The Christadelphian June 2009, The Committee of The Christadelphian

“Being a Christadelphian - Holding Fast in Challenging Times”

It is apparent to all of us that Gospel truth is under serious threat in these last days – just as we expected it to be. We are living at a time of unprecedented dependence on material possessions and human solutions, and need to be vigilant about ourselves. The very prophecies that warn of the heedlessness and wilful ignorance of mankind immediately before the Lord’s coming also remind us of this. Attacks on faith rarely come only from without. Paul warned the elders in Ephesus, “Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves” (Acts 20:30).

This has been true in every generation. However, it may be that believers today are more vulnerable for several reasons. Despite improvements in formal education, knowledge of the scriptures is now poorer than ever, even within the brotherhood. In this busy world there are more pursuits that consume our time and take us away from fellowship with our brothers and sisters. One effect of today’s challenges to our faith is that the Christadelphian understanding of scripture is often questioned, despite its being based on the apostolic Gospel. A strong desire exists in some quarters to see radical innovations in faith and life, including many practices that have characterised life in the brotherhood throughout its history.

The main areas where Bible faith is currently being challenged are listed below. All are subjects where there is unmistakable Bible teaching about the need for true believers to respond to God’s call with distinctive attitudes, values, beliefs and practices. These inevitably require a certain separation from both the secular world and the wider religious world in order to be separated to the service of God.

• A robust and comprehensive understanding of what Christadelphians believe and practise (including aspects of separation from the world) is not deemed essential to true baptism.

• Our distinctive Bible-based beliefs are said to be unreasonable. Instead brothers and sisters are encouraged to ignore existing fellowship boundaries and pursue links with other church groups, to attend ecumenical activities and conferences, and not to restrict fellowship at the memorial table.

• The scriptural authority of the ecclesia is either ignored or undermined in favour of looser groupings operating on a different basis.

• The style of worship promoted at ecumenical gatherings is preferred to the worship developed within the brotherhood, aspects of which are reflected particularly in the deeply thoughtful and scriptural words of many of our hymns.

• Popular Christian literature is read (often indiscriminately) and promoted widely, while material produced by brothers and sisters is frequently ignored, or if noticed it is denigrated and ridiculed.

• Practices are stridently advanced that are clearly rejected in the scriptures, but which are promoted in our politically-correct world that allows no discrimination on grounds of gender or sexuality.

• There is an emphasis on what is modern and novel, while terms such as “traditional” and “historical” are used pejoratively.

• There is a suggestion that there is somehow something shameful about being known as a Christadelphian – a brother or sister of Christ.

These suggested changes to our beliefs and practices often arise through communication outside the normal accountability we are accustomed to in ecclesial life: by telephone, e-mail, internet forums, chat-rooms and social networking sites. Electronic communication allows rapid exchange of information and ideas, which can be put to valuable use in our fellowship and preaching. But other things can also circulate widely and quickly, such as unfounded allegations, problems that would normally be contained, frustrations that would be better addressed privately and sensitively.

Modern methods of communication can be hugely influential in changing attitudes and social values, and we may feel powerless against the barrage of ideas and information. But there is something that every brother and sister can do – in the ecclesia, in publications and in personal conversations – to challenge and refute the suggestions that are beginning to emerge. We can be awake and alert to the possibility of these attitudes and ideas influencing us and other members of our ecclesias. This article is an appeal for all to be involved in reappraising where we stand.

Why do such challenges gain support?

They do so because they are being promoted as if they reflect scripture teaching. This is only achieved because the word of God is being expounded unfaithfully and referenced selectively: Bible quotations are attached to conclusions that arise from human thinking, rather than from carefully reasoned considerations of Bible teaching. Instead of allowing the word of God to shape the understanding, verses or phrases are taken out of context to match preconceived ideas. The word of truth is not being rightly divided either in taking a balanced view of the whole counsel of God, or in accurately interpreting individual passages in their context. There is a rejection of principles that are found throughout scripture – Old Testament as well as New – despite the clear evidence that all scripture is inspired by God and tells a consistent story.

