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Welcome to the Family

NEFCGregory C. StrandJanuary 26, 2014

Welcome to the Local Church Family

EFCA Ecclesiology: Life and Ministry Together in the

Local Church

1. Welcome to the Family of God – Soteriology: New Life Through the Gospel of Jesus Christ

2. Welcome to the Local Church Family – Ecclesiology: Life and Ministry Together in the Local Church

3. Welcome to the Family of the EFCA - Missiology: Churches Partnering in the Gospel for Mission

“May a merciful God preserve me from a Christian Church in which everyone is a saint! I want to be and remain in the church and little flock of the fainthearted, the feeble and the ailing, who feel and recognize the wretchedness of their sins, who sigh and cry to God incessantly for comfort and help, who believe in the forgiveness of sins.” Martin Luther, in Luther’s Works (St. Louis, 1957), XXII:55.

“See the contrary disposition of Christ and Satan and his instruments. Satan attacks us when we are weakest. But Christ will mend in us all the breaches sin and Satan have made. He ‘binds up the brokenhearted’ (Isaiah 61:1). And as a mother treats most tenderly the most diseased and weakest child, so does Christ most mercifully bend down to the weakest people. He puts an instinct into the weakest things to rely for support on something stronger than themselves. So the vine clings to the elm. The church’s awareness of her weakness makes her willing to lean on her Beloved.” Richard Sibbes, “The Bruised Reed,” in Works (Edinburgh, 1979), I:46.

Introduction

• Biblical Truth: God the Father, through God the Son, by God the Holy Spirit has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself.

• Biblical Truth Pictured: The truth of this reality is pictured as a Bride.

• Biblical Truth Illustrated: The marriage relationship is a picture of this gospel truth.

• Biblical Truth: It refers to Christ and the church (Eph. 5:21-33).

Some common perceptions and misperceptions:

• Biblical and unbiblical

• Present situation, overemphasize or underemphasize. Either direction you fall off the horse.

• Background and experience affects this.

• Centrality of the gospel with entailments. (Christian and church)

• Practical triage – geographical proximity, household of faith then others. Members then attenders. For whom are we accountable?

• Pure church and/or true church, purity and/or unity? (e.g. Novation [3rd century] and Donatist [4th century]

Conversion and the Church

EFCA Statement of Faith

Article 7: The Church

The Church

7. We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God's grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances,baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.

God’s gospel is now embodied in the new community called the church.

“But God in his grace has purposed to restore his fallen creation and to redeem a people for himself. In Jesus Christ God has acted to rescue sinful human beings from his wrath and to reconcile them to himself. This work of Christ in his cross and resurrection is now applied to us by the Holy Spirit, who unites us with Christ so that what is true of him becomes true of us.

“And in uniting us with Christ, the Spirit also creates a new community we call the church. The church, as those saved by God's grace and united with Christ by God's Spirit, becomes the embodiment of the gospel in the world.” (Evangelical Convictions: A Theological Exposition of the Statement of Faith of the Evangelical Free Church of America, pp. 156-157; cf. III. Conclusion: The Church and the Gospel, pp. 182-183.)

Justification: Justification by faith is the ‘article by which the church stands or falls’ (articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae) –Martin Luther

Regeneration and Adoption: “He [the Holy Spirit] regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God.” Article 6

• Conversion: justification, regeneration, head and heart,

• Church: people of God, family, body

• Redeem a people for himself

The local church, the congregation, is “the hermeneutic of the gospel.” Leslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society, 222-223.

1. Gospel and Salvation – The gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God for salvation (Rom. 1:16; Eph. 2:1-10).


2. Gospel and Community I – The gospel of Jesus Christ that makes a spiritually dead person alive places that person into a family, the true church (Eph. 2:11-22; Heb. 12:22-24).



3. Gospel and Community II – The gospel of Jesus Christ brings new life to an individual and makes that person a part of a family, a community, which finds expression in a local church/body of believers (Eph. 3:10).



3. Gospel and Community II – The gospel of Jesus Christ brings new life to an individual and makes that person a part of a family, a community, which finds expression in a local church/body of believers (Eph. 3:10).

4. Gospel and Membership – The gospel of Jesus Christ compels us to identify with, be accountable to, join in mission with . . . through membership in a local church.

Biblical Basis for Membership

“Church membership is not simply a record of a box we once checked. It should be the reflection of a living commitment or it is worthless. Indeed it’s worse than worthless; it’s dangerous.” Mark Dever, What is a Healthy Church (Wheaton: Crossway, 2007), 95.

“If we look for a single verse that says ‘you must join the church,’ we will be disappointed. Rather, Scripture shows us the necessity of church membership in a different way. In showing us what the Christian life is, and what the church is, it leads us inescapably to the conclusion that Christians must join the church.”

