Pure Church

For the past couple of weeks, we have been thinking together about some reasons for pursuing a regenerate church membership. We've discussed in brief how regenerate membership benefits the corporate church family, encourages the pastor, prepares individual members for heaven, protects and clarifies the gospel for non-Christians. These were attempts at making a positive statement for prayerfully working to ensure that members we take into the local church family evidence repentance from sin and faith in Christ.

But the question remains: how do we get from here to there? How do we avoid the wrong kind of growth while pursuing a church whose membership is comprised of Believers? I would like to end this series of posts with a few ideas for reforming our membership practices. Much more about these ideas could be said and has (see The Deliberate Church, particulary chapters 4 and 5).

1. Preach the gospel. Okay, that seems basic enough. But, we should work diligently to be sure that all of our expositions contain clear declarations of the Good News. We should work to apply the gospel to our own hearts in our sermon preparations, to apply it to our people, and make direct appeals to any non-Christians in our assembly to repent from sin and turn toward God through faith in Christ. Let's be sure that we take every appropriate opportunity afforded by the texts we preach to point the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

2. Preach church membership. In addition to preaching the gospel, we should also remember that many of our people have heard little if any teaching about the importance of church membership. Far too many Christians have a low view of the church, seeing her as an optional "club" to be joined only when their personal, designer needs are satisfied. Let's teach them that membership in the local church is essential. Remind them that many things that are clear in Scripture would clearly make no sense if church membership was not actively practiced in the early church (for example, church leadership, church discipline, caring for widows and the poor in the number, etc.). Use the "one another" passages to press home the need for a genuine commitment to know and be known by a local body of believers, to share their lives through active membership.

3. Require completion of membership classes. Many people can and do join churches without much more than walking down front or signing a church card. Not surprisingly, failure to clarify what commitments membership entails results in disagreements, misunderstandings, and confusion. Use membership classes to cover the basics in your church. At our church, we require completion of a six week course that covers the church's statement of faith, church covenant, church history, the SBC, reasons for joining a church, and particular "nuts and bolts" for our local congregation (elders, deacons, baptism policy, etc.). Prospective members are required to complete the class before they can request a membership interview, but they are not obligated to join once completing the class. What we're after are "informed consumers" (I hate the phrase) who commit to the church understanding who we are and how we live.

4. Require membership interviews with church leaders (pastors/elders). Following completion of the membership classes, prospective members who decide to join must then request a membership interview with a pastor/elder. In the membership interview, we want to discern whether a person understands the gospel and whether they have a credible conversion story that commends the gospel. We use the interview as another oportunity to make sure they understood things from the membership classes and answer any of their questions. And lastly, we talk with them about ways they can become involved in the life of the church (small groups, 1-on-1 discipleship, etc.).

5. Make sure the prospective member both understands the gospel and gives a credible account of saving faith in Jesus Christ. During the membership interview, we ask people to share their testimony and we ask them to recount the gospel in 60 seconds or less (Einstein once said, "If you can't explain a thing simply, you don't understand it well enough"). We want to hear prospective members articulate God--Man--Christ--Response in some coherent fashion. We're not judging eloquence here, but clarity. Does the person understand that God is holy and will not suffer sin to go unpunished, that man is a sinner in danger of the wrath of God, that Jesus Christ is the God-man that has died in the place of sinners who respond to the invitation of the gospel with repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? If a person seems unclear on the gospel after some clarifying questions if necessary, we suggest that they meet with another member or pastor to do a six-week evangelistic Bible study called Christianity Explained. If after this study we're satisfied with the person's understanding of the gospel, then we forward their application to the elders for review and recommendation to the congregation for membership at an upcoming members' meeting.

6. Establish higher expectations for prospective members. The other thing we stress to prospective members during the membership interview are five "expectations" for all members: (1) regular attendance at Sunday morning and Sunday evening gatherings; (2) give regularly to the work of the ministry; (3) attend special meetings; (4) participate in the Lord's supper and baptism observances; and (5) pray regularly for the church and other members (one page per day through the membership directory).