We describe our faith as based on the wide-ranging scriptural teaching of Jesus and the apostles, and our practices as patterned on how the early ecclesias operated. Many of these practices are now being openly challenged. Some brothers and sisters talk vaguely of being ‘baptized into Jesus’, as if knowledge and understanding of the beliefs on which baptism is based is unimportant. They do not accept that ecclesias have scriptural authority to withdraw or restrict fellowship; they believe that individuals are free to break bread wherever and with whomever they choose, being answerable only to their own consciences; they do not accept that when issues arise between ecclesias, the scriptural principle is for matters to be discussed jointly in an attempt to strengthen fellowship and avoid schism and further dissent (Acts 15:2). [1] Equally, they do not accept as applicable today the practices that were enjoined on first century believers. Some, for example, reject the appointment of spiritually mature brothers to be responsible for ecclesial arrangements; or they deny that there are different scriptural roles for brothers and sisters in ecclesial worship. [2] But the present challenge goes farther even than that. It does not choose simply to ignore certain Bible teachings; it often adopts a position that is in direct opposition to them.

Is change needed?

Of course we should freely and openly discuss the teaching of scripture: God’s people have always been encouraged to talk about His revealed word (Deuteronomy 6:6,7; Malachi 3:16). And it is appropriate for us to change aspects of the way we worship and preach the Gospel, as circumstances around us change. God’s word provides a clear lead if we approach it prayerfully and humbly. Unless a practice is specifically mentioned in the scriptures we need to recognise that it is simply a convenient arrangement that has been agreed to aid the smooth running of the ecclesia. Paul exhorted the believers to try all things, but he also stressed the need to hold fast to that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Believers are challenged to be transformed by the renewing of the mind, a process that can require significant personal change. Only in this way can the whole body of Christ grow up into Christ who is its head, “endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3).

Saving truth and truthfulness

It will be apparent from the list of areas that are under attack that they all impact on the relationship between Christadelphians and others who call themselves followers of Christ. Yet there can only be common cause between these two groups if their different doctrinal bases are ignored. We are not welcome at ecumenical gatherings if we make it clear that we believe there is only one God, the Father, or that the Lord Jesus Christ fully shared our common humanity because he did not personally exist before he was born of Mary. We are not welcome if we deny that Holy Spirit gifts are available today, or if we reject the teaching that there is a personal, supernatural devil. Our emphasis on “the Hope of Israel” also sets us apart. In order to cooperate with other groups an individual has either to keep quiet about these beliefs or alternatively treat them as unimportant, or as an ‘open question’.

Brothers or sisters who shy away from stating clearly where our beliefs differ from those around us, or even from using the name Christadelphian, operate under false colours. They either do not uphold Christadelphian beliefs when in the presence of those who roundly reject them, or alternatively they fail to acknowledge when in the presence of other brothers and sisters that they no longer believe or uphold our distinctive teachings. Both situations indicate that a change has taken place within the believer, which should give him or her much cause for contemplation. And because we are all part of the one body, such a development should cause us all deep concern.

When individuals are baptized, they publicly declare the belief that the scriptural teachings at the foundation of a Christadelphian’s faith comprise saving truth. Of course it is not for us to declare who the Father will save and who He will reject at the Lord’s coming. But Bible truth demands truthfulness in those who wish to walk in the way of salvation. If a person still believes the teachings which were confessed at baptism, then he or she should continue to uphold that truth and share in its joy with others who believe the same. If, however, someone no longer believes the foundation truths, and seeks instead to reinterpret what the Bible says about what we are to believe and how we are to live individually and communally, is it reasonable or honest to try and undermine the faith of others by scorning their commitment and their worship? Can it be right to encourage fellow members of the body to compromise or abandon these truths, or to introduce new beliefs and practices that are not grounded in the brotherhood’s understanding of scripture?

