed that the whole leadership and the church seem to be based around two things: the personal vision of Robert H. Schuller, and the collection of tithes, donations and offerings (i.e. moola). The sermon that morning was delivered by Sheila Schuller Coleman, (who is head of family ministries and the administrative head of church leadership and is the daughter of Robert H. Schuller), who's point was basically, "in my new post as leader of the leaders, i will make sure this church's leadership gets in line behind dad's vision." I think this was in reference to the recent schism between Robert H. Schuller and Robert A. Schuller (who is starting his own church and teleministry). I couldn't get a lot of details on the split, but from what I gathered it was due to a "lack of shared vision", and that A. wanted more focus on biblical exegesis, while H. generally relied on psychological principles. It really seems that the whole Church revolves around H., and now that his groomed heir is no longer heading the ministry (he took over as head pastor briefly in 2006), I wonder what the church will do when H. dies (he is gettin' mighty old).
Then there's the whole money thing. Literally every other sidewalk slab outside had a donor's name on it. The visitors' building (and bookshop/starbuck's) had a donor's wall three stories high (literally). The back of the sanctuary had a statue of the widow giving her last mite, as a reminder that we need to empty our pockets, and the offering plates were transparent (an odd detail, as most churches allow a little more privacy with solid metal or closed bag offertories). Finally each statue and piece of art was dedicated to the memory of somebody or another. Not only that, but you had to pay $5 for a little brocure that told the history of the church (and listed more donors). Even the starbucks alone would have bothered me (I don't like it when churches sell food, it separates the rich who get to stay and have lunch from the poor who have to go home to cook because they can't afford expensive churchy food).
The whole thing smacked a little of a big scam, but we still shared the Eucharist anyway. As misguided as the whole operation might be, the believers i talked to were genuine, so i felt they were truly my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Saddleback
After that experience, Saddleback was a breath of fresh air. Built on the whole "seeker" model of the church, which advocates those curious to get involved and slowly develop and grow their faith through small groups, the church is one of the largest in the US. They had multiple worship centers for different styles (contemporary, traditional, gospel choir, rock etc.) and the message was preached from the main building and pumped through a live feed to the others. The also had a recently build area called The Refinery, which is a completely green building (I liked that), though they still sold their food. They also had a skate park, play ground, and areas for families.
While outside I talked with one of the greeters for a while about the Church, and thought it was interesting that she used to be Catholic (as apparently a lot of the congregants had been). I can see why they'd be drawn to Saddleback, though I generally don't like church-hopping and I think people should try to change their communities from the inside, once they've decided to become disciples of Christ.
For the afternoon service, there wasn't actually a live speaker, it was a recorded video from the morning that was played on the big screens in the front of the main worship hall. I didn't mind that too much (the worship was live), though i thought it was funny when the guy told a little joke once in a while and everybody in the audience laughed. I mean, come on, you don't have to humor the guy. He's not even really there! but all in all the message was good (and solidly biblical). Afterward I prayed with one of the pastors for unity in the Body of Christ, and the whole church shared the Eucharist together.
Closing Thoughts
All in all it was a very interesting experience, and the differences I saw definately gave me quite a bit to reflect on. I don't think I would ever attend the Crystal Cathedral regularly (I really don't see myself even visiting again), though I think I could definately attend Saddleback. Anyway, we'll see what other observations our next trip out with the Eucharist Project brings. Next time, I kinda wanna visit a Moravian Church (the oldest Protestant denomination) and an Armenian Apostolic Church. I'll let ya'll know how things go!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Holy Moly! Three Years Without a New Post!!!
Man, I really dropped the ball on keepin' up with this blog, didn't I? Here's the update: I'm not at UNI anymore (I'm at Fuller Theological Seminary, studying my MDiv), so you can pretty well assume the ecumenical work at UNI is in other hands by now.
The vision of an inter-organization council for student ministries hasn't materialized (as far as I know), but before I left we were able to plan a week (and later a month) of uninterrupted prayer, held in the Lutheran Student Union. We had people from the Navigators, Intervarsity, the Wesleyan Foundation, Campus Crusade for Christ, the Lampost, Revolution, St. Steven's and IMPACT. As far as I remember, nobody from College Hill Lutheran, the Presbyterian org, the Assembly of God, the River, the Orthodox churches or the Episcopalians were involved.
Each time of prayer was characterized by a room set aside, especially for the purpose (during the second, month-long session a larger room was used). The room included prayer & liturgy books from the different Christian traditions represented, aids to contemplation (clay for modeling, a wall and supplies for art, notebooks for requests, revelation, poetry, candles, incense, instruments, cd's of every genre & even salt to remind the Christians of their duty as salt in this world). During the month-long prayer, the Lutheran Student Union even provided a large prayer labyrinth.
During each time of prayer, we had a sign up sheet available for all the organizations, so that volunteers could pledge individual hours to spend in the room praying. When someone didn't arrive for their shift, volunteers were encouraged to stay an extra hour if they could or to call a list of people who had said they could fill in for others.
The first session (one week long) was entirely filled up, and there was at least one person (sometimes more) praying in that room every second of every day, with a worship service at the beginning and end of the week where all who participated, worshipped together. The second session had a few gaps, but had even more volunteers and also included weekly large worship sessions.
During the planning stages, we also had weekly prayer and planning meetings with the leadership of the groups represented, with Greg Dolmage (at the time a student volunteer with the UNI Navigators) taking the primary leadership role. As leaders, we discussed many other great ecumenical ideas and we individually read Red Moon Rising by Pete Greig, one of the founders of the whole 24-7 prayer movement.
I think it was definately a great time of communal prayer for the Christians on UNI's campus and I really hope that they're still seeing the fruit of the project today. I think I'll ask some friends still involved with the ministry there to give me an update.
The vision of an inter-organization council for student ministries hasn't materialized (as far as I know), but before I left we were able to plan a week (and later a month) of uninterrupted prayer, held in the Lutheran Student Union. We had people from the Navigators, Intervarsity, the Wesleyan Foundation, Campus Crusade for Christ, the Lampost, Revolution, St. Steven's and IMPACT. As far as I remember, nobody from College Hill Lutheran, the Presbyterian org, the Assembly of God, the River, the Orthodox churches or the Episcopalians were involved.
