Zondervan recently provided me with an advance copy of John Armstrong’s latest book, “Your Church is Too Small: Why Unity in Christ’s Mission is Vital to the Future of the Church.” (Website)
I must confess at the outset, I am one of the conservative evangelicals that Armstrong mentions. I have not yet finished my journey, and at present do not intend to end with the same result as Armstrong, that is in ecumenical standing with a larger catholic church.
That being said, the book still provides some excellent principles that, though I may not agree with every item of application are extremely helpful in attacking our Western-American small-church mindset. In other words, read with discernment.
He argues that he will “make a case for how the one church of Jesus Christ, ministering out of its spiritual unity in Christ and rooted in core orthodoxy, can best serve Christ’s mission.” I believe he does so. I must, again, disagree with his application.
John 17 is Armstrong’s focus passage. He details the past, present and future iterations of church unity as his personal progression from the small-church mentality to a broader catholic-church mentality. Not Roman Catholic, but rather, the universal church. The fact that there exists beyond our church, beyond our city, beyond our country, a larger body of believers.
The issue at hand is the nature of Christ’s prayer. As Armstrong himself points out, “unity is based on the relational and cooperational communion that existed between the Father and the Son during his earthly ministry.” But the Father and Son agreed, not only in unity, but uniformity. No matters of doctrine divided them. I believe Armstrong may hint at this when he says that “the three great historic branches of the Christian church cannot presently pursue union with one another.” And why not? If the three mainline traditions, Protestant, RCC, and Eastern Orthodox are entirely Christian, why not pursue that union? Clearly because we would say that there are elements of the RCC and other traditions which preclude salvific faith in Jesus Christ. Let me illustrate.
Armstrong quotes P.T. Forsyth saying that the unity of the church lies “in the unity of the gospel that made the church.” And I agree. However, despite the claims about Vatican II and it’s subsequent changes, I believe that they still point to alternative means of salvation, including a super-elevation of Mary. Armstrong himself admits to “still have misgivings about parts of the ecumenical movement.” While I do believe there are saved, believing Christians within the RCC, when we base our call for unity on the outward, visible expression that is the RCC I can no longer subscribe to that type of Unity.
Despite my disagreement with his application, Armstrong has incredible insight into the problems that have plagued Protestant, American Christianity. Not understanding the cultural significance of churches around the world, focusing on denominations and splitting churches at the slightest sign of disagreement, and perhaps the most deadly of all, we “have a unique predilection to approach the Christian faith as if what we know is vastly more relevant than what previous generations knew.”
He also points to the mass exodus of evangelical church members. “The reasons for this exodus are numerous – loneliness, boredom, lack of community, church teaching that fails to go into the important truths of the faith, and the inability of the church to reach people who are suffering or going through deep trials.” Furthermore, he also touches on the racial segregation that still exists in many of our churches today. This may be one of the prime examples where I appreciate his principles, and make my own application. There are numerous Christians holding to the exact evangelical, doctrinal faith that I hold to, yet they are of a different race. When is the last time I considered our relation to one another in the universal church? Paul’s illustration of the body of Christ does not merely apply to the local body of believers, it also points to the catholic nature of the church.
In conclusion, Armstrong calls on the 80/20 principle. That is that 20% of a group will lead the change and 80% will follow. I hope to be in the 20% that continues to lead the way as we consider a church larger than ourselves, larger than our local church, larger than our denomination, larger than our racial profile, indeed larger than our American church. A Church that is the body and bride of Christ.
So, is your church too small?