Guy Prentiss Waters, How Jesus Runs the Church(Phillipsburg: P & R, 2012), 17.

Waters lists six supportive lines of biblical evidence for this conclusion (pp. 17-21):

1. The Great Commission consists of the ingathering and the perfecting of the saints. It is both evangelism and discipleship.

2. Many of the commands included in the New Testament, e.g. the “one another commands,” assume church membership.

3. Jesus’ teaching about discipline in the context of the local church assumes the necessity of church membership.

4. The ordinance of the Lord’s Supper assumes the existence of church membership.

5. The passages discussing Christian growth and sanctification (Eph. 4:11-16; Col. 2:19) require church membership.

6. The responsibility of the elders requires church membership.

The gospel is manifested in the context of relationships in a local church.

“In conclusion, the New Testament requires church membership of every professing Christian. Church membership underlies the government, discipline, worship, and life of the church. One is not at liberty to claim membership in the invisible church without also joining the church visible. Christian discipleship requires that one become a member of the church.”

Waters, 21.

• The local church is composed of a specific and identifiable group of people (e.g. Acts 9:41; 12:1; 15:3, 22; Eph. 2:19; 3:6; 4:25; 5:30; Col. 2:19; 3:15; 3 John 9).

• Leaders could be identified and they were responsible to give oversight, and be responsible for and accountable to God, for that oversight (Acts 20:28; 1 Tim. 3:1-13; Tit.1:5-9; Heb. 13:17; 1 Pet. 5:1-5).

• The members were responsible for one another that the gospel would remain central and pure, in both lips and life (Matt. 18:15-20; 1 Cor. 5; Gal. 1:8; 2 Tim. 4:3).

• The church kept lists of widows (1 Tim. 5:9).

• The lives of Christians together in a local church display visibly the gospel they proclaim with their lips.

• Local church membership is a question of biblical obedience, not personal preference.

Why Membership Matters

“Twelve Reasons Why Membership Matters”

http://www.9marks.org/ejournal/twelve-reasons-why-membership-matters

The following is excerpted from Jonathan Leeman’sbook Church Membership: How the World Knows Who Represents Jesus (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012). Leeman is also the author The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love: Reintroducing Church Membership and Discipline (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010).

http://www.9marks.org/ejournal/twelve-reasons-why-membership-matters

1) It’s biblical. Jesus established the local church and all the apostles did their ministry through it. The Christian life in the New Testament is church life. Christians today should expect and desire the same.

2) The church is its members. To be “a church” in the New Testament is to be one of its members (read through Acts). And you want to be part of the church because that’s who Jesus came to rescue and reconcile to himself.

3) It’s a pre-requisite for the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is a meal for the gathered church, that is, for members (see 1 Cor. 11:20, 33). And you want to take the Lord’s Supper. It’s the team “jersey” which makes the church team visible to the nations.

4) It’s how to officially represent Jesus. Membership is the church’s affirmation that you are a citizen of Christ’s kingdom and therefore a card-carrying Jesus Representative before the nations. And you want to be an official Jesus Representative. Closely related to this…

5) It’s how to declare one’s highest allegiance. Your membership on the team, which becomes visible when you wear the “jersey,” is a public testimony that your highest allegiance belongs to Jesus. Trials and persecution may come, but your only words are, “I am with Jesus.”

6) It’s how to embody and experience biblical images. It’s within the accountability structures of the local church that Christians live out or embody what it means to be the “body of Christ,” the “temple of the Spirit,” the “family of God,” and so on for all the biblical metaphors (see 1 Cor. 12). And you want to experience the interconnectivity of his body, the spiritual fullness of his temple, and the safety and intimacy and shared identity of his family.

7) It’s how to serve other Christians. Membership helps you to know which Christians on Planet Earth you are specifically responsible to love, serve, warn, and encourage. It enables you to fulfill your biblical responsibilities to Christ’s body (for example, see Eph. 4:11-16, 25-32).

8) It’s how to follow Christian leaders. Membership helps you to know which Christian leaders on Planet Earth you are called to obey and follow. Again, it allows you to fulfill your biblical responsibility to them (see Heb. 13:7, 17).

9) It helps Christian leaders lead. Membership lets Christian leaders know which Christians on Planet Earth they will “give an account” for (Acts 20:18; 1 Peter 5:2).

10) It enables church discipline. It gives you the biblically prescribed place to participate in the work of church discipline responsibly, wisely, and lovingly (1 Cor. 5).

11) It gives structure to the Christian life. It places an individual Christian’s claim to “obey” and “follow” Jesus into a real-life setting where authority is actually exercised over us (see John 14:15; 1 John 2:19; 4:20-21).