7. Have prospective members sign your church's covenant and statement of faith. This is good practice for a number of reasons. The very act of signing is associated with commitment, and most people want to be sure they know what the documents entail before signing (DC is full of lawyers!). Also, a signed "agreement" to uphold the doctrine and practice of the church tends to help a tad in legal disputes from time to time.

8. Require the congregation to vote on each prospective members' application for membership. At our church's members' meetings, we present to the congregation each applicant for membership with a brief summary of the applicant's testimony (usually the high point of the meeting). Potential members are voted on individually. The congregational vote indicates a church-wide commitment to care for each individual to join and is a regular reminder of the covenant we pledge to uphold.

9. Restore the practice of loving church discipline. Ninety-five percent of church discipline is formative; it occurs as our lives are shaped by the preaching and application of God's word to our lives. The remainder, corrective church discipline, occurs when a member must be removed from the membership with the hopes of producing repentance and restoration (Matt. 18; 1 Cor. 5).

Suggestions 1-7 aim at creating a well-taught, meaningful membership. Apart from creating deeper fellowship among the members (hospitality, mutual care, discipleship relationships, etc.), loving church discipline lies outside the reach of the congregation. And, these are just some ideas from one church's experience and practice. Please feel free to add others.

The Lord will return for a pure, radiant bride. Our feeble efforts at cultivating a regenerate membership, like conversion itself, depends on the gracious work of the Holy Spirit. Without discernment, love, grace, and patience... the work of watching for the souls entrusted to our care will be frustrated and fruitess.

I pray that the faithful efforts of pastors everywhere would meet with much God-wrought fruit for His glory.

Charlotte Allen of The LA Times points out that the chickens have come home to roost for liberal "Christianity," with its emphasis on homosexuality and heretical views of the godhead (read here). An brief blurb from this excellent piece:

The Presbyterian Church USA is famous for its 1993 conference, cosponsored with the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and other mainline churches, in which participants "reimagined" God as "Our Maker Sophia" and held a feminist-inspired "milk and honey" ritual designed to replace traditional bread-and-wine Communion.

As if to one-up the Presbyterians in jettisoning age-old elements of Christian belief, the Episcopalians at Columbus overwhelmingly refused even to consider a resolution affirming that Jesus Christ is Lord. When a Christian church cannot bring itself to endorse a bedrock Christian theological statement repeatedly found in the New Testament, it is not a serious Christian church. It's a Church of What's Happening Now, conferring a feel-good imprimatur on whatever the liberal elements of secular society deem permissible or politically correct.

On a related note, the BBC is reporting that the Church of England, at a recent meeting of its ruling body in York, is reversing 2,000 years of history by interpreting the Bible in such a way as to allow ordination of women bishops.

The Washington Post ran a brief article on blogger-pastors, and speculating whether the blogger phenomenon is comparable to a new Reformation or traveling Wesley's 250,000 miles on horseback with a click of a mouse. Al Mohler is thinking about apologetics in a postmodern era where truth has little currency. Historian Mark Noll recalls a time when the KJV used to be our common text and provider of cultural lexicon. Russell Moore reflects further on how the loss of the KJV produces a certain loss of intergenerational connectedness.

I had rather be poor for Thy sake, than rich without Thee. I choose rather to be a pilgrim upon the earth with Thee than without Thee to possess heaven. Where Thou art, there is heaven; and where Thou are not, behold there death and hell. (The Imitation of Christ, Third Book, chapter LIX)

From day to day, how conscious is our choice to be a pilgrum on earth with Christ? How conscious and pervasive is out clutching onto Jesus and the hope of heaven? Or, are we more often than not unconsciously/uncritically embracing "death and hell" with an all-too-unaware approach to living?