Each time of prayer was characterized by a room set aside, especially for the purpose (during the second, month-long session a larger room was used). The room included prayer & liturgy books from the different Christian traditions represented, aids to contemplation (clay for modeling, a wall and supplies for art, notebooks for requests, revelation, poetry, candles, incense, instruments, cd's of every genre & even salt to remind the Christians of their duty as salt in this world). During the month-long prayer, the Lutheran Student Union even provided a large prayer labyrinth.
During each time of prayer, we had a sign up sheet available for all the organizations, so that volunteers could pledge individual hours to spend in the room praying. When someone didn't arrive for their shift, volunteers were encouraged to stay an extra hour if they could or to call a list of people who had said they could fill in for others.
The first session (one week long) was entirely filled up, and there was at least one person (sometimes more) praying in that room every second of every day, with a worship service at the beginning and end of the week where all who participated, worshipped together. The second session had a few gaps, but had even more volunteers and also included weekly large worship sessions.
During the planning stages, we also had weekly prayer and planning meetings with the leadership of the groups represented, with Greg Dolmage (at the time a student volunteer with the UNI Navigators) taking the primary leadership role. As leaders, we discussed many other great ecumenical ideas and we individually read Red Moon Rising by Pete Greig, one of the founders of the whole 24-7 prayer movement.
I think it was definately a great time of communal prayer for the Christians on UNI's campus and I really hope that they're still seeing the fruit of the project today. I think I'll ask some friends still involved with the ministry there to give me an update.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Challenges and Developments
Yesterday was great. around noon i ran into wei-erh (NAV student pres) as i was typing up a proposal, and arranged a meeting with him at 3pm, then ran into Scott Gaskill who's on staff with the Navs and we talked about the project for a while. he brought up some really good concerns about Shannon's (the staff head at UNI) accountability to God and those who volunteer time and money to provide discipleship, but we were able to make the case that through networking these campus ministries and providing a think tank and an avenue for better cooperation, coordination, and prayer we could be more efficient in targeting those we should be discipling (and we could help the other groups be more efficient in bible study, outreach, or service, whatever their target area is).
he said that he liked the idea, although he figured that Shannon would probably need to participate directly and this would be another meeting for an already stretched leadership. because of these concerns i think we'll try to avoid the terminology of "representatives" and go more for "messengers" who are able to brainstorm in the spirit of their organizations but who don't really have authority with them (the member organizations themselves would still be making the decisions). in any case, it's up to each organization to decide who will go to the meetings, as long as there is one from each.
then at 4pm i met with shannon, and tim the staff leader for intervarsity just happened to walk by, so i ran it by him also. shannon expressed a lot of the same concerns as scott, but was a lot more positive about it. tim also seemed pretty enthusiastic about this idea too. shannon recommended looking up a guy who travels around and specializes in this exact thing, which i think i'll do, and he also suggested looking at the BASIC framework and seeing what i can learn from in that. in any case, even if this thing falls through, at least shannon and tim got to meet each other for the first time.
i also learned today that there usually is a monthly or so meeting of area pasters and heads of ministry, but the role of that meeting isn't defined, there really isn't prayer involved, and those involved come from a very wide range of beliefs (even Universalists) so using that group structure for something like this would be impossible.
he said that he liked the idea, although he figured that Shannon would probably need to participate directly and this would be another meeting for an already stretched leadership. because of these concerns i think we'll try to avoid the terminology of "representatives" and go more for "messengers" who are able to brainstorm in the spirit of their organizations but who don't really have authority with them (the member organizations themselves would still be making the decisions). in any case, it's up to each organization to decide who will go to the meetings, as long as there is one from each.
then at 4pm i met with shannon, and tim the staff leader for intervarsity just happened to walk by, so i ran it by him also. shannon expressed a lot of the same concerns as scott, but was a lot more positive about it. tim also seemed pretty enthusiastic about this idea too. shannon recommended looking up a guy who travels around and specializes in this exact thing, which i think i'll do, and he also suggested looking at the BASIC framework and seeing what i can learn from in that. in any case, even if this thing falls through, at least shannon and tim got to meet each other for the first time.
i also learned today that there usually is a monthly or so meeting of area pasters and heads of ministry, but the role of that meeting isn't defined, there really isn't prayer involved, and those involved come from a very wide range of beliefs (even Universalists) so using that group structure for something like this would be impossible.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Fleshing out the idea
The project took a very concrete step forward today. Last night i talked with wei-erh on the phone (he's the president of the UNI Nav's) and he gave his blessing to continue bringing a project of campus Christian unity forward and to flesh out and write down some of the ideas we had talked about.
he also gave a lot of good concerns as far as theology, leadership, and jurisdiction go and i've been writing down what i feel is the best way to organize a committee to oversee inter-ministry events and projects.
of course, it can't be my best way, it needs to be God's way and so we've been praying about this the whole way through. i just hope the direction we're taking is the one God wants us to take. even if we crash and burn, that'll just show it wasn't God's will yet and i'll have tried, and probably be humbler if not anything else.
as of right now, this project has defined limits, rules of process, and the definition and role of member organizations. i'm still working on what theology should define which organizations participate. and i think so far a general agreement on the Nicene Creed of 381 is a good beginning point. it's hard to separate essential from non-essential doctrine, and even harder to convince whole organizations of this.
i still need to meet with Shannon, the UNI Navs staff leader, and i want to meet with Scott, who's the UNI staff member on the committee that runs BASIC, an already existing inter-organization weekly worship ministry (and the largest gathering of Christians weekly on campus). we might even be able to run this whole thing through the BASIC framework and connections, but just in case God doesn't want to be limited by that, i think we need to move in that direction slowly (if at all).
later, once the rough draft is approved by wei-erh, i'll post it up so you can see what we've decided on structurally.
