Read the series.
We’ve noted that some people resist committing to a local church, and I think we’ve demonstrated that their reasons for doing so are short-sighted. Even in a broken world with broken institutions full of broken people, surrounding yourself with your fellow travelers—and committing to them—is not only worth it, but it’s a mark of personal and social health.
So why get involved? Several reasons.
Here are some thoughts about the relation of the Church to the resurrection of Christ. If this is sound, it destroys any notion that the Church can be found in the OT, and eliminates one of supersessionism’s major arguments for throwing off the label of replacement theology (i.e., that the Church has always existed). This comes from the forthcoming book.
I’d like to begin a brief series on what our relationship should be with our local church. Like any culture, our culture—early 21st-century American conservative evangelicalism—has its strengths and its weaknesses, its sore spots and its blind spots. I think there are some elements in our church culture that have greatly improved on the way things used to be done—improved in the sense of becoming more in line with biblical teaching—but I think there are also some important elements that we tend to de-emphasize.
So a few posts on some of those.
To begin with, I’d like to talk about the importance of church membership.
“Whether or not one is convinced of the two kingdoms theology versus a one kingdom framework, this book rightfully guards against an over-realized eschatology that underlies the cultural compromise and mission drift so common in the church.” - P&D
In Romans 11, Paul finally answers the question he’s been dancing around since ch. 9: what is God’s plan for the people of Israel?
“of the nineteen uses of βασιλεία in the NT epistles, fully half of them occur in contexts of church membership, most often that of church discipline.” - DBTS Blog
“if the church uses its time and energy and resources to steer a course toward a mission that the Lord never gave them, they are most likely neglecting or convoluting in some way their actual mission.” - P&D
“the church isn’t primarily a place you go to. It’s a gathering of people you belong to.” - Word by Word
“the ‘officialese’ is far less important than the notion, ‘I really belong here and am absolutely committed here.’ To turn away from that, to reject it, or to deny it is really to repudiate what Christ has brought you into” - Sinclair Ferguson