12) It builds a witness and invites the nations. Membership puts the alternative rule of Christ on display for the watching universe (see Matt. 5:13; John 13:34-35; Eph. 3:10; 1 Peter 2:9-12). The very boundaries which are drawn around the membership of a church yields a society of people which invites the nations to something better.

Various Forms of Church Polity

Grudem, Systematic Theology, pp 923-936.

Episcopalian Government

ARCHBISHOP

BISHOP BISHOPBISHOP

RECTOR RECTOR RECTOR RECTOR RECTOR RECTOR

CONGREGATION

CONGREGATION

CONGREGATION

CONGREGATION

CONGREGATION

CONGREGATION

Presbyterian Government

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

PRESBYTERY

E E E E E(Session)

CONGREGATION

CONGREGATION

CONGREGATION

CONGREGATION

CONGREGATION

CONGREGATION

PRESBYTERY PRESBYTERY

E E E E E(Session)

E E E E E(Session)

E E E E E(Session)

E E E E E(Session)

E E E E E(Session)

Congregational: Single-Elder

(Single-Pastor) Government

PASTOR

DEACON BOARDD D D D D D

CONGREGATION

Congregational: Plural Local

Elder Government

CONGREGATION

E E E E E* E E

Congregation elects leadership board and delegates all decisions to leaders apart from budget approval, calling ofthe senior pastor, approvals of sale and purchase of property, or bylaw and constitutional changes.

Leadership Board is responsible for congregational Mission, Vision, and Policy. They guard the Values, Mission, Preferred Future and approves Ministry Initiatives. The leadership

Board then delegates the details and strategy to its staff. The senior pastor serves on the leadership board.

Staff is responsible for the day to day church management and decidinghow to implement vision approved by the leadership board. Staff

Equips and deploys congregation in ministries based on passions and gifting.

MinistryTeam

MinistryTeam

MinistryTeam

Ministry Team

MinistryTeam

Teams are empowered to lead their ministries in line with church philosophy with oversight by staff. Ministry teams operate within parameters laid out by the leadership board.

Congregational: Corporate Board

Model of Church Government

CHURCH BOARD

PASTOR

CONGREGATION

Congregational: Government by

Pure “Democracy”

CONGREGATION

Congregational: No Government

but the Holy Spirit

CONGREGATION

Biblical Basis for Congregational Polity

Christocracy, Congregational Rule,

Elder Led

1. Jesus is the lone Head of the Church (Eph. 1:22; Col. 1:18), and He builds her (Matt. 16:18). This means the church is governed preeminently as a Christocracy not a democracy.

2. The universal/true church is comprised of all those who by/through faith in Jesus Christ have been born again (Jn. 3:3, 5; Tit. 3:4-8).

3. All those who have been born again and thus a part of the true church are priests, i.e. it acknowledges the priesthood of the believer (1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6; 5:9).

4. Those believers who gather in a local area are part of the local church (1 Cor. 1:2; 1 Thess. 1:1; Philem. 1-2). This is why the expectations for membership in the local church are no greater than the expectations of being born again - faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.

5. With Christ as the Head of this priesthood of believers, He has also given spiritual gifts to each one to be used to glorify Him and build up the body (Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-7, 28-30; Eph. 4:11-13; 1 Pet. 4:10-11). Some of these gifts are to be used for positions of leadership in the local church, specifically elders/overseers/pastors (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Tit. 1:5-9; note that these terms are used synonymously: Acts 20:28; Eph. 4:11; Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:2; 1 Pet. 5:2) and deacons and deaconesses (1 Tim. 3:8-13).

This is servant-leadership (1 Thess. 2:7-12; 1 Pet. 5:1-4), like Christ who modeled this (Mk. 10:45). These servant-leaders are to be affirmed/chosen by the people they serve. This addresses an internal call of God and gifting by God, and an external recognition and acknowledgment of this by the people in the local church. A pastor (vocational elder) who has been called to provide leadership to the church full-time serves as one among a plurality of elders (Acts 14:23; 20:17; 1 Tim. 4:14; Tit. 1:5; Jms. 5:14; 1 Pet. 5:1-2).

6. Each local church is autonomous, i.e. free from any external, earthly hierarchical structure, but under Christ's Headship and Lordship, and thus she determines how best to fulfill her God-given ministry (Acts 6:1-7; 13:1-3). Each local church had the authority and the responsibility to deal with problems (Matt. 18:15-17; 1 Cor. 5:1-4).

Although the authority ultimately resides in the congregation (accountable to Christ), the congregation has recognized, affirmed and appointed gifted people to lead them. And those leaders are accountable to Christ and the congregation. In essence, leaders are responsible to God for how they lead/serve the people (1 Pet. 5:1-4); people are responsible to God for how they follow/serve the leaders (Heb. 13:17).