he also gave a lot of good concerns as far as theology, leadership, and jurisdiction go and i've been writing down what i feel is the best way to organize a committee to oversee inter-ministry events and projects.
of course, it can't be my best way, it needs to be God's way and so we've been praying about this the whole way through. i just hope the direction we're taking is the one God wants us to take. even if we crash and burn, that'll just show it wasn't God's will yet and i'll have tried, and probably be humbler if not anything else.
as of right now, this project has defined limits, rules of process, and the definition and role of member organizations. i'm still working on what theology should define which organizations participate. and i think so far a general agreement on the Nicene Creed of 381 is a good beginning point. it's hard to separate essential from non-essential doctrine, and even harder to convince whole organizations of this.
i still need to meet with Shannon, the UNI Navs staff leader, and i want to meet with Scott, who's the UNI staff member on the committee that runs BASIC, an already existing inter-organization weekly worship ministry (and the largest gathering of Christians weekly on campus). we might even be able to run this whole thing through the BASIC framework and connections, but just in case God doesn't want to be limited by that, i think we need to move in that direction slowly (if at all).
later, once the rough draft is approved by wei-erh, i'll post it up so you can see what we've decided on structurally.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Update on Campus Ministries
Today i was able to put together a list of all the campus ministries, their contact info, and size (in membership). If we have time, tyler and i will visit each one to establish a little contact and let them know what we're about. after that, we hope to organize a committee with one or two representatives from each organization that will work together to plan events, coordinate ministries and outreach, service projects, and coordinate funds (that go to the intergroup events). that might not get off the ground until the fall, but we're going to pitch the idea to each organization as we go along.
To see the updated list as to which ministries we've visited, go here, it should be at the bottom of the page.
anyway, here's the list of all the ministries at UNI (that we know of so far):
Campus Crusade for Christ (60 members)
Catholic Student Association (350 members)
College Hill Lutheran Student Fellowship (30 members)
Intervarsity Christian Fellowship (30 members)
IMPACT
Lampost Student Organization
Lutheran Student Center (50 members)
Nazareth Lutheran Campus Ministry
Presbyterian Campus Connections
Revolution Ministries
The Navigators (200 members)
The River
UNI Campus Episcopalians (15 members)
Wesley Foundation
Total # Organizations: 15
Total members: 735 (approx.)
To see the updated list as to which ministries we've visited, go here, it should be at the bottom of the page.
anyway, here's the list of all the ministries at UNI (that we know of so far):
Campus Crusade for Christ (60 members)
Catholic Student Association (350 members)
College Hill Lutheran Student Fellowship (30 members)
Intervarsity Christian Fellowship (30 members)
IMPACT
Lampost Student Organization
Lutheran Student Center (50 members)
Nazareth Lutheran Campus Ministry
Presbyterian Campus Connections
Revolution Ministries
The Navigators (200 members)
The River
UNI Campus Episcopalians (15 members)
Wesley Foundation
Total # Organizations: 15
Total members: 735 (approx.)
Oh for the love of Pete
i just spent like an hour trying to figure out where Campus Crusade for Christ meets, and i just found out the UNI Catholic Student Association just had a meeting from 6:30 - 8:00. and i even skipped class trying to figure all this out.
i think i'm gonna make a list of campus ministries & contact info and whatever meets on tuesday nights (when i have my class) i'll have to let Tyler visit alone.
i don't want to do that, since we should both be there AND as far as i know that makes at least 3 organizations i won't be able to visit (including Navs).
UPDATE: so this was pretty neet. i just got done writing this blog in the computer lab on campus, when i suddenly heard worship music. and i was all like "what the heck?" so i looked nextdoor and that's where they were meeting! if i hadn't gone to write my frustration down, i never would've found it (God's pretty good at getting me frustrated so i wind up places on time).
i think i'm gonna make a list of campus ministries & contact info and whatever meets on tuesday nights (when i have my class) i'll have to let Tyler visit alone.
i don't want to do that, since we should both be there AND as far as i know that makes at least 3 organizations i won't be able to visit (including Navs).
UPDATE: so this was pretty neet. i just got done writing this blog in the computer lab on campus, when i suddenly heard worship music. and i was all like "what the heck?" so i looked nextdoor and that's where they were meeting! if i hadn't gone to write my frustration down, i never would've found it (God's pretty good at getting me frustrated so i wind up places on time).