If we are exiles and refugees on earth (1 Peter 2:11), and if our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20), and if nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35), and if his steadfast love is better than life (Psalm 63:3), and if all hardship is working for us an eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17), then we will give to the winds our fears and "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). We will count everything as rubbish in comparison with Christ (Philippians 3:7-8). We will "joyfully accept the plundering of our property" for the sake of unpopular acts of mercy (Hebrews 10:34). We will choose "rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin," and will count "the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt" (Hebrews 11:25-26).

John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life (Crossway), p. 108.

Justin Taylor has posted a very thoughtful and instructive interview with my man Curtis Allen, a.k.a. Voice. Curtis is a pastoral intern at Covenant Life Church and has released an excellent CD called Progression, a parable of sorts on the Christian life. Check out this interview with this modern-day Bunyan describing in hip hop vernacular and Reformed conviction pilgrim's progress as he sees it.

Speaking of Pilgrim's Progress, Anthony Carter is doing an interesting series of studies on this timeless classic. Check him out here.

In late June, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Joseph Lowery and hundreds of black church leaders around the country participated in a three-day black clergy conference in Dallas that focused on combatting "Christian conservatives they say have used gay marriage and abortion to distract from larger moral issues such as the war, voting rights, affirmative action and poverty." Conference organizers called for an aggressive mid-term election strategy aimed at bringing out black voters and pusing Democrats to take a tougher stand on social issues.

I read this article and thought... it's well past time to reform the model of black pastoral leadership at play at the national and local church levels.

Since the earliest days of an independent Black church, Black church pastors have played the role of community leader, organizer, and public intellectual. Historically, those roles were necessarily played by pastors because the church was the one institution controlled by African Americans and often pastors were among the better gifted and educated leaders in the community. There was no sufficient political infrastructure for mustering resistance to social and political injustice outside of the local church prior to the late 1960s. And once Dr. King became the icon of the Civil Rights movement, with television broadcasting the poignant protests of church leaders and community members into American living rooms, the pastor-as-Civil-Rights-leader became the dominant paradigm for successful pastoral leadership.

But is today's church in the same situation as the Black church of the 1830s or the 1950s? Must it play the same vanguard role? Are there no other worthy players?

I think the answers are no, no, and yes. No, today's church is in a substantially different situation than that of the 1830s or the 1950s. Far more resources flow through black churches, and far less is expected of most preachers. Also, the political infrastructure is significantly more developed for tackling tough social and political issues. The number of national and local organizations dedicated to social justice, civil rights, and community development is mind-boggling compared to even 40 years ago. And not surprisingly, the "intelligentsia" has also mushroomed. There exists competent and committed Black leadership at every level, both inside and outside of government, with education and expertise surpassing that of most African-American pastors.

So, the kind of leadership typified by a Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Rev. Joseph Lowery has, I'm afraid, played out.

The African-American church needs leaders that are not as concerned with political wars and public policy as much as they are concerned with a faithful proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Mid-term elections pale in comparison to the serious assaults committed by the enemy of our souls against the church and African Americans. While the church has given its brightest and best in the cause of social justice, she has suffered a significant drain on her leadership resources and her primary mission of making disciples. Consequently, today's Black church may in many ways be weaker than the church in 1830!

The church of 1830 boasted men like Lemuel Haynes who managed to keep a hawk-like eye on gospel orthodoxy (his most famous publication was a tract against Universalism) and THE pressing political issue of the day--slavery (consider his excellent essays on the incompatibility of slavery with Christianity and Republican ideals, True Republicanism and Liberty Futher Extolled). Haynes' understanding of the gospel defined his political stance. Too many of today's pastors have abandoned the gospel to grope for politically relevant positions.