7. As a group of like-minded churches, we will, as an EFCA, voluntarily join together as we can corporately impact the kingdom to a greater degree than we can as individual churches alone (Jn. 17; 1 Cor. 16:1-3).

Caring for “One Another”

Evangelical Convictions: A Theological Exposition of the Statement of Faith of the Evangelical Free Church of America, “Article 8: Christian Living,” pp. 193-194.

• We are to live out our faith in the way we care for one another. Here we are speaking about the special love that we are to have for our brothers and sisters in the family of believers, the church of Jesus Christ. This is what Jesus was referring to when he said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).

The New Testament is laced with calls to this kind of love, with a myriad of “one another” passages. We are to—

• “be devoted to one another” (Rom. 12:10)

• “honor one another above ourselves” (Rom. 12:10)

• “live in harmony with one another” (Rom. 12:16; 1 Pet. 3:8)

• “stop passing judgment on one another” (Rom. 14:13)

• “accept one another, just as Christ accepted you” (Rom. 15:7)

• “instruct one another” (Rom. 15:14)

• “greet one another with a holy kiss” (2 Cor. 13:12)

• “serve one another in love” (Gal. 5:13)

• “be kind and compassionate to one another” (Eph. 4:32)

• “speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19)

• “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph. 5:21)

• “bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another” (Col. 3:13; Eph. 4:2)

• “teach and admonish one another with all wisdom” (Col. 3:16)

• “encourage one another and build each other up” (1 Thess. 5:11)

• “spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Heb. 10:24)

• “love one another deeply, from the heart” (1 Pet. 1:22)

• “offer hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Pet. 4:9)

• “clothe ourselves with humility toward one another” (1 Pet. 5:5)

• Part of the power of the early church’s witness to the world was the way in which they put this “one another” love into practice. In the Book of Acts we read:

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. (Acts 4:32,34-35)

• “Therefore, as we have opportunity,” Paul wrote, “let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Gal. 6:10). Paul says “especially,” but certainly he did not mean “exclusively.” Our love is not to be restricted to our fellow Christians, for when Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?”, he told a story pointing to the example of that good Samaritan, that religious outsider, who showed love to a man he happened to meet along the road while traveling down to Jericho. His neighbor was the person God had placed in his path. We are called by God to love our neighbor, whoever that may be. And Jesus calls us to love even our enemies, for that is the way God loves (Matt. 5:43-47; Rom. 5:8-10).

Congregational Polity in Practice in the EFCA

1. An EFC has the freedom under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to govern its own affairs in accordance with both the mind of Christ and the Word of God.

2. An EFC develops a local church polity that fits within the following parameters of congregationalism:

a. The membership includes only those who have a personal faith in Christ (a believers’ church).

b. The collective membership in a duly called meeting is the highest authority, under Christ, in the local church, exhibiting both a willingness to be scripturally accountable to the elected leadership and encouraging elected leadership to be mutually accountable to them as the ultimate authority in the local context. Moreover, members and leaders unitedly subscribe to a relationship covenant based on Matthew 18, giving priority to biblical patterns of conflict resolution and exercising biblical discipline within the context of Christian love and cultural sensitivity.

c. Congregationalism is that form of government wherein the highest authority under Christ in a local church resides in the corporate understanding of the mind of Christ and in which a realistic process and reasonable opportunity exists by which that understanding is determined and carried out, especially as it affects such matters as:

1) Determination of membership.

2) Selection or appointment of the principal governing board (elder, deacon, etc.).

3) Selection of the senior pastor or senior directional leader(s).

4) Approval or alteration of constitution/bylaws.

5) Approval of an annual church budget.

6) Approval of any major purchase or dissolution.

3. An EFC has as its local polity a form of congregationalism that fits the size and demographics of the congregation.

4. An EFC teaches that congregationalism includes the involvement of the entire body in ministry.

5. An EFC entrusts much of the decision-making to godly leaders who are trained, trusted and allowed to lead.

(Evangelical Convictions, “Appendix Two: Congregationalism and the EFCA,” 261-262)

• History

• Pastoral staff

• Purpose/Mission statement

• Distinctives

• Organizational structure

• Constitution and Bylaws

• Finances and Budget

• Programs and ministries

• Involvement (places and ways to serve)

• Membership

• Worship services and other all-church gatherings

• Media: website, Facebook, newsletters, bulletins, special group newsletters, etc.

• Other topics

Membership

• Believer in Jesus Christ

• Marks of a believer in Jesus Christ

• Agreement to the covenant.

Conclusion/Response

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