Part II:Community Churches
here's the list of denominations (& families of denominations) we accepted, based on the their adherence to the Nicene Creed, or its principle:
Baptists (all)
Communal (some) - Jesus People USA
Eastern Orthodox (all)
European Free-Church (some) - Mennonites
Holiness (all)
Indep. Fundementalists (some) - Plymouth Brethren
Interdenominational (all) - Vineyard
Lutheran (all)
Messianic (all)
Non-Denominational (all)
Oriental Orthodox (all)
Pentecostal (some) - Assemblies of God
Pietist - Methodist - Westlyan (all)
Reformed - Presbyterian (some) - Presbyterian (USA)
Western Liturgical (all)
Here are the groups we didn't accept, based on their rejection of the Nicene Creed or its necessity or principle:
Adventist (some) - Jehovah's Witness
Christian Science - Metaphysical (all)
Communal (some) - Twin Oaks
European Free - Church (some) - Quakers (indiv. congregations)
Latter-Day Saints (all)
Liberal (Unitarian Universalists, etc.) (all)
Pentecostal (some) - United Pentecostal Church, Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Bible Way Fellowship
Spiritualist, Psychic, & New Age (all)
Here are the groups that we are still trying to figure out, or need more research on:
Adventists (some) - 7th Day Adventists
Adventists (some) - British Israelism
Assyrian Orthodox (all)
Indep. Fundementalists (some) - Fundementalists
Restorationist - Churches of Christ, Disciples of Christ
Reformed - Presbyterian (some) - United Church of Christ
Pentecostal - Four Square, Open Bible
Here are the churches/communities we've celebrated the Eucharist with so far:
Nov. 13, 2005 - The Navigators - Tyler & Ivan's Discipleship Group, Cedar Falls IA
Dec. 4, 2005 - Interdenominational - Heartland Vineyard, Waterloo IA
Jan. 15, 2006 - Western Liturgical (Anglican Communion - ECUSA) - St. Luke's Episcople Church, Cedar Falls IA
Jan. 29, 2006 - Lutheran (ELCA) - St. John's American Lutheran Church, Cedar Falls IA
Feb. 5, 2006 - Methodist - Peitists - First United Methodist Church, Cedar Falls IA
Feb. 12, 2006 - Baptist (General Conference) - Prairie Lakes Church, Cedar Falls IA
Apr. 1, 2006 - 24/7 Prayer Movement - International House of Prayer (IHOP - KC)
Apr. 2, 2006 - Baptist (GARBC) - Cedar Heights Baptist Church, Cedar Falls IA
May 6, 2007 - Congregational (NACCC) - First Congregational, Marshalltown IA
Here are the churches/communities we've worshipped with so far:
Jan. 22, 2006 - Cedar Falls United Church of Christ (Christian Unity Service - cong. participated: St. Timothy United Methodist, First United Methodist, Cedar Falls Mennonite)
Feb. 5, 2006 - Prarie Lakes Church
2006 - St. Patrick Catholic Church (Roman Catholic) Cedar Falls, IA
2007 - St. Mary & St. Athanasius Coptic Orthodox Church (Oriental Orthodox) Northridge, CA
2009 - St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral (Eastern Orthodox) Los Angeles, CA
Here are the campus ministries we've visited so far:
Jan. 23, 2006 - UNI Intervarsity
Jan. 24, 2006 - UNI Campus for Christ
Feb. 21, 2006 - UNI Navigators
For more information on how we chose which communities to visit and on the background of this project, go here.
Baptists (all)
Communal (some) - Jesus People USA
Eastern Orthodox (all)
European Free-Church (some) - Mennonites
Holiness (all)
Indep. Fundementalists (some) - Plymouth Brethren
Interdenominational (all) - Vineyard
Lutheran (all)
Messianic (all)
Non-Denominational (all)
Oriental Orthodox (all)
Pentecostal (some) - Assemblies of God
Pietist - Methodist - Westlyan (all)
Reformed - Presbyterian (some) - Presbyterian (USA)
Western Liturgical (all)
Here are the groups we didn't accept, based on their rejection of the Nicene Creed or its necessity or principle:
Adventist (some) - Jehovah's Witness
Christian Science - Metaphysical (all)
Communal (some) - Twin Oaks
European Free - Church (some) - Quakers (indiv. congregations)
Latter-Day Saints (all)
Liberal (Unitarian Universalists, etc.) (all)
Pentecostal (some) - United Pentecostal Church, Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Bible Way Fellowship
Spiritualist, Psychic, & New Age (all)
Here are the groups that we are still trying to figure out, or need more research on:
Adventists (some) - 7th Day Adventists
Adventists (some) - British Israelism
Assyrian Orthodox (all)
Indep. Fundementalists (some) - Fundementalists
Restorationist - Churches of Christ, Disciples of Christ
Reformed - Presbyterian (some) - United Church of Christ
Pentecostal - Four Square, Open Bible
Here are the churches/communities we've celebrated the Eucharist with so far:
Nov. 13, 2005 - The Navigators - Tyler & Ivan's Discipleship Group, Cedar Falls IA
Dec. 4, 2005 - Interdenominational - Heartland Vineyard, Waterloo IA
Jan. 15, 2006 - Western Liturgical (Anglican Communion - ECUSA) - St. Luke's Episcople Church, Cedar Falls IA
Jan. 29, 2006 - Lutheran (ELCA) - St. John's American Lutheran Church, Cedar Falls IA
Feb. 5, 2006 - Methodist - Peitists - First United Methodist Church, Cedar Falls IA
Feb. 12, 2006 - Baptist (General Conference) - Prairie Lakes Church, Cedar Falls IA
Apr. 1, 2006 - 24/7 Prayer Movement - International House of Prayer (IHOP - KC)
Apr. 2, 2006 - Baptist (GARBC) - Cedar Heights Baptist Church, Cedar Falls IA
May 6, 2007 - Congregational (NACCC) - First Congregational, Marshalltown IA
Here are the churches/communities we've worshipped with so far:
Jan. 22, 2006 - Cedar Falls United Church of Christ (Christian Unity Service - cong. participated: St. Timothy United Methodist, First United Methodist, Cedar Falls Mennonite)
Feb. 5, 2006 - Prarie Lakes Church
2006 - St. Patrick Catholic Church (Roman Catholic) Cedar Falls, IA
2007 - St. Mary & St. Athanasius Coptic Orthodox Church (Oriental Orthodox) Northridge, CA
2009 - St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral (Eastern Orthodox) Los Angeles, CA
Here are the campus ministries we've visited so far:
Jan. 23, 2006 - UNI Intervarsity
Jan. 24, 2006 - UNI Campus for Christ
Feb. 21, 2006 - UNI Navigators
For more information on how we chose which communities to visit and on the background of this project, go here.
Part I: UNI Campus Ministries
last night we began visiting the different campus ministries. Since tyler and i are student leaders with the UNI Navigators, we want to get Shannon's (the staff leader on campus) approval before we go any further, even though we've gotten a lot of positive support. i'd also like to get my local pastor's say on it too.
anyway, last night we visited Intervarsity and talked a little with their President, Chris (who's also a good buddy of tyler and me, and he's tyler's roommate) and told him and the group what we were doing, why we were doing it, and what we hoped to achieve (short term and long term). they were way welcoming, and we worshipped together, then a staff guy for the area spoke about the outreach strategy on UNI's campus, then we had cake (which was way good). they're focus is almost exclusively on dorm outreach (which is good, 'cause somebody needs to be committed to that), while the Navigators are really devoted to Discipleship (their motto is "to know Christ and make Him known"). i was also struck by how much smaller they were than the Navs. that's not a bad thing at all, i just didn't know we were the largest group on campus.
