WHOSE CHURCH IS IT, ANYWAY?
By Richard Burkard
When I first saw the headline in The Worldwide News in February 1996, I shuddered. And to make matters worse, it was in all capital letters: "WHY I'M PROUD OF MY CHURCH."
The main reason why I shuddered was the notion that Christians should be proud. After all, isn't pride condemned by Scripture after Scripture? Doesn't one verse say, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble"? (James 4:6, borrowing from Proverbs 3:34) Didn't Paul write love "is NOT proud" in I Corinthians 13:4?
But "right pride," as some Church members try to explain it, is not my issue here. As time went on, I found a second problem with that headline - the wording, "MY Church." Leaders of the old Worldwide Church of God (now Grace Communion International) tried to build this concept in the years after "the changes" of the mid-1990s. It predated the Myspace website, and even the "MyChurch" trend for naming congregations across the U.S.
The concept is imbedded in the teaching that "everyone has a ministry" - and essential in the move away from "top-down" government to congregation-led services and programs. An August 1996 WCG video even had the quote: "This church is YOUR church."
Based on the Greek root word, a "church" indeed is a community of called believers. And Paul told Corinth's believers, "We are the temple of the living God" (II Corinthians 6:16). But stunningly, the WCG Regional Pastor in my area then told congregation leaders it's NOT our church -- it's really Jesus Christ's. So who's right here? Where does the true control of the church lie?
My-Sight
The New Testament is pretty plain on this. It's as simple as checking a concordance, to see how many times the phrase "my church" occurs. Ready for the KJV answer?
Once. "Upon this rock I will build my church...." says Matthew 16:18. The person saying this is none other than Jesus Christ! And it's only appropriate, since Ephesians 5:23 calls Him "the head of the church...." (For the record, the plural possessive "our church" does not occur in the KJV at all.)
But wait, critics will argue -- there are other words in the Bible that can describe a church. This is true. For instance, there's "assembly." But the New Testament never says "my assembly." And there's only one reference to humans possessing an assembly: "For if there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring...." (James 2:2) Several commentaries point out this single case is hypothetical.
Another possible substitute term for church is "synagogue," since some of the first Christian evangelism occurred there (e.g., Acts 13:14, 18:8). But here again, there's NO "my synagogue" in the New Testament. And while "your synagogue" is a KJV marginal rendering of James 2:2 quoted above, it appears in a main text only once: "....others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town" (Matthew 23:34b, NIV). In this prophetic reference, Jesus condemns Pharisees and strict teachers of the law for upcoming persecutions of "prophets and wise men and teachers."
(And with apologies to one WCG spinoff group, the phrase "my congregation" also doesn't appear in the New Testament -- nor does "Congregation of God." The latter phrase appears only in Nehemiah 13:1. And did you know the word "congregation" appears in the King James New Testament only once? Check Acts 13:42-43, as Paul and Barnabas leave a synagogue.)
The Name Game
There's another way to look at this question, based on a different issue the old WCG emphasized for decades. Throughout the New Testament, groups are addressed as "churches of God." Some long-time members made a reference chain in their Bibles of the 12 times that phrase appears. (If you haven't done this, I Corinthians 1:2 is a good place to start.) This was even considered a proof that the WCG was "The One True Church."
Yet even some WCG ministers admitted during the 1990s this isn't such an easy and obvious matter. They suggested the church had NO real New Testament name, since several scriptures refer to groups by their locations or dwellers. Examples include "the church of the Thessalonians" (I Thessalonians 1:1) and the "seven churches" of Revelation 2-3.
When I originally wrote this article for Mark Tabladillo's "WCG Opinion and Debate" site in 1997, I was a somewhat-shaky WCG member -- and I claimed the skeptical ministers were "so scholarly that they don't know anything." But since then, I've reached the conclusion they had a good point.
While "church of God" appears 12 times in the New Testament, how do traditionalists explain away phrases such as "church of the firstborn" in Hebrews 12:23? Or "churches of the saints" in I Corinthians 14:33? Or even "the churches of Christ" in Romans 16:16 (admittedly the only such reference in the Bible)?
Here to Take Charge
The concept of "MY church" apparently caused tugs-of-war in some WCG congregations. Leaders admitted some members protested the changes of the 1990s by giving no money to Headquarters. Yet a Regional Pastor described others who demanded specific things be done with their local church activity fund. They apparently thought their donations to the fund gave them a sense of ownership, similar to shareholders attending annual corporate meetings.
Yet without a C.E.O. - or in this case, a G-O-D - the corporation could not operate effectively at all. And that's the real bottom line.
In the first place, God establishes "governing authorities" to which we should submit, even in the Church (Romans 13:1, 5). Of course, if you don't think those authorities are in line with the Bible, that poses a challenge. Paul instructed one group:"Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ" (I Corinthians 11:1). The record of the last 20 years shows many members decided not to follow the WCG/GCI leadership, and went in various directions -- sometimes changing course several times.
Secondly, if the Spirit of Christ is working in church members, they aren't really in charge anyway. Jesus is, as "the head of the Church." While God may be in us as believers, we are not God. (Whether believers will "become God" in the Kingdom is another matter altogether.)
If you think you can run the religious show, and borrow from an old Leslie Gore song: "It's MY church, and I'll _____ if I want to...." (you fill in the blank) - well, there's a word for that sort of attitude. Pride. The wrong kind.
To reply to this article, e-mail the author directly
© 1997-2021, Richard Burkard, All Rights Reserved.