Another example.... The Black church of 1830 practiced church discipline in an effort to protect the integrity of the gospel and the local church (Greg Wills' Democratic Religion is an excellent treatment of this subject). It maintained a community wide concern for the welfare of all African Americans, but a significant number of churches attempted to maintain distinctions between the world and the church. Today, church discipline is unheard of as high rates of illegitimacy, sexual immorality, and substance addictions plague the church and the surrounding community. Homosexuality is gaining a stronger and more public foothold in many churches, as are women preachers.

The African-American church is in desperate need of biblically-qualified, gospel-preaching, Christ-treasuring, church-loving, evangelistic, intellectually-rigorous men to lead her, protect her, sacrifice for her, serve her, reform and strengthen her. We can not withstand another generation of Sharpton and Jackson-like preachers who give more attention to politics (liberal or conservative) than they give to feeding the Lord's sheep and watching over the flock of God entrusted to their care. This world is fading away and people are perishing. I shudder to think of that stricter account we ministers of the Gospel will give to the Lord of creation on that day when judgment begins at the household of God.

Jackson contends that the effort produced by the clergy conference is a "fight for America's soul." The real fight for souls in America involves fighting for gospel faithfulness inside the church--black, brown, yellow, and white.

Sharpton complains that Christian conservatives "have used gay marriage and abortion to distract from larger moral issues such as the war, voting rights, affirmative action and poverty." Certainly abortion, which has multiplied the number of deaths of Vietnam, is not a smaller moral issue than the war in Iraq or voting rights, etc. But choosing anyone one of these causes over steadfast proclamation of the truth that a holy God is angry with sinful man but has laid his wrath upon His one and only Son in their place so that the repentant and faithful shall be saved is a colossal blunder. If the church abandons the gospel to pursue partisan politics, who will preach the gospel? Who will send the preacher? How can man be saved?

We need a biblical model of church leadership. Now is the time to leave politics to others.

I've gathered some fresh inspiration for fervent reading from the ladies over at girl talk. They included this wonderful quote from Charles Spurgeon in a recent post:

"...listen to Mr. Spurgeon go off about books in response to this verse: “When you [Timothy] come bring the cloak which I [Paul] left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments" (2 Timothy 4:13).

He is inspired, and yet he wants books! He has seen the Lord, and yet he wants books! He has had wider experience than most men, and yet he wants books! He had been caught up in the third heaven, and had heard things unlawful for a man to utter, yet he wants books! He has written a major part of the New Testament, and yet he wants books! The apostle says to Timothy and so he says to every Christian, ‘Give thyself to reading.’ The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains proves he has no brains of his own.

Right now I'm reading:
Chawkat Moucarry's The Prophet & the Messiah: An Arab Christian's Perspective on Islam and Christianity (IVP) - an excellent apologetic; written with great charity and thorough knowledge of the Quran, the Hadith, and Muslim theologians like Razi and Ghazali; and a book that I would be very happy to hand to my Muslim friends with an invitation to discuss.

Shayne Lee's T.D. Jakes: America's New Preacher (NYU Press) - a puff piece on the rise and fame of T.D. Jakes. Lee seems to think Jakes is a hero because he's an entrepreneur, nevermind the heresies he preaches. Shows little to no regard for the harmful, gospel-obscuring effects of Jakes' teachings.

John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life (Crossway) - I've thoroughly enjoyed reading this with a younger Christian brother at church; it's produced good fruit in both of our lives; thanks again John for teaching me to savor the Savior and to live zealously for His glory.

Richard Lint, Michael S. Horton, and Mark R. Talbot (eds.) Personal Identity in Theological Perspective (Eerdmans) - a collection of essays on theological anthropology. I've only read the first two chapters which give something of an overview of Christian anthropology. Insightful so far. But what I'm really looking for is a good anthropology that attempts to help today's church properly understand issues of race and culture and their implications for "doing church." I welcome all suggestions.