i hear there are around 15 separate groups ministering on or around Campus, and if we have time we want to hit 'em all. after we meet with these groups, we'll let the Nav leadership know what we found, what we talked about, and what the groups are working on. then we hope to organize some interorganizational service projects, retreats, and outreach programs. right now on campus we already have BASIC, which is the weekly worship in Lang Hall which is by far the largest gathering of Christians on campus and is also put on by different organizations, and we also have The Main Event, which takes place every year in the fall for three days where there is large group worship (2 or 3,000 people), then there are 4 hour and a half long periods for workshops, small group bible studies, and a large group speaker (usually focusing on missions).
our ultimate goal is not necessarily to combine all the groups into one large super-organization, but to help each group recognize all the others as legitimate members of the Body of Christ, and to recognize that while one is focused on Social Justice, another on local service, another on worship, another on outreach and sharing the Gospel, and another on Discipleship, they are all arms and legs of Christ, doing His work as He guides us.
So tonight we're going to visit Campus Crusade for Christ, and tomorrow we hope to go to Revolution, which is a worship service/bible study held at a local coffee shop by the same name.
anyway, last night we visited Intervarsity and talked a little with their President, Chris (who's also a good buddy of tyler and me, and he's tyler's roommate) and told him and the group what we were doing, why we were doing it, and what we hoped to achieve (short term and long term). they were way welcoming, and we worshipped together, then a staff guy for the area spoke about the outreach strategy on UNI's campus, then we had cake (which was way good). they're focus is almost exclusively on dorm outreach (which is good, 'cause somebody needs to be committed to that), while the Navigators are really devoted to Discipleship (their motto is "to know Christ and make Him known"). i was also struck by how much smaller they were than the Navs. that's not a bad thing at all, i just didn't know we were the largest group on campus.
i hear there are around 15 separate groups ministering on or around Campus, and if we have time we want to hit 'em all. after we meet with these groups, we'll let the Nav leadership know what we found, what we talked about, and what the groups are working on. then we hope to organize some interorganizational service projects, retreats, and outreach programs. right now on campus we already have BASIC, which is the weekly worship in Lang Hall which is by far the largest gathering of Christians on campus and is also put on by different organizations, and we also have The Main Event, which takes place every year in the fall for three days where there is large group worship (2 or 3,000 people), then there are 4 hour and a half long periods for workshops, small group bible studies, and a large group speaker (usually focusing on missions).
our ultimate goal is not necessarily to combine all the groups into one large super-organization, but to help each group recognize all the others as legitimate members of the Body of Christ, and to recognize that while one is focused on Social Justice, another on local service, another on worship, another on outreach and sharing the Gospel, and another on Discipleship, they are all arms and legs of Christ, doing His work as He guides us.
So tonight we're going to visit Campus Crusade for Christ, and tomorrow we hope to go to Revolution, which is a worship service/bible study held at a local coffee shop by the same name.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Progress
ok, so here's the deal. so far we've had Communion with three communities and attended one service dedicated to Unity in the Church. the three so far represent the Eposcopal (and Anglican) Communion, the Interdenominational Tradition (Vineyard denomination), and a small discipleship group meeting on UNI's campus (sort of the house church tradition).
the Unity service was representative of two Methodist congregations, a Mennonite congregation, and a United Church of Christ congregation (plus our little delegation of 2). the other person who's doing this project with me is named Tyler.
while we got plenty of encouragement for this from local pastors, i still want one to give us authority to represent their church in this, so that while we have the weight of two disciples carrying this out, i still want the backing of accepted authority within the Church.
in the next couple of posts, i'll give a complete list of accepted, rejected, or questionable denominations. for guidelines as to what churches are accepted in this project, see the last post. also, as far as open or closed communion is concerned, if the church practices open communion, then we'll gladly participate, but if they are closed, then we're not going to "steal" communion. we'll have to go through whatever authority is over that congregation and get permission that way. if we try to steal it, it kinda defeats the whole purpose of signifying existing unity. in any case, this means we'll probably come into contact with a lot of different church authorities in different denominations.
the Unity service was representative of two Methodist congregations, a Mennonite congregation, and a United Church of Christ congregation (plus our little delegation of 2). the other person who's doing this project with me is named Tyler.
while we got plenty of encouragement for this from local pastors, i still want one to give us authority to represent their church in this, so that while we have the weight of two disciples carrying this out, i still want the backing of accepted authority within the Church.
in the next couple of posts, i'll give a complete list of accepted, rejected, or questionable denominations. for guidelines as to what churches are accepted in this project, see the last post. also, as far as open or closed communion is concerned, if the church practices open communion, then we'll gladly participate, but if they are closed, then we're not going to "steal" communion. we'll have to go through whatever authority is over that congregation and get permission that way. if we try to steal it, it kinda defeats the whole purpose of signifying existing unity. in any case, this means we'll probably come into contact with a lot of different church authorities in different denominations.
The Background for the Project
Beginning Steps Toward Unity
some of you might be asking, what the heck is all this about? well, a few months ago (about the time i got back from Turkey), somethin' really began to bother me. i had been to a few different churches, but seeing the churches in Turkey and some of the challenges they faced showed me the importance of unity in Christ and how these churches, while each had different focusii and tactics had to rely on each other and their fellowship to survive.
this got me thinking about the American church and how we have over 1,000 denominations in this country, many of whom compete for members amongst themselves (instead of going out to the unreached), or claim that their way of doing things is the only way. Others even go so far as to say that their church is the one, true Church (some Southern Baptist congregations, Mormons, Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and even the Assyrian Church), and that salvation can only be found within those churches.
so i began to think to myself, over and over again Paul talks about Christ as being the head of the Church, and we are the arms, legs, fingers, toes and all in all, we make up the Body. He directs and leads and pulls us together, while He also uses us to do His work. Paul also says that a foot has no right to say to a hand "i don't need you" and the same goes for the other way around.
even Jesus himself prays toward the end of John's Gospel, right before He goes to His death, that all his disciples would remain one as He and the Father are one. He also told his disciples to love one another, and by that sign others would know that they were Jesus' disciples. i began to think about the seriousness of this and what should be done about it. i'm just a small guy in the big scheme of things, and don't necessarily have a lot of authority in the Church. but i still felt that the command Christ gave was given to all of us, and shouldn't just be entrusted to the hands of a few. after all, real unity is among all the members, not just some.