All of this reinforces the need for careful and systematic instruction prior to baptism, and for regular reinforcement of those fundamental scriptural truths after baptism by daily Bible reading, and well-structured Bible Class and preaching programmes. If our distinctive doctrinal differences with other churches are just seen as irrelevant niceties there is no basis for our existence as a separate community. But if, as we believe, these differences matter fundamentally and are the difference between a faith that saves and one that does not, we should not only remain separate, we should take every opportunity to persuade people of other religious convictions that their understanding of the scriptures is in error.

An appeal for honesty

Why are there brothers and sisters who appear no longer to subscribe to those scripture teachings and practices that make Christadelphians distinct from other religious groups, yet still desire to retain an association with the brotherhood? They characterise it as ‘behind the times’, ‘unsympathetic’, ‘unloving’, and ‘irrelevant’, and its arrangements as ‘restrictive’ or ‘outmoded’. This raises the question of whether their criticisms are ones of style or substance. Whilst on occasion they relate to ‘style’, in many cases the changes that are sought have to do with important issues that underpin the faith “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

When it is said that others are ‘out of step’, those making the claim may actually be the ones who are marching to a different tune. They are often the ones seeking more to follow the tune they are playing. In this case there can be no doubt there are some brothers and sisters who promote their activities and arrangements provocatively. They choose deliberately not to conform to practices that are upheld by ecclesias all round the world. Rather than acknowledging that it is they who have changed, they demand that the brotherhood should change in order to fall into step with their new views.

The appeal therefore is that any who wish to remain in association with the brotherhood should seriously ask these questions:

• Am I honestly being Christadelphian

  • in the things I sincerely believe

  • in the things that I do or allow in the name of Christ, and

  • in the fellowship in which I participate.

• Do I accept the authority of God, through His word, over every aspect of my life and the life of the brotherhood?

• Do I agree with the Christadelphian understanding of the faith once for all delivered to the saints?

• Do I have a sincere commitment to accepting fellowship in the circle of the apostles and building up the brotherhood, or is my intention to reconstruct its beliefs and practices on a different model?

Such questions are designed to encourage self-examination, to discover whether our intentions are honourable, whether we are being honest to ourselves, to our brothers and sisters, to the Lord Jesus, to Almighty God and to the word of His grace.

In appealing for a truthful reassessment of the motives of those who are pressing for change, we also appeal to ecclesias to acknowledge that there are differences between issues that reflect biblical principles and those that have been decided on the basis of personal preference. Whereas the first of these should be considered unchangeable because they reflect Bible teaching, this is not true of matters in the second category. If there are situations where our worship really is dull, lacking in love, and where we are not responding joyfully to God’s promised salvation, then ecclesias ought seriously to discuss how renewed life can be breathed into all their arrangements. The challenge of change can be good for all of us, if it makes us reassess and reappraise our worship and our individual commitment.

A call to action

Ecclesias have a responsibility to ensure that the true faith is upheld in teaching and practice. Faced by members asking for a wholesale review, or threatening to depart unless inappropriate innovations are introduced, ecclesias must remain true to the teachings of scripture. They should be alert to the activities of members who are not open about their associations; alert to those who use the ecclesia as a flag of convenience while involving themselves with groups which fundamentally undermine our association. If members choose to depart in order to engage in activities that are not in harmony with Christadelphian faith or practice, ecclesias have a responsibility to the brotherhood to report that sadly these individuals have chosen to break their associations with us. For unless a departing group can agree to cooperate with existing ecclesias on a common basis of faith and practice, their former ecclesia cannot be expected to commend them to the brotherhood at large.

For the brotherhood to be vibrant and active, and true to the teachings of scripture when the Lord returns, faithfulness and commitment are needed from every brother and sister. Gospel truth is “the pearl of great price”, and there is an enormous privilege in being associated with the Lord Jesus and his work of salvation. Like those who were baptized on the Day of Pentecost, our response should be to continue in prayer through Christ to our Heavenly Father, to read the scriptures daily, and not to “forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).

The Committee of The Christadelphian:
Michael Ashton, Andrew Bramhill, Edward Carr, John M. Hellawell, Martyn Lawrence, Roger Long, Tecwyn Morgan, John Morris, David Nicholls, Michael Owen, Andrew E. Walker, Stephen Whitehouse