In our brief series of posts on pursuing regenerate church membership, we've maintained that such a pursuit is good and necessary for the health of the church because it strengthens the corporate life of the church, improves the relationship between pastor and congregation, and blesses the individual spiritual lives of members. Those benefits should be enough to make most Christians interested in reforming church membership practices with the prayerful aim of increasingly limiting church membership to persons who give evidence of adequate knowledge of the gospel, personal experience of conversion, and fruit worthy of repentance and abiding faith.

But there are two other benefits to consider. The pursuit of a regenerate church membership helps to both clarify the Gospel and to further the evangelistic efforts of the local church. Today's post will consider these two benefits, and Lord willing a future post will offer some practical thoughts on how to begin pursuing healthier membership practices.

1. A regenerate church membership helps Christians live lives worthy of the Gospel. "Let your conduct be worth of the gospel" is the Apostle's straight-forward command to the Philippian church (Phil. 1:27). Can we credibly say that filling our membership rolls with people who show no evident signs of grace and conversion is to "let our conduct be worthy of the gospel?" Is it "worthy of the gospel" to call people "Christians" who "forsake the assembly" and live unrepentant sinful lives? If a Christian is one who is purchased with the precious blood of the one and only Son of God, surely his or her live should adorn the good news of the Savior (Titus 2:10b) with humility, joy, purity, love peace, faith, kindness, etc. A Spirit-filled life is worthy of the Gospel. It protects and affirms the Gospel by demonstrating that a Christian is one supernaturally changed by the Spirit of God who grants repentance, faith, a new heart, eternal and abundant life, and a new hope. How often is the gospel disparaged in the eyes of a perishing world because it's left languishing in the hands of churches that do not work to preserve a distinction between the world and the redeemed? We would do much to protect the gospel, to clarify its effects in the lives of the converted, and to witness a good profession before the world if we would pursue a Christian church as best we can.

2. A regenerate church membership helps the church to speak evangelistically to the non-Christian. This follows from most everything we've been saying up to this point. But here, I want to offer a number of thoughts about how this helps the non-Christian to think more soberly about the state of his soul before the Lord.

• Practicing church membership penetrates the veil of deception caused by false teachers (Eph. 5:5-6). Many are comforted in their sins by preachers and churches that think doing a good law work is out of fashion, that sin is not a serious problem. To encounter healthy churches that have wise, biblically-informed membership practices is surely a jolt to persons wandering under such delusions. It may be that many will come to see and know their disqualification (2 Cor. 13:5) through the faithful proclamation of the gospel and practice of church membership.

• Still others will be made aware of self-deception, that they have been possessors of a form of godliness but denying the power of God and pursuing false pleasures (2 Tim. 3:1-5; Titus 1:15,16). Their deception results not from false teaching about sin per se but a failure to see themselves accurately. It's significant that these persons are a real concern addressed in the pastoral epistles, where we take so much of our instruction on how to govern the local church. Good membership practices -- like requiring participation in membership classes where the gospel, the church's statement of faith, and the church's covenant (if you have one) are detailed and applied and membership interviews with pastors/elders where examination for an understanding of the gospel and a credible profession of conversion are given -- hopefully cause potential member to test themselves to see whether they are in the faith before they join the church. Pursuing a regenerate membership hopefully teaches such persons not to blaspheme (1 Tim. 1:20) or bear false witness.

• The practice of church membership, particularly the practice of church discipline, works to save the soul of folks who are potentially non-believers, potentially self-deceived. That's the end-game for Paulo's instruction to the Corinthians; they are to put the one who calls himself a "brother" out of the fellowship so that his spirit might be saved (1 Cor. 5:5). Is there a worthier aim for reforming membership practices in churches? We desire that all men would come to a saving knowledge of the Truth. And we pray fervently that those who would know the discipline of the church would be won to the truth and to pure faith in the Lord Jesus, knowing the comfort (2 Cor. 2:6-8) and the instruction in righteousness (Heb. 12:5-13) that comes from faithful correction.
  