The Calling
so then i began to wonder, "what should the first step be?" and i realized that when Christ gave his command of unity to his disciples, it was at His last supper. And when Paul repeatedly instructs the Corinthian church on unity in the Body, he also repeatedly brings up the practice of celebrating communion (or the Eucharist). so i thought this would be a good place to start.
after a lot of prayer and the advice of pastors and other followers of Christ, i decided that a good first step would be to share in Communion those who are truly in Christ's Body, as a sign of my personal commitment to unity. now, i don't want this to be confused as being seen as a tool toward unity, because really it isn't. Communion is a sign of existing unity, and so i had to look at my heart and see whether i really was in unity with my brothers and sisters.
ever since i went to Africa & Honduras and worked with the homeless in Colorado, God began to work a change in me. he showed me that what i was to give was not condescending pity or to see myself as doing any good work for God, but instead to see myself as one of them. to see myself as homeless and poor, and so i became a person who was struggling to get through the same muck in life as they were, and that we were pushing on together. so i asked God to help me apply this to the rest of the Church.
i realized that when we seperate ourselves from others, we dehumanize them in our own eyes. in the extreme, this can be seen whenever somebody kills another person. in order to kill, you have to make them your enemy, someone who has traded their humanity for whatever cause or action you don't believe in, and since they have traded that humanity, you feel justified to kill. the same can be said of the heart. when we hate, Jesus says that we kill the person in our own hearts and so are guilty of murder. to do that we dehumanize them. to divide ourselves from other Christians, we must first feel they've traded their salvation and even their humanity that binds them to us, and so we are justified in separating ourselves.
A Legacy of Separation
so the first step for me was to look at where the Church went wrong. i read the writings of ancient Church fathers (i'm still working on this. i'm trying to read the available writings of the Apostles who were the first bishops in the Pentarchy and then read the writings of their first three successors), i had visited some of the Holy sites of Christendom (in Turkey and Germany), and i read the creeds and histories of different denominations. soon i was able to group denominations into specific families and found that 15 major denominations existed in the US. then, i found that the proto-orthodox Church had remained mostly unified until sometime after the 2nd Ecumenical Council. Before this time, divisions found in the Church could be decided based on scripture written in the Old Testament, or by the Apostles (and Paul), or could be judged by those who were still living and knew the Apostles personally. A direct and consistent line of thought could therefore be traced in the first 200 years of the early Church.
But around 300 AD, after years of persecution and the continuing growth of Christianity, Christians for the first time found themselves in political favor. Rome, under Constantine, quickly adopted Christianity, and while other religions were tolerated for a time, Christianity spread even more rapidly, but with an emphasis on numbers of "converts" and not on raising up disciples. not only this, the system of "conversion" was not set up based on the principle of faith in Christ, but on the principle that a good Roman calls himself a Christian, and one who doesn't is a traitor to Rome (and in their minds, to Christ as they were both seen as the same thing). soon more and more divisions began to appear and we have better records of the Church as a whole trying to combat these "heresies" (whether they were or weren't, that is to be addressed in a different post). Ecumenical councils were formed, in which all the established Bishops were expected to attend and decide the overall doctrine of the Church. The first two were held as a unified body of about 150 bishops and struck down the heresy of Arianism, adopted the Nicene creed, and prohibited any further changes to the creed (325 AD). After looking into scripture in regards to this creed, and based on what the Apostolic Fathers wrote, i decided that this creed and the Council's decisions were valid and soundly based.
After this, though, the Church began to investigate more and more into sticky theological issues that aren't necessarily written in clear terms in Scripture or the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, and so the divisions began to increase while justified opposition could often be found on both sides. As Church became more entwined with Politics, power, land, and gold caught the eye of Church leaders more and more. Eventually, as tribes began to split the Roman Empire in two, the leaders of the Church were also seen as leaders of the State and so what was good for the State was seen as good for the Church. So East and West began to politically and spiritually separate. the East had already experienced break-ups in the establishment of the Coptic Pope in Egypt and the Oriental Orthodox Church and with the Assyrian Church after the 3rd ecumenical council.
in 1054 the Roman Catholic Pope decided to declare complete primacy (altering the original role of the pope as a tie breaker in ecumenical decisions) and broke the agreement reached in the 2nd ecumenical council by adding to the Nicene creed that the Spirit flowed from the Father and the Son (instead of just the father). While an unclear theological issue anyway, this was only amplified by the political and cultural estrangement and Pope Leo IX and Patriarch Michael I excommunicated each other. This was called the First Great Schism or the East - West Schism. After this, everything went downhill. This only encouraged future division, when after 75 years of the Pope being seated in Avignon, France, Pope Gregory XI moved the Papacy back to Rome in 1378 and soon died. This caused rebellious cardinals to set up a series of Antipopes back in Avignon, and there have even been times in Catholic history where three or four Popes reigned simultaneously (and this isn't including Coptic or Assyrian Popes that were operating in the East). This period was called the Second Great Schism or the Western Schism.
In the West, King Henry VIII declared himself head of the Church in England 500 years after the First Great Schism, and about this time Luther and Calvin each started reformations which led to further break-ups in the Church. When the British colonies declared independence from England, this encouraged splinter groups to move to America, which prized their individuality and taught it as almost essential to their doctrine. The Methodists broke from the Church of England (The Anglican Church) when they could no longer declare loyalty to the king and over differences with the Episcopal Church, and more groups broke from the individualistic Anabaptist movements (Baptists, Mennonites, Quakers), which had also separated from other Calvinist movements (Reformed-Presbyterian). Finally, the Lutherans founded a strong movement in the Midwest, and soon had a split of their own resulting in the Missouri-Synod and the ELCA.
