This morning a group of twenty-five or so evangelicals in the valleys of South Wales met in Merthyr Tydfil for the following purposes:
- To enjoy a time of fellowship over a cup of tea or coffee
- To rejoice in the supremacy of our Lord Jesus Christ and His grace toward us all
- To share what God is doing in our lives personally and in the various ministries we are involved in (mostly pastors, but we also had a young Salvation Army captain with us)
- To build relationships between a very diverse group of leaders
- Baptists
- Pentecostals
- Assemblies of God
- Independent evangelicals
- Anglicans
- Methodists
- Evangelical Presbyterians
- To spend time praying for the success and spread of the Gospel in South Wales
It was SUCH an encouraging time together! We were cognizant of our theological differences (in secondary matters), but joyful to be part of the same Church that Jesus is building in our respective communities.
Some of our more strict Reformed brethren in Wales would deny the value and legitimacy of such a meeting, even though D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones warned them years ago about the dangers of "schism" which he defined as "men and women who are agreed about the centralities of the faith disagreeing about things which are not essential: it is a tearing of the body." He went on to say, "This is always one of the dangers afflicting us as evangelicals. We can be too rigid." ((D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, What is an Evangelical? (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1992), p. 19-20))
In a further discussion, please hear what Lloyd-Jones classified as non-essentials:
One is the belief in election and predestination. Now I am a Calvinist; I believe in election and predestination; but I would not dream of putting it under the heading of essential. I put it under the heading of non-essential. Mark you, I would condemn Pelagianism; I would say Pelagianism is a denial of the truth of the Scripture with regard to salvation—that goes out. But I am thinking of Arminianism in its various forms, and therefore I do not put this into the category of essential. I do not for the reason that this, for me, is a matter of understanding. You are not saved by your precise understanding of how this great salvation comes to you. What you must be clear about is that you are lost and damned, hopeless and helpless, and that nothing can save you but the grace of God in Jesus Christ and only Him crucified, bearing the punishment of your sins, dying, rising again, ascending, sending the Spirit, regeneration. Those are the essentials.
Now when you come to ask me, How exactly do I come to a belief in this? I say that that is a matter of the understanding of the mechanism of salvation, not of the way of salvation. And here, while I myself hold very definite and strong views on the subject, I will not separate from a man who cannot accept and believe the doctrines of election and predestination, and is Arminian, as long as he tells me that we are all saved by grace, and as long as the Calvinist agrees, as he must, that God calls all men everywhere to repentance. As long as both are prepared to agree about these things I say we must not break fellowship. ((Ibid., pp. 87-88))
Now, if you cannot—or should I say if you are not willing—work alongside brothers and sisters in Christ in your local community, rejoicing in God's blessings toward them and supporting one another in the common cause of the Gospel, then I am convinced something has gone wrong with your heart and your head! We shouldn't even need to ask whether they are Calvinistic or Arminian, cessationist or non-cessationist, traditional or contemporary, high church or low church, prophetic interpretations, or church government. Sadly, I have worked with people on both extremes, and not just in the USA.
Jesus said it best: "The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." ((3 Jesus Christ, John 17:22-23, The Holy Bible, English Standard Version)
Bill:
I’m glad you were refreshed by your brethren in the Lord. Now…have you noticed the irony/difference between the last two posts?
Cooperation is a must in our rural small town. We started a youth group in cooperation with the AG church. We generally lead the teaching, they generally lead the “worship” and together we have in attendance ranging from 50-90, with an average of 70. Our local jr hi/high school has about 180 in attendance. We also cooperate on the AWANA program. Our church sponsors it, but the commander is from an independent church and we have AG, Lutheran, Episcopal, Independents, Methodists and Nazarenes and Baptists working together to share the gospel and disciple the young people of our community. We average around 50 kids (mostly boys by the way) out of 180 at the grade school. The point is not to brag. God has done this.
I will make a another comment. I hear a lot of folks bemoaning the state of cooperation. Maybe what you need is a change of scenery. Try Wales, or the Northwest US, both are mission fields. Or maybe the answer lies in thinking of your town as a mission, where cooperation is a must in trying to reach the lost and disciple believers.
Now, I don’t need any folks screaming about the slippery slope of ecumenism. How we will soon be fallen under the evils of __________ church. I know all this, I am a bapist! However, if a simple bunch of coutry bumpkins in the middle-of-nowhere can work this out to the glory of God, perhaps it can be done in other places too. Why, because we can humble ourselves and let God do it.
I’m starting to rant and ramble…it is time to go.
Keith
Keith,
Thanks for the excellent comment! You’re right about the odd juxtaposition of these last two posts. Even when working alongside those who are committed to the same Gospel, there are times of frustration (even a little hair-pulling and nail-biting) just like real flesh-and-blood families experience on an almost daily basis. We do and say stupid things that make others feel uncomfortable: sometimes even angry.
That was the case with me on Tuesday evening. It was SUCH a great evening together, but I felt it was nearly spoiled by the cultural insensitivities of the visiting pastor. I’m sure it was unintentional on his part and certainly his team is to be commended for bring 58 people to do missions in Wales at a personal cost of nearly $2,000 each. All in all, it’s worth the risks involved, even if we find ourselves a bit unnerved by some of the stuff that goes against the grain of our own personal bias/preference/methodology.
I’m glad that you enjoyed such fellowship with other brothers in Christ and glad that you were encouraged. This same time of ecumenical evangelicalism is needed desperately across our world and particularly in the U.S., where some denominations (which shall remain unnamed) are more concerned about their narrow brand of denominational ‘orthodoxy’ than they are about carrying out the Great Commission (despite their claims).
Have you read Lloyd-Jones’ papers on the Puritans (placed into one volume)? Fantastic stuff! Therein he speaks about the “essentials” of the faith. A very good read.
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