Let’s go to Church: In Defense of Doctrine, Denominations, and Organized Religion
I love my church. This is one of the most welcoming and loving congregations I have been a part of. I also love this town. I grew up in the southeast, known for its “hospitality.” I have found that the town of Wickenburg, AZ is more hospitable and kind than “the south".”
One thing I have noticed, especially on community facebook pages is a desire for non-denominational churches, and more organic house churches, people gathered together worshipping in living rooms.
I understand the sentiment of both. There is something sweet about believers gathering together and worshipping together in such organic fashion. I also understand the sentiment of non-denominational churches. Perhaps the drive is a greater unity among believers who may have different perspectives than you. Perhaps people have seen denominations divide, and they don’t want any part of it.
While our church affiliates with the largest protestant denomination in the US, the Southern Baptist Convention, there are literally 65 BAPTIST denominations in the US. With so many baptist denominations alone, I could definitely understand why someone would’t want to sift through all those to see which one to become a part of. Being non denominational seems much easier and simpler.
Even so, I have some concerns for the desire for organic living room worship in place of gathering with an established church, and I have concerns over non-denominationalism, and I believe there are advantages to being a part of a denomination.
In Defense of Denominations
A Christian denomination is a voluntary partnership. As FSBCW is a part of the Southern Baptist Convention, we don’t have to be. They aren’t an authority over us, and we could easily decide to abandon that partnership. It is voluntary. And we partner together with like minded churches, to protect the truth of the gospel, and to be obedient to the great commission.
Essentially, our voluntary partnership with the SBC is all about partnering together to proclaim the truth of the gospel around the world. While you don’t see denominations in the Bible, you do see partnerships.
In Acts 11:27, some prophets came down from Jerusalem to the church at Antioch. The occasion of this visit were that these prophets were prophesying about a famine that would come upon the world. What we see is great:
And in the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea. And this they did, sending it in charge of Barnabas, and Saul, and the Elders.
This visit is recorded in Galatians 2, and when Paul and Barnabas took that collection to Jerusalem, he “submits his gospel to them” and Peter, James, and John extedned them the right hand of fellowship, affirmed their ministry to the Gentiles, and only asked that they continue to remember the poor in Jerusalem. When Paul would plant churches among the Gentiles, not only were the united in the gospel, but they united together to give towards the poor in Jerusalem. The money collected by these Gentile churches would then be taken to the Jerusalem elders to distribute as any had need.
This collection was also spoken of in 2 Corinthians 8, where even in the churches of Macedonia, which were not well off, they also gave “according to their ability and on their own accord (2 Corinthians 8:3), and they were begging for the favor of participation and the support of the saints. (8:4). Even these churches that didnt have much, saw the opportunity to become a part of something bigger than themselves, to ministry to saints that they have never met in the churches of Jerusalem.
At the end of 1 Corinthians 15, in the last verse, verse 58, In light of the resurrection of Jesus and the future resurrection of believers, the people of God are encouraged to “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain.”
What work was that? That is recorded in the next chapter.
Now concerning the collection of the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of the week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem, and if it is fitting for me to go also, they will go with me.
The churches of Corinth, Galatia, Macedonia, and all the churches joined together, and as a means of living out the gospel, they gave financially to the relief of the poor in Jerusalem.
These churches collectively could do much more and offer much more support than they could individually. As a church, we have a benevolence fund, but it isn’t much. We want to serve when we can, but by joining together as a denomination, the 50,000 plus SBC churches can do more collectively than we could ever dream of by ourselves. For example, this year at our SBC annual meeting, we learned that together we sent close to 100 missionaries, fully funded, overseas to make Christ known literally all over the globe, some to dangerous places, some to people groups who have never heard the name of Jesus.
This is not something that FSBCW could do by ourselves. We could certainly send a check to one missionary family, but it wouldn’t be enough to sustain them. This is one reason we partner together with the largest protestant denomination in the US.
In Defense of Doctrine
Maybe you would see the above stats, and the above descriptions of partnership in the Bible and say, “that sounds great, but unfortunately denominations divide. After all you did say there were at least 65 BAPTIST denominations.”
Even in the midst of so much division, I believe doctrine is important. Let me examine why doctrine is important biblically.
In Paul’s letter to Timothy, 2 Timothy 3, Paul notes a decline in the culture of serious immorality. What was Timothy to do in response to such a decline of culture? He as to Preach the Word. He was to remain steadfast at preaching the word, because,
The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears ticked, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
Timothy is to preach the word because so many people will say “we don’t need doctrine.” And when they take that posture, they begin to reject the truth for what is false. Instead of repentance, they want teachers to suit their own desires. They want so called preachers to tell them they are ok just the way they are, when our Savior and Lord begin preaching, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”
Also, the role of an elder/pastor, is to “hold fast the faithful word which is accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.” (Titus 1:9)
Sure, doctrine does divide. And it ought to be so, because doctrine clarifies what is true and what isn’t. But doctrine also unites. In our denomination, we have a statement of faith that is a unifying document. It is true, that it creates a boundary. But it also creates a banner by which many churches can unite together in gospel partnership togethers. Over 50,000 churches have united together under a common confession, a common doctrinal statement so that we unite together and partner together to advance God’s Kingdom together.