Current Action Toward Unity
that brings us to today. we now have over 1,000 denominations, many of whom refuse to see themselves as arms or legs, instead saying they are the whole body. since the Church was greatly influenced by politics and questionable doctrine after the first 2 ecumenical councils, i decided that the Nicene Creed (of 381) and Scripture (as detailed by the long accepted 27 books of the New Testament, together with the Old Testament) agreed apon by the Orthodox Church was still a good measure for essential doctrine, and as a basis to begin an investigation of Unity.
after deciding this, i looked to each of the major families of denominations (there are about 15), and chose representatives of each. from these, i looked at their creeds, doctrine, and practice and if it didn't mesh with the Nicene Creed or scripture, i decided that i cannot consider myself in unity with them, but if they did, then i would consider them as part of the Church. now, as a warning, i can't use this same basis to judge the individual character of adherents or believers. God is the only one who decides that. while i can scrutinize over written doctrine, i can't do the same for hearts, and so i acknowledged that when it came to Communion, any who claimed to be disciples, and who weren't rebelliously (and in full self-knowledge) disobeying Jesus' commands or refusing to admit to shortcomings, would be considered as a brother or sister in Christ. whether they truly were or weren't can only be judged in their own hearts and by God. this is why, when it comes to individuals approaching Communion, God states through Paul that those who approach with impure motives or with an unclean heart only eat and drink judgement onto themselves (judgement which is to be dealt out by God and not the Church).
anyway, once i came up with a list of churches who hold to these basic principles (Nicene Creed & Scripture) i decided to share in the Eucharist in each, to show my spiritual bond to each as a member in the body of Christ, and in the hope of raising awareness of the importance of unity and our personal responsibility to that. To gain weight to this, and because Jesus says where one or two are gathered in His name there He also is, and because whenever He sent people out, He sent them at least by twos, i prayed about this with another brother in Christ who agreed to do this with me.
So this post will be a record of our actions in the hope that the Eucharist will be the embodiment of the solidarity and existing unity (because there is either One body of Christ, or no body; there can't be many) between the members, and that our dialogue with pastors and members of churches along the way will help to bring about stronger unity within the Church. Eventually, we have the hope of taking this further and visiting the important collective holy sites of Christendom (some controlled by both Eastern and Western churches), including the major cities of the Pentarchy, the burial places of the Apostles, the Lutheran reformation sites (already visited), the New and Old Testament sites in Israel, and the New Testament sites in Turkey (already visited).
some of you might be asking, what the heck is all this about? well, a few months ago (about the time i got back from Turkey), somethin' really began to bother me. i had been to a few different churches, but seeing the churches in Turkey and some of the challenges they faced showed me the importance of unity in Christ and how these churches, while each had different focusii and tactics had to rely on each other and their fellowship to survive.
this got me thinking about the American church and how we have over 1,000 denominations in this country, many of whom compete for members amongst themselves (instead of going out to the unreached), or claim that their way of doing things is the only way. Others even go so far as to say that their church is the one, true Church (some Southern Baptist congregations, Mormons, Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and even the Assyrian Church), and that salvation can only be found within those churches.
so i began to think to myself, over and over again Paul talks about Christ as being the head of the Church, and we are the arms, legs, fingers, toes and all in all, we make up the Body. He directs and leads and pulls us together, while He also uses us to do His work. Paul also says that a foot has no right to say to a hand "i don't need you" and the same goes for the other way around.
even Jesus himself prays toward the end of John's Gospel, right before He goes to His death, that all his disciples would remain one as He and the Father are one. He also told his disciples to love one another, and by that sign others would know that they were Jesus' disciples. i began to think about the seriousness of this and what should be done about it. i'm just a small guy in the big scheme of things, and don't necessarily have a lot of authority in the Church. but i still felt that the command Christ gave was given to all of us, and shouldn't just be entrusted to the hands of a few. after all, real unity is among all the members, not just some.
The Calling
so then i began to wonder, "what should the first step be?" and i realized that when Christ gave his command of unity to his disciples, it was at His last supper. And when Paul repeatedly instructs the Corinthian church on unity in the Body, he also repeatedly brings up the practice of celebrating communion (or the Eucharist). so i thought this would be a good place to start.
after a lot of prayer and the advice of pastors and other followers of Christ, i decided that a good first step would be to share in Communion those who are truly in Christ's Body, as a sign of my personal commitment to unity. now, i don't want this to be confused as being seen as a tool toward unity, because really it isn't. Communion is a sign of existing unity, and so i had to look at my heart and see whether i really was in unity with my brothers and sisters.
ever since i went to Africa & Honduras and worked with the homeless in Colorado, God began to work a change in me. he showed me that what i was to give was not condescending pity or to see myself as doing any good work for God, but instead to see myself as one of them. to see myself as homeless and poor, and so i became a person who was struggling to get through the same muck in life as they were, and that we were pushing on together. so i asked God to help me apply this to the rest of the Church.
i realized that when we seperate ourselves from others, we dehumanize them in our own eyes. in the extreme, this can be seen whenever somebody kills another person. in order to kill, you have to make them your enemy, someone who has traded their humanity for whatever cause or action you don't believe in, and since they have traded that humanity, you feel justified to kill. the same can be said of the heart. when we hate, Jesus says that we kill the person in our own hearts and so are guilty of murder. to do that we dehumanize them. to divide ourselves from other Christians, we must first feel they've traded their salvation and even their humanity that binds them to us, and so we are justified in separating ourselves.
A Legacy of Separation
so the first step for me was to look at where the Church went wrong. i read the writings of ancient Church fathers (i'm still working on this. i'm trying to read the available writings of the Apostles who were the first bishops in the Pentarchy and then read the writings of their first three successors), i had visited some of the Holy sites of Christendom (in Turkey and Germany), and i read the creeds and histories of different denominations. soon i was able to group denominations into specific families and found that 15 major denominations existed in the US. then, i found that the proto-orthodox Church had remained mostly unified until sometime after the 2nd Ecumenical Council. Before this time, divisions found in the Church could be decided based on scripture written in the Old Testament, or by the Apostles (and Paul), or could be judged by those who were still living and knew the Apostles personally. A direct and consistent line of thought could therefore be traced in the first 200 years of the early Church.