The local church that does not pursue regenerate church membership poses a great danger to the souls of men. We unsuspectingly offer our non-Christian friends a harbor for perishing in their sins, lulling them into an ever-deeper self-deception.

As I was finishing up this post, I came across a fitting quote from Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones. It points out the dual danger that an unregenerate church membership poses for both the church and the false professor. It's taken from the first sermon he preached at Westminster (29 Dec. 1935; reprinted in The Banner of Truth, March 2006). Here's how Lloyd-Jones opened his exposition of John 6:66-68):

I feel it is an interesting and profitable subject to try to decide which is the more dangerous position for a man to be in - to state openly and avowedly that he is not at all interested in Christ and religion, or to follow Christ for the wrong and false reason. I know that, ultimately, there is no difference between these two men. The one who follows Christ for the wrong reason is as much outside the kingdom as the man who makes no pretence to follow Christ at all. That is perfectly true. But I do think there is an important distinction between the two when you regard things merely from the human standpoint. The difficulty with the man who follows Christ for a wrong reason is that he not only deludes himself, but he also deludes the church. When you are confronted by one who says he does not believe in Christ, then you know exactly what to say and what to do with him. When a man presents himself as a religious person, the church tends to take him for granted; it would be an insult to question him. The church assumes that because he acknowledges himself to be a religious man, therefore he is a Christian. One of the most dangerous places for such a man to be in is the church of the living God.

I am not at all sure but that one explanation for the present state of the church is to be found at just that point: she has been far too ready to associate church membership with true discipleship, and to assume that all who join the church are really following Christ.

When the Southern Baptist Convention failed to adopt a resolution to make its membership practices more reliable and healthy, arguing that the inflated membership rolls make a good prospect list for evangelism, I'm afraid it may have declared itself the enemy and not the friend of those persons listed on rolls, perhaps believing they are Christians, but who may one day meet the Lord to hear that terrible pronouncement: "Depart from me for I never knew you." It would be far better to remove those persons from membership, even if it means lovingly rankling a few feathers, and have those persons hear the message that their local church can no longer in good conscience affirm their testimony to be a Christian. After all, it is fare more likely the outcome that hearing that message may be what the Holy Spirit uses to prick the conscience, stir the heart, and convert sinner. The alternative -- keeping people on a list and either never seeing them participate in the life of the local church or watching them live unrepentant, unaccountable lives -- holds no promise either for the local church or the souls of the unsaved.

Yesterday I had the wonderful privilege of celebrating the Lord's day at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD. It was an immense honor to serve some of my favorite pastors by opening God's Word during their services. Bob Kaughlin (check out his blog) did an outstanding job in leading us in song. C.J. Mahaney was his typically encouraging self. And Josh Harris is as hospitable and generous a pastor as you'll meet. Jeff Pursewell, who leads the Sovereign Grace pastors' college, joined us for lunch and was his usual humble yet intellectually astute self. What was also evident to me was the work of God's Spirit in that congregation in producing a deep humility, an attitude of service backed with action, great joy fired by a love for the Truth, and attentive ears for God's word. I praise God for the saints at Covenant Life and for the great work He is doing in the Sovereign Grace family of churches. May all churches be marked by such devotion to the Savior and love for the brethren! Thanks Josh and C.J. for the amazing experience and joy of fellowshipping with you all yesterday. And please thank your lovely families for giving you all up for the afternoon to talk over dinner. It was a fitting end to a great Lord's day.

I found this resource from John MacArthur and the Shepherd's Fellowship. I was particularly encouraged with MacArthur's short reflections on his love for the church. After an introduction, MacArthur explains that he loves the church because:

• It Is Being Built by the Lord Himself (Part 1),
• The Church Is the Outworking of an Eternal Plan (Part 2),and
• The Church Is the Most Precious Reality on Earth (Part 3).

