James Singleton writing
in the book, Planting the Independent Fundamental Church,
said the first question he was asked at his ordination
was: "Will you always be loyal to this denomination?"1 The
night I was ordained in the denomination of which I was a
part, the bishop called upon us "to be loyal to our
church." One of the questions, from the book of Discipline
of my denomination, asked as a part of the ordination of
elders under the "Examination by the Bishop" was: "Will
you loyally maintain the doctrines and polity of the
Evangelical United Brethren Church? If so, answer" By the
help of God, I will."2 I am sure we can all understand
this call for loyalty. It is good and right to be loyal to
those who are over us in the Lord - (I Thessalonians
5:12-13, I Timothy 5:17, Hebrews 13:17). The passages
cited are referring to a local church with local leaders,
not a denominational officer. While submission to leaders
is the instruction of God's Word, rebuke for them that sin
is also commanded in I Timothy 5:20. Paul rebuked Peter in
Galatians 2:11-14. On what basis did Paul do this? He had
greater loyalty to the gospel of Jesus Christ - Galatians
2:14-16. The apostles were told by the religious leaders
of their day, " ... Did not we straightly command you that
ye should not preach in this name? And behold, ye have
filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring
this man's blood upon us" - (Acts 5:28). The apostles
response to this was, " ... we ought to obey God rather
than men" - (Acts 5:29). Their loyalty was to Jesus Christ
and not to any man or council. These passages along with
others would teach the believer that his first loyalty is
to Jesus Christ.
How
does this relate to the independence of the local church
or the Ohio Bible Fellowship? Denominationalism is
"devotion to denominational principles and interests" -
(Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary). As the
questions at the beginning of this article indicate,
organizations come to the place where loyalty to the
organization exceeds loyalty to Jesus Christ. Church
history teaches that apostasy has come to every church
organization down through the centuries. There is no
guarantee that an independent church will not turn from
the Word of God, but its accountability is localized
instead of being off in some distant headquarters. Local
government is more responsive to its constituents than
state or federal government because local government lives
among the people to whom it is responsible. The local
church operates on a local level and with sound leadership
is not as likely to be led astray as those whose
leadership is away in denominational headquarters.
Historically, the positions of the hierarchy or leadership
of the denominations have always grown more liberal than
the people in the pews. Thus it is relatively simple
matter to "trickle down" the ideas of the organization to
the local level, especially if one is to be "loyal to this
denomination." The indication of history is that the
program of the organization becomes more important than
the doctrine or more precisely, the Word of God, that
bound them together in the first place.
The Ohio Bible
Fellowship come out of an organization that was an
organization of independent churches and Christian
workers. Some of the OBF men had come out of
denominations. They knew the dangers of denominationalism.
They saw that same spirit of denominationalism working in
the independent organization from which we withdrew. Thus
the men were determined to establish an independent
organization. Article III of the constitution of the OBF,
p.7, says: "This organization shall be a Christian
fellowship for mutual helpfulness and cooperation. It
shall be independent, strictly self-governing in all
matters, and shall not be under the direct control of any
denomination or federation." Thus the organization will
never, if it is true to its founding document, come under
the control of another group or federation.
One of the criticisms of
independence is illustrated by this statement: "Moreover,
the theory that each church is independent of every other
church, fails to express the unity of the church of
Christ, has a disintegrating effect, and opens the door
for all kinds of arbitrariness in church government. There
is no appeal from any of the decisions of the local
church."3
The purpose of
organizing the Ohio Bible Fellowship is stated in the
Preamble of the constitution, p.1, which closes with this
statement: "Whereas, our obedience to the Lord requires
clear-cut Biblical preaching to meet the needs of human
hearts; and, forthright warning to the church about the
dangers of the hour; and, the maintenance of means to
express the unity of the body with fervent love and
fellowship among brethren of like mind; We do therefore
form such a bond of fellowship and cooperation." We do
believe the body of Christ is one body and that body is
Christ's church - I Corinthians 12:12-27, Ephesians
1:22-23, Colossians 1:18. All who are in Christ, having
been baptized into that one body by the Holy Spirit (I
Corinthians 12:13) are members of that body. It is our
relationship to Christ that makes us brothers and sisters
in Christ, not some organization unity. Membership in an
organization or denomination does not make us Children of
God in Christ Jesus. We are born spiritually into that
relationship - John 1:12-13 and 3:3-6. All who are born of
God have unity, oneness in Christ, of which the apostle
Paul writes in Ephesians 4:3, that we should earnestly
endeavor to keep. This is not maintained by organizational
oneness. Rather, it is kept by those who believe the same
essential truths of the Bible. In Philippians 2:2 Paul
tells these saints to "... be like-minded, having the same
love, being of one accord, of one mind." He then writes in
v. 5, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus: ..." That mind of Christ was humble and obedient
unto the death of the cross. By that death we are forgiven
of our sins and born into the family of God. If one
rejects the substitutionary death of Christ or any of the
doctrine of our Lord, does that one have the same mind as
Christ. As Calvin says, "... that where the Lord is not,
it is not a union of believers, but a faction of the
ungodly."4
Thus we value our
independence, since it allows us to fellowship and
cooperate with others on the basis of those who have a
like mind on Christ and his Word. There can only be unity
on the basis of submission to the head of the church,
Jesus Christ. All of the denominations in the world,
including the pope himself, cannot produce unity among
members of the organization. However, at the foot of the
cross we can be of the same mind. We have not disrupted
the unity of the true church by our independence, rather
we have found that unity in obedience to Christ and his
Word.
