Points of Concern Part 1
Having the experience of starting, working with and then leaving a “thriving house church” has led me to some recent evaluation of that work. Retrospect is a wonderful tool in that as we try to plant churches we can learn from our mistakes as well as from the things that seemed to work.
This series of post has the objective of evaluating several aspects of that work as well as the work in general that we call mission, offering some thoughts concerning this work and proffering some suggestions from the personal perspective.
Leadership
No one would deny the critical nature of forming, training and making disciples. The New Testament is clear on our task as those who are called to go and make disciples. In Matthew we find what is called the great commission.
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28 18-28 (ESV)
Discipleship concepts are as varied as denominations, local churches or even individual Christians. If you ask 10 people what is discipleship you will get multiple answers. Historically Baptist and other denominations have used many different plans. Confessions of faith were the staple of almost all mainline denominations including Baptist until the advent of the 20th century when most of these confessions were relegated to being “suggestions of faith”
Confessions of Faith have always been important to Baptists. While not approaching the status of creeds, nonetheless they have played a very significant role in Baptist life. Some of these documents are as follows:
- 1644 London Confession
- 1689 London Baptist Confession
- 1742 Philadelphia Confession
- 1833 New Hampshire Confession
- 1858 Abstract of Principles
- 1925 Baptist Faith Message
- 1963 Baptist Faith Message
- 1998 Amendment to BF&M
- 2000 Baptist Faith & Message
Even early Southern Baptist while not adopting a confession of faith as such; based most of their teachings on these earlier confessions of faith. In the 20th century Southern Baptist adopted a statement of faith know as the Baptist Faith and Message. All of these early documents had a purpose in stating basic doctrine in a systematic way and many Churches used these confessions as a way to prepare new converts (disciples) in doctrine and practices of the local church. This along with strong Biblical preaching and teaching molded the believers into a somewhat homogeneous body of believers. As Southern Baptist some have chafed under the historical confessions and even more recently under the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. (Thats another post)
As I look back on our experience of House church or as some are calling it now “Simple Church” I can see the profound failure in the area of Leadership development.
In the next installment I will continue with some areas of concern.
Blessings,
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