Last week I had the wonderful privilege of speaking at a Carl F. H. Henry Forum on my conversion from Islam to Christianity. The event was sponsored by my current church, Capitol Hill Baptist Church. I post it here with the hopes that it would be an encouragement to the saints to remember the work of God's grace in their own lives and to faithfully proclaim the gospel to their family and friends.

Well... are you? What does your spiritual well-being depend on? A helpful meditation over at River and Rhett.

Lig Duncan, commenting on a statemtent from David Wells, writes over at T4G:

"those who are most relevant to this world are those who are judged most irrelevant." This instructs us that faithfulness is always relevant, even if our contemporaries don't think it is relevant.

Our Friday challenge: As Christians and pastors, are guided more by the opinions of our contemporaries and what they think is relevant or are we faithful to God's word, despising the judgments of men?

Dr. Mohler has written a helpful commentary on the recent proposals regarding baptism and church membership in Baptist churches. He states:

...baptism has been understood by all major branches of Christianity, throughout the centuries of Christian experience, to be a requirement for church membership and the fellowship of the Lord’s table. Thus, for Baptists to receive into the membership of a Baptist church (or to invite to the Lord’s Supper) any believer who lacks such baptism, is to receive non-baptized persons as if they were baptized.

Any compromise of Baptist conviction concerning the requirement of believer’s baptism by immersion amounts to a redefinition of Baptist identity. More importantly, it raises the most basic questions of ecclesiology. We must give those questions intent attention in these days. Otherwise, will there be any Baptists in the next generation?

Justin Taylor is hosting a conversation in response Mohler's post.

For my part (and I'm definitely no Al Mohler or John Piper), the issue really boils down to three questions.
1. What is baptism?
2. What is the relationship between baptism (as defined in 1) and church membership?
3. What are the appropriate principles upon which to build a "novel" approach to question 2 (assuming one thinks the scripture is unclear on 1 and 2)?

Some of the discussants believe the Scriptures to be unclear or inconclusive on questions 1 and 2. But everywhere we see baptism on the pages of the NT the subjects are professing believers (not infants) by immersion. Even the great commission from our Lord, if we think the ordering of the words have any significance, makes baptism consequent to credible discipleship. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..." (Matt. 28:19). If we ask, "what is baptism?" we should arrive at a definition that rules out any rite that occurs before a person demonstrates a credible possession of saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Then the question becomes what relationship does such a view of baptism have with church membership. Certainly the way Paul assumes that the Christians in Rome were already baptized at least suggests that baptism was either a prerequisite for membership or normally conducted early in one's church membership experience (see Rom. 6:3). There doesn't seem to be any NT idea that one could be a member and not have been properly baptized as a repenting, professing believer in Jesus Christ.

But supposing one doesn't buy the brief argument above? On what principles would we form an alternative to the historical Baptist distinctives on this issue? It seems to me that much of this debate is fueled by a somewhat emotional "fairness" appeal. In other words, "since it would be unfair to exclude someone because they hold a different view of baptism, we should change our policy or reconceptualize the relationship between baptism and church membership." If I'm correct that a "fairness" principle is at work here, I'd suggest that it's an insufficient principle for driving the debate. As one who believes the scripture is sufficiently clear on questions 1 and 2 above, the critical principle it seems to me is "faithfulness," not fairness. We're called to be faithful even with the difficult truths of scripture, and we're called to submit to those truths in loving obedience to the Lord. After all, the next clause in the great commission passage reads, "...teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you..." (Matt. 28:20).

Christians of genuine faith and strong conviction have historically disagreed over the matter of defining and practicing baptism. I appreciate the new proposals' effort at reaching visible unity across these disagreements, even though a visible unity alone is an insufficient grounds for driving this change. And I appreciate the way Christians are today discussing these issues with charity as well as conviction. I pray that the Lord would use these discussions to purify His bride.

"the pastors who pose the greatest threat to the church today will all confess belief in the right things. They will say they believe in the authority and inerrancy of the Bible, that Jesus saves, and even that Jesus is the only way of salvation."