Our statement of faith does include room for disagreement on lesser important theological matters, while calling for unity on things that are crystal clear in Scripture, and that are foundational to our understanding of the gospel, and what we believe the church is, and how it ought to function.
Why not loosen your doctrinal standards? Well, that has been done in History in what is known as the Downgrade controversy, which the Baptist Union in Spurgeon’s day sought to loosen their doctrinal commitments to allow for greater association, but it actually fostered more disunity. And it caused confusion about what the gospel is. The truth is doctrinal clarity is important for unity, and it is important to be clear about what the gospel is. Lack of doctrinal clarity eventually leads the church into liberalism and eventually rejecting the truth of God’s Word altogether so that the church instead of being “the pillar and buttress of truth” united by common confession (1 Timothy 3:15-16), the church becomes somewhat of a social action club, just taking care of humanitarian needs and failing to proclaim the gospel which is the power of God for salvation (1 Corinthians 1:18, Romans 1:16)
In Defense of Organized Religion
When I was in college, I enjoyed wonderful times of devotion and worship with my college friends. Some of those friends became lifelong friends that still spur me on to to godliness today, many serving in churches across our country. But those praise times in our dorm room lobbies is not church. Your neighborhood Bible study. is not church. When we look at Scripture, the church is God’s idea, it has a membership. It has leaders, there are clear commands of what the church is supposed to do when it gathers. I understand the desire for more organic worship, but God is a God of order, and he has established the design for his church His way. Simply grabbing a guitar and singing some praise choruses and someone giving a devotional message in your living room is NOT God’s design for church.
Jesus died for the church. Ephesians 5:25 says, “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for Her.” We can see these even more in Ephesians 2:14-16:
For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.
We see that through Jesus’ death on the cross he established the church. He didn’t just die for individuals to do their own thing, He died for the church, creating the church.
The church has biblical leadership. Scripture is clear that the offices of church leadership are elders and deacons. More can be said about these offices, but you see this all throughout Scripture. (Philippians 1:1, 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, 1 Peter 5, Acts 6, Acts 14:23, Acts 20:17-38)
The church has biblical membership. There is biblical evidence that the early church kept a record of rolls. 1 Timothy 5 talks about caring for widows, and only certain types of widows are to be “put on the list” to receive a certain level of care in the church. (1 Timothy 5:9). In 1 Corinthians 5, the church was told by Paul to exclude a member who had been engaged in gross sexual immorality. By inference, you cannot exclude someone who has not formally been included in the first place. Paul refers to the same man in 2 Corinthians, and the church is told to reaffirm their love for him because he had endured sufficient punishment that was “inflicted by the majority.” You cannot have a majority if there is not a defined number of a group of people. In Hebrews 13:17, church leaders watch over the souls of their members, and have to give an account to each one. How can leaders give an account when there is no official membership? The Bible overwhelmingly supports the idea of church membership.
The church has a biblical commitment to one another. In the New Testament, churches are told how to live their lives with one another. You cannot obey these one another verses from your couch. And certainly a Bible study doesn’t do this. A Bible study doesn’t unite together to bear one another’s burdens, care for one another, confess sins to one another. They gather to study the Bible, which is all well and good, but then they go home.
The church has a biblical responsibility to gather. The word church is literally a gathering. In Hebrews 10:24-25, some were neglecting the gathering, which means they were expected to be gathering. Preaching, singing, and public reading of Scripture are all things commanded to be done during the public gathering, as well as taking the Lord’s Supper. We don’t get to decide what to do when we gather, the Bible has prescribed that. This is why “organic church” fails. Theres no elders and deacons in living room church. No official membership.
You may very well love Jesus. But Jesus has also called you to love his church. Not being a part of a church is not the way God designed the Christian life to be lived. You literally cannot obey the New Testament if you are not connected to a church.
Also, join a church that is clear on what it believes, not one that is loose on doctrine. A church that is doctrinally fuzzy, is a church that will soon reject the Bible and drift towards liberalism.
Join a church that deliberately and voluntarlity partners with other gospel preaching and docrinally sound churches so that you can acommplish greather things together for the advancement of God’s Kingdom for the Glory of God.
To know more about our church, browse this website, and contact me at jhitchcock@fsbcw.com so I can share more about what we believe and who we are!
