11. The Ambiguity of Serving the Globally Mobile II (MICN Missiology Series by Andrew Lupton)
You may be nervous with the idea of an international church that embraces strategic ambiguity. Many of our sending partners feel the same way. As they invest in the international church, they want us to maximize our impact and to attract the nations and the next generation. But they don’t want us to be theologically fluid as we do so. They want us to steer our churches within certain theological guardrails. After all, sending organizations have an obligation to steward their financial and human resources in a way that aligns with their core values.
And let’s be honest. Most of us would feel disappointed if in 20 years our church was drastically different than today and had abandoned biblical, theological orthodoxy. Core values and convictions matter in our churches and shouldn’t be sacrificed at the altar of attracting all kinds of people from all kinds of places. I told you the story of our church last week. In light of that story my leaders and I ask ourselves the same question my sending agency and denomination ask. How can a multidenominational international church remain true to the scriptures, faithful to the teachings of the Protestant Reformation while welcoming to nonbelievers and Christians of all stripes? Let me suggest three key ingredients: Clarity, Confession, and Connection.
The first ingredient is Clarity. We are people of the book, the Bible. At UCB we clarify what we do and why we do it from the Bible. We don’t lead with tradition (“we’ve always done it this way”) or with denomination (“in my church at home…”). We try and strip away all the theological jargon as best as we can to clarify as simply as we can everything we do from the Scriptures.
By now you’ve realized my love for Reformational theology. As much as I love the Reformation, I don’t use much Reformational language with our people because it can lead to labels and exclusivity rather than openness and invitation to the outsider. To borrow a somewhat crass phrase from a dear friend serving in a denominational campus ministry, “Reformed theology is our underwear, not our overcoat.” In that respect, the elders and I don’t talk much about our underwear with our congregation. Rather, we focus on what the Bible has to say and clarify about all matters of faith and practice.
The second ingredient is Confession. To be a confessional church means you need something bigger that defines the church’s uncompromising theological core than the person in the pulpit or the members of the board. Some international churches choose to write their own statement of faith in hopes that future generations won’t amend it. Others, like UCB, have opted for creeds or confessions that have stood the test of time.
You may hesitate at this point, wondering if a confession means your church will be locked into a narrow theological identity that will turn away all kinds of people from all kinds of places. We have found that the vows to which our members agree need to be much broader than those our leaders take. The vows our new members pledge are basically the ABCs of Christianity. Are you a sinner? Is Jesus your Savior? Are you living for him? Will you serve your church? Will you be accountable to your leaders and fellow members? I can send you the specific vows we use if you’re interested.
The doctrine of your inter/non/multi-denominational international church will be fluid unless your leaders (elders, pastors, deacons, board members, or whatever you call them) submit to and are examined in accordance with a larger creed or confession. At the end of this article I’ve included the statement we adopted into our bylaws to define and protect the doctrinal purity of UCB.
The creed or confession you choose will vary according do your tradition and core convictions. Perhaps it will meaningfully (and strategically) overlap with the sending organizations that are most important to your movement. We considered many Reformational documents in the process of deciding how to confessionally align ourselves before landing on the Heidelberg Catechism. Its warmth and tone reflects the ethos of our church and extends a pastoral and devotional invitation to a Reformational document, which is foreign to many of our congregants. Similarly, we honor the spirit and the history of the confessional statement, which has been the most influential and ecumenically accepted relative to its Reformational peers. 1
The third ingredient is Connection. A connectional church is one in which the church body is formally accountable to another church body. We’ve all seen churches skew in the unhealthy direction of its leaders. A truly independent church faces that danger. Ideally, your church would be accountable to other international churches like yours either regionally or globally. These sister churches would probably need to share the same confessional documents and basic procedures for examining and electing leaders. I’m still dreaming about what meaningful, formal connection could look like for our church. I want to invite you to dream with me about what would be a good connectional fit for your church. Perhaps there’s even already an existing connectional group (like the IBC or FEIC).
This strategic ambiguity allows us to market ourselves as an inclusive place for every stripe of Christian while protecting the doctrinal purity of our church today and for future generations. As visitors arrive they experience a warm, safe community whose DNA matches its name, United Church. They know that our leadership is careful to teach and apply the Scriptures. They may not yet know of the rich theological heritage that undergirds and guards such a church strategically positioned to minister to the nations and the next generation. That’s okay. The important part is that they belong and are nourished spiritually in the short season they are with us. What does that look like in your context and application of strategic ambiguity? If not clarity, confession, and connection, what are your key ingredients?
Tune in next week as we begin to discuss the ever-expanding opportunities of serving our globally mobile people group.
Andrew Lupton
1. https://students.wts.edu/resources/creeds/heidelberg.html
CHAPTER V
ARTICLE 14
III. Examination, Election, and Installation of Elders and Pastors
Elders and pastors are elected by the General Assembly. Candidates for elders and pastors will be presented to the congregation after examination by the elders. The examination will include an assessment of character, leadership, ability to teach, commitment to shepherding, and theological orthodoxy.
Since the Bible is the final authority for all matters of faith and practice, theological orthodoxy will be assessed primarily by the teachings of Scripture, and secondarily by reference to the system of doctrine presented in the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene (Niceno-Constantinopolitan) Creed, as well as the Heidelberg Catechism as a central document of the Protestant Reformation.
In the weeks following the election of an elder or pastor, he and the congregation will agree to the following vows during his formal installation:
- Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as originally given, to be the inerrant Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice?
- Do you accept the office of ruling/teaching elder in this church, and promise faithfully to perform all the duties thereof, and to endeavor by the grace of God to adorn the profession of the Gospel in your life, and to set a worthy example before the Church of which God has made you an officer?
- Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord?
- Do you promise to strive for the purity, peace, unity and edification of the Church?
- Do you, the members of this church, acknowledge and receive this brother as a ruling/teaching elder, and do you promise to yield him all that honor, encouragement and obedience in the Lord to which his office, according to the Word of God and the constitution of this Church, entitles him?