Some would argue that an
external control or rule is necessary to keep the local
church in harmony with what God desires of his church.
Someone suggested to me years ago that as the pastor of a
local church, I should bring that church into a certain
fellowship, if I wanted to have a good mission program,
the assumption being that an independent could never come
up with a mission program. In over twenty one years at
that church I never found independence to be a hindrance
with missions or anything else in the life of a local
church. In the denomination the local church is called
upon to support the program of the "church." As an
independent, one can support any and all who stand on the
same principles of the Word of God. The answer James
Singleton gave to the question at the beginning of this
article was this: "As long as I feel that my Lord and the
Convention walk hand-in-hand, I shall be loyal to the
convention. If the time ever comes that I feel they part
company, I do not give you the second guess as to which I
shall follow."5 He remained for eighteen years, but
finally left because of the growing liberalism of the
organization. He ended the chapter with these words: "With
the wisdom of hindsight, I think how much better it would
have been from the inception of my ministry to have
remained free from all entangling alliances, pastor of a
church that was completely autonomous, responsible only to
the will of God as revealed in His Word."6 I believe we
both learned the same thing from experience. But
experience is not the final guide to what we do as
Christians. What does the Bible say about the independence
of the local church? Is there any justification for
independent churches and for the independence of the Ohio
Bible Fellowship?
You will search for a
long time to find the word independent in the Bible.
However, that does not mean the idea is not there. Paul
addresses the churches as, "... the church which is at
Cenchrea:" - Romans 16:1; the church in the house of
Priscilla and Acquila - Romans 16:3-5; "Unto the church of
God which is at Corinth," - I Corinthians 1:2; "... unto
the churches of Galatia:" - Galatians 1:2; "... unto the
church of the Thessalonians ..." - I Thessalonians 1:1.
There is nothing said of a denominational structure. These
are individual churches located in various parts of the
Roman empire. Paul makes it clear that Christ is the head
of the church and that there is a unity of the body, but
organizational officers are not found. The leaders are
local leaders. The apostles were servants to the entire
body of Christ, but even the apostle Paul did not exercise
episcopal control. In I Corinthians 16:12 Paul says: "As
touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to
come unto you with the brethren: but his will was not at
all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall
have convenient time."
As one reads Acts 15,
the council of the apostles and elders (v. 6) met to deal
with the issue of mixing circumcision or law with the
grace of God for the salvation of the Gentiles. A decision
was reached and messengers sent with a letter. Verses
23-29 contain the text of the message. There is not one
verb of command in the letter. A. T. Robertson says, "This
letter is not laid down as law, but it is the judgment of
the Jerusalem Christians for the guidance of the Gentiles
(16:4) and it had a fine effect at once (15:30-35)."7 This
was not the authority of an organization telling the
Gentiles what they had to do, other than telling them what
would benefit the fellowship of believing Jews and
Gentiles.
Church discipline as
spelled out in I Corinthians 5 instructs that local church
to do something about the immorality in that local church.
I Corinthians 6, lawsuits among the saints, is again a
local situation in which the Church at Corinth is
instructed in how to deal with the problem. The same can
be said for I Corinthians 11, where Paul deals with the
problems of the Lord's Supper. I do not see how Matthew
18:15-17, Christ's instruction on discipline in the
church, can be taken as referring to anything other than a
local church. I do not see any instruction for those
outside the local church to care for the problems, which
would strongly suggest the independent nature of the local
church. Thus I believe the New Testament pattern is that
of local independent churches.
Thus an organization or
fellowship of churches cannot control a local church, nor
can a local church or organization exercise control over a
fellowship of churches. Their cooperative efforts must be
based on common agreement of the Scriptures. That does not
mean total agreement in every Biblical concern, but there
must be agreement on the essentials of the Christian faith
or there can be no fellowship. Amos 3:3 says, "Can two
walk together , except they be agreed?" Because of the
Biblical pattern and because of what we learn from church
history about the apostasy of the churches, the only safe
ground for a fellowship or church is to be independent,
and maintain fellowship on the basis of agreement with the
Word of God.
It is a saving
relationship with Christ that makes possible fellowship
with God and with the those who received Jesus Christ as
Savior. If you have never trusted Christ as Savior, will
you give serious thought to your own need of forgiveness
of sin through faith in Christ. Repent of your sin and
trust Christ that you may have fellowship with him whom to
know is life eternal - John 17:3.
-
1. "Planting the
Independent Fundamental Church," compiled by Charles M.
Underwood, Bob Jones University Press, 1972, p. 9.
-
2. "The Discipline of
the Evangelical United Brethren Church, 1959 edition, p.
370.
-
3. Systematic
Theology, by Louis Berkhof, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan, Reprinted, June 1991.
-
4. "Calvin's
Institutes" by John Calvin, Volume II, Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1964, p.
309.
-
5. Op. Cit.,
"Planting the Independent Church," p. 16.
-
6. Ibid., p. 16.
-
7. "Word Pictures in
the New Testament," by A. T. Robertson, Vol. III, The
Acts of the Apostles, Harper & Brothers Publishers, New
York and London, 1930, p. 237