But around 300 AD, after years of persecution and the continuing growth of Christianity, Christians for the first time found themselves in political favor. Rome, under Constantine, quickly adopted Christianity, and while other religions were tolerated for a time, Christianity spread even more rapidly, but with an emphasis on numbers of "converts" and not on raising up disciples. not only this, the system of "conversion" was not set up based on the principle of faith in Christ, but on the principle that a good Roman calls himself a Christian, and one who doesn't is a traitor to Rome (and in their minds, to Christ as they were both seen as the same thing). soon more and more divisions began to appear and we have better records of the Church as a whole trying to combat these "heresies" (whether they were or weren't, that is to be addressed in a different post). Ecumenical councils were formed, in which all the established Bishops were expected to attend and decide the overall doctrine of the Church. The first two were held as a unified body of about 150 bishops and struck down the heresy of Arianism, adopted the Nicene creed, and prohibited any further changes to the creed (325 AD). After looking into scripture in regards to this creed, and based on what the Apostolic Fathers wrote, i decided that this creed and the Council's decisions were valid and soundly based.
After this, though, the Church began to investigate more and more into sticky theological issues that aren't necessarily written in clear terms in Scripture or the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, and so the divisions began to increase while justified opposition could often be found on both sides. As Church became more entwined with Politics, power, land, and gold caught the eye of Church leaders more and more. Eventually, as tribes began to split the Roman Empire in two, the leaders of the Church were also seen as leaders of the State and so what was good for the State was seen as good for the Church. So East and West began to politically and spiritually separate. the East had already experienced break-ups in the establishment of the Coptic Pope in Egypt and the Oriental Orthodox Church and with the Assyrian Church after the 3rd ecumenical council.
in 1054 the Roman Catholic Pope decided to declare complete primacy (altering the original role of the pope as a tie breaker in ecumenical decisions) and broke the agreement reached in the 2nd ecumenical council by adding to the Nicene creed that the Spirit flowed from the Father and the Son (instead of just the father). While an unclear theological issue anyway, this was only amplified by the political and cultural estrangement and Pope Leo IX and Patriarch Michael I excommunicated each other. This was called the First Great Schism or the East - West Schism. After this, everything went downhill. This only encouraged future division, when after 75 years of the Pope being seated in Avignon, France, Pope Gregory XI moved the Papacy back to Rome in 1378 and soon died. This caused rebellious cardinals to set up a series of Antipopes back in Avignon, and there have even been times in Catholic history where three or four Popes reigned simultaneously (and this isn't including Coptic or Assyrian Popes that were operating in the East). This period was called the Second Great Schism or the Western Schism.
In the West, King Henry VIII declared himself head of the Church in England 500 years after the First Great Schism, and about this time Luther and Calvin each started reformations which led to further break-ups in the Church. When the British colonies declared independence from England, this encouraged splinter groups to move to America, which prized their individuality and taught it as almost essential to their doctrine. The Methodists broke from the Church of England (The Anglican Church) when they could no longer declare loyalty to the king and over differences with the Episcopal Church, and more groups broke from the individualistic Anabaptist movements (Baptists, Mennonites, Quakers), which had also separated from other Calvinist movements (Reformed-Presbyterian). Finally, the Lutherans founded a strong movement in the Midwest, and soon had a split of their own resulting in the Missouri-Synod and the ELCA.
Current Action Toward Unity
that brings us to today. we now have over 1,000 denominations, many of whom refuse to see themselves as arms or legs, instead saying they are the whole body. since the Church was greatly influenced by politics and questionable doctrine after the first 2 ecumenical councils, i decided that the Nicene Creed (of 381) and Scripture (as detailed by the long accepted 27 books of the New Testament, together with the Old Testament) agreed apon by the Orthodox Church was still a good measure for essential doctrine, and as a basis to begin an investigation of Unity.
after deciding this, i looked to each of the major families of denominations (there are about 15), and chose representatives of each. from these, i looked at their creeds, doctrine, and practice and if it didn't mesh with the Nicene Creed or scripture, i decided that i cannot consider myself in unity with them, but if they did, then i would consider them as part of the Church. now, as a warning, i can't use this same basis to judge the individual character of adherents or believers. God is the only one who decides that. while i can scrutinize over written doctrine, i can't do the same for hearts, and so i acknowledged that when it came to Communion, any who claimed to be disciples, and who weren't rebelliously (and in full self-knowledge) disobeying Jesus' commands or refusing to admit to shortcomings, would be considered as a brother or sister in Christ. whether they truly were or weren't can only be judged in their own hearts and by God. this is why, when it comes to individuals approaching Communion, God states through Paul that those who approach with impure motives or with an unclean heart only eat and drink judgement onto themselves (judgement which is to be dealt out by God and not the Church).
anyway, once i came up with a list of churches who hold to these basic principles (Nicene Creed & Scripture) i decided to share in the Eucharist in each, to show my spiritual bond to each as a member in the body of Christ, and in the hope of raising awareness of the importance of unity and our personal responsibility to that. To gain weight to this, and because Jesus says where one or two are gathered in His name there He also is, and because whenever He sent people out, He sent them at least by twos, i prayed about this with another brother in Christ who agreed to do this with me.
So this post will be a record of our actions in the hope that the Eucharist will be the embodiment of the solidarity and existing unity (because there is either One body of Christ, or no body; there can't be many) between the members, and that our dialogue with pastors and members of churches along the way will help to bring about stronger unity within the Church. Eventually, we have the hope of taking this further and visiting the important collective holy sites of Christendom (some controlled by both Eastern and Western churches), including the major cities of the Pentarchy, the burial places of the Apostles, the Lutheran reformation sites (already visited), the New and Old Testament sites in Israel, and the New Testament sites in Turkey (already visited).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)