Inside or Outside the Church?

This week I received an email from a woman I did not know, who wrote me, among other things, the following:

“For some time now, I’ve ‘come around’ and believe in Universal Reconciliation and everything that comes with it. But now I’m running into ‘problems’ during the Sunday morning sermons at church. I attend a (…) congregation in (…), but lately I haven’t once been in complete agreement with the pastor. I also find some of the songs difficult to sing now because I can’t stand behind them 100 percent…”

I receive emails like this fairly regularly. People hear the good news as Paul proclaimed it concerning “the Savior of all mankind” and come to accept it. Wonderful, of course! But then, almost invariably, a problem arises. There are virtually no Christian fellowships where they can bring this message. Evangelical or Reformed, or… it makes little difference. The preaching one hears in church or congregation usually runs directly counter to what one has come to understand from Scripture. Talking with the minister, pastor, or others usually brings little understanding and much conflict. In short, alienation from “the church” is the result. Some keep attending their church or congregation as best they can, if only for social reasons. Or to proclaim the good news on the “church grounds.” Wonderful! But it is often far from easy. The rejection you encounter when you open your mouth to tell the best news of all time can be deeply discouraging. That is why many, after one or more negative experiences, choose to step outside organized church life. And I understand that very well.

Mind you, I strongly favor believers seeking one another out and gathering around the Word. That goes without saying, for believers in Christ Jesus belong together as “one Body.” So the idea is certainly not that we should go our way in isolation. But independently, yes! Nowhere do I read that a believer should live under an ecclesiastical yoke. On the contrary, the truth would set us free! To come to a better understanding of Scripture “independent of church traditions and authorities” (as stated on the front page of this site), and to walk in its light. But make no mistake: this “independence” can also be very lonely. That is the other side of the same truth. It means learning firsthand (inside or outside “the church”) what it is to be an outsider. Or perhaps even an outcast (= someone cast out).

Yet you be sober in all things; suffer evil as an ideal soldier of Christ Jesus; do the work of an evangelist; fully discharge your service.
2 Timothy 4:5

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