Huh? To see how this is true, read more here.

Gabriel Fluhrer at River and Rhett posted a good, brief reflection on why we should delight in the local church. It's good writing, and it reminds us why all who are called Christ-ian should be thankful to the Lord of the Church for the gift of fellowship in His body. But it's not sentimental tripe; it's a challenging call to be the church. Here's exhibit A:

We who belong to churches must put aside the false face of commercial respectability, be vulnerable and do something radically different from po-mo'ism: SERVE one another. As I heard Pastor Mike Campbell say at Twin Lakes this year: "Your Savior washed feet!" Service to one another in love - sounds pretty John 15-ish to me.

That's authentic community. That's what this world needs, but not what it wants. What most people want is more activities, more programs, more buildings, less preaching, less Scripture, more superficial "service opportunities" - in short, anything to drown out the incessant din of the naggings of unsatisfied conscience. It's always easier to sign up for one more thing than have your lost neighbor over for lunch. It's always easier to give that check (and we need more, don't get me wrong!) for foreign missions than to talk to that co-worker about Christ. The Gospel answers all of these needs, and more. Jesus tells us how to be authentic: worship Him only and serve one another in love.

Fluhrer not only puts his finger on the problem, but also points to the solution.

We live in times that are calling out for something real. We've got it. It's called Christianity by the Book, lived out with passion and self-sacrifice. Heed the call to die to self that you might gain real life. Far from being the most service-oriented, community-desiring generation, we live in the most materialistic, selfish, lemming-like age of insipid nonsense - both in the Church and out - so that the only thing that is truly counter-cultural anymore (even punk is now acceptable as a style of jeans!) is TRUE, Biblical Christianity lived out selflessly. And that only happens when blood-washed, Spirit-empowered, self-denying, Christ-exalting redeemed sinners get together and WORSHIP.

And this is why Gabriel Fluhrer loves the church. Take a moment and think... why do you love the church?

Serve another today... post an edifying comment on a favorite blog about why you love the church.

Even our Orthodox Jewish friends wish to be careful with who they call "Jews". It's staggering that Christian churches, who understand the eternal importance of genuine repentance and faith, would be careless in helping new and old members "test themselves to see whether they are in the faith."

At the centenary of the Azusa Street revival, which ushered in Pentecostalism, Calvin College is operating a new project that promises to explore the intersections between Pentecostalism and science. The research project assembles scholars from various fields to make contributions that may result in text books for use at interested colleges and universities. Perhaps this is a part of the new Pentecostalism's effort to be "intellectually respectable."

A couple weeks ago, Rick Warren was scheduled to make his first speaking appearance in a Jewish synagogue. We posed the question, "Would Rick Warren's words at that June 16th event earn him the same treatment that Jesus' received when he spoke in Jewish religious settings?" Apparently, the answer is "no."

According to a press release from Religion News Service, Warren and one of the leaders of Synagogue 3000, a movement to revitalize Jewish religious activity, "engaged in dialogue with an audience of several hundred participants about the need to tackle the enormous challenges of poverty, illiteracy, illness, and hunger that plague the world." Sounds a little like the kinds of questions contestants in beauty pageants are normally asked. These aren't small problems, but what about questions of eternal importance? Instead of discussions about inheriting the world to come, Warren and his host discussed how to "cooperate to promote tikkun olam, the betterment of God's world." Isn't this world passing away? Aren't we looking for another?

And the kick in the head.... Warren has decided to follow up this "historic" event with another. He has invited popular Jewish musical artist Craig Taubman to "share songs from the Jewish liturgy as part of the worship service" at Saddleback. Not only did Warren's talk not result in the treatment we might expect for proclaiming clearly that Jesus is the Messiah and all must repent and believe in Him... it was so far from that that several thousand Christians will now participate in a "worship" service where the theological theme is either the Messiah is not yet come or that there is no Messiah.

We must do better. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first....