Concerning all this teaching you do about church life and practice, are you saying that you are right and everyone else in the kingdom of God is wrong then?

Answer 1

Hmmm!!! I think this is one of those questions where the answer is both Yes and No at the same time! It’s a definite No in so far that many other believers around the world are doing exactly the same thing as us, and for exactly the same reasons too. We are not therefore the only ones who are right about what churches ought to be like because countless other believers understand and practice it too. However, if the question is, “Do you believe that those who do church contrary to what you are saying are wrong?”, then the answer to that is a definite Yes. After all, if you believe, as we do, that scripture teaches a certain thing (about anything at all)  then it is obvious that you are going to believe that the Word of God alone is true and final, and that anything contrary to it is wrong. If, for instance, you are convinced that scripture teaches that baptism should only be for those who have come to know the Lord, then you are also, by logical definition, going to believe that infant baptism is wrong and contrary to the Word of God.

Now it is obviously the case that people have to decide for themselves whether or not they agree with our understanding of scripture in regarding church life, but it nevertheless stands that if you do believe that the Word of God teaches a particular thing, whether about this or anything else, then you must also believe that anything contrary to that is wrong and going against the Bible. After all, if your understanding of scripture about church life is different to ours, then presumably you equally think that we are wrong - and that’s absolutely fine and we have no problem with it at all.

But of course it does have to be said as well that the above question is somewhat of a loaded one. It’s very wording implies that the mere fact that a group of Christians believe and practice something with which the majority disagree makes them, virtually by very definition, both wrong about their belief and arrogant into the bargain. It is therefore sobering to realize that throughout history of the church, indeed, throughout the entire history the Bible covers as well, it has often been precisely the minority who prove to be right about certain things with the majority being conversely revealed to have been completely and utterly wrong. So it boils down, as everything eventually should, to just what scripture actually teaches.

Therefore, if you don’t agree with what we are saying, then that is absolutely fine. You must, just like us, go with your very best understanding of God’s Word. But you must also be careful not end up disregarding and rejecting something merely because only a small minority of believers hold to it. You must of course disregard and reject anything that you understand, to the best of your ability, to go against scripture, but never must something be rejected just because it is a minority view. By whose side would you have stood at the time of Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, or the Lord Jesus Himself. How about the time of the Reformers, or the Baptist movement or the Pentecostals? At each point in their respective places in history these minorities eventually turned out to have been absolutely right. That is to say, the vast majority were absolutely and completely wrong. So please be careful to judge and assess what we are going on about concerning church matters on the basis of scripture and scripture alone.

It is true, of course, that the case for even that which is true and biblical can be adhered to and propagated arrogantly and in the wrong spirit, and that is a bad thing and without excuse, but it is also equally true that believers who are wrong about something frequently try to invalidate those believers who are right by accusing them of arrogantly believing that they alone have some monopoly on the truth. Indeed, without actually knowing us personally there is really no possible way for our readers to know for sure one way or the other whether we are doing what we are doing and teaching what we are teaching arrogantly. (In the absence of perniciously blatant arrogant writing, that is!) After all, we might well be the most arrogant, ungracious, exclusive, bigoted and unloving believers the world has ever seen; but then you would only find that out by visiting and actually getting to know us personally. So in the meantime all we ask is that you check out what we are saying by whether or not it is consistent with the scriptures. Then, if you think we’ve got it right, you should go with it as well - but because scripture teaches it and not just because it’s what we are saying - and if you think we’ve got it wrong, then by all means completely and utterly reject it. Just make sure that you reach your conclusion because of the teaching of the Word of God itself, and not merely through personal prejudice or because of loyalty to other teachings and practices that aren’t actually biblical in any way.

So, to answer the question succinctly: In the same way that those who believe in and practice believers baptism think that those who believe in and practice infant baptism are wrong, we likewise think that those who practice church life differently to what we are advocating, based strictly on the teaching of scripture, are wrong too.

Answer 2

No! Or at least not in the sense in which the question is being asked! After all, more and more believers across the world are gathering themselves into churches just like we are describing and advocating, so it is actually far from being the case that we are in any way on our own in all this. So it isn’t a case of us thinking that we alone are right, if only for the simple reason that many others in the kingdom of God, though admittedly still a small minority, are doing the exact same thing. But of course the question itself is actually a bit of a red herring because the issue here should actually be the content of God’s Word concerning church life and not how many people, and who, are or are not living and practicing accordingly. What matters here shouldn’t be whether or not we (or anyone else) are right or wrong about church issues (or anything else for that matter), but whether or not we are doing what the Bible teaches.

Think of it like this: Are we not, as believers, saying, “Jesus alone is the way to God, and we are therefore right and everyone else is wrong” ? Well yes, that’s exactly what we are saying! But of course the real point to grasp is that the statement just happens to actually be true. We are absolutely right and correct in our assertion that Jesus alone is the way to God, and because we make it on the basis of the authority of God’s very Word, then we are not necessarily (though one could proclaim it in a wrong attitude) being arrogant or proud in so doing. The only real question is, “Is it true?” If it is, then it is quite simply the case that we are right and that everyone else is wrong. This is just simple logic! If something can be established as being true, then anything contrary to it is wrong, as are those who adhere to anything contrary to it. So let’s take a closer look at the above question and see if we can divest it of its prejudicial, and illogical, ‘built-in’ insinuation that, should the answer be that we may indeed well be right and everyone else wrong, this would somehow mean that we were even yet wrong in some way and, by definition, being arrogant.

We have already established that we are not alone in how we go about church life at all, and that many others across the world are doing exactly the same thing. But let’s just imagine for one moment (and I emphasize that this is now purely hypothetical) that the church here in Essex of which we are a part was the only one of its kind, that we were unique, what would the question be then? Would it be, “Are they arrogant enough to think that they are right and everyone else is wrong?” Or would it be, “Are they doing what scripture teaches?” And if it was the latter then the answer would simply be, “Well, if they alone are doing what scripture teaches about being a church, and if everyone else is going against it, then yes, they are right and everyone else is wrong; but not necessarily because they are being arrogant (though of course anyone could maintain what is right and true and biblical in an arrogant way), but simply because they, and not others, are actually adhering to scripture.”

So let me now answer to the question: No, we are not saying that we alone are right about all this church stuff and that everyone else in the kingdom of God is wrong. Many others of the Lord’s people are doing precisely the same thing, so it isn’t just us doing it anyway. However, we are nevertheless saying that anyone not adhering to what we are saying is wrong, and for the simple reason that it can clearly be seen in the New Testament. We don’t thereby believe in any way that being part of a church such as we are makes us better or more committed disciples, and we freely acknowledge that there are many who would disagree with us about church life to whom we wouldn’t claim to be able to hold a candle! However, it nevertheless remains the simple fact that the issue here should be that which scripture teaches. That alone is what matters as far as we are concerned.

Perhaps I could clarify further by drawing a parallel with the issues surrounding baptism. Those who maintain, on the basis of scripture, that it should only be for those who have come to faith in Jesus, consider, by very definition, that those who believe in, and practice, the baptism of infants are wrong. They are not necessarily arrogant about it, though of course some might well be, and they certainly aren’t going to allow their fellowship with those they are in disagreement with to be impeded either, though sadly, some may; but then neither can they just shrug their shoulders and say that it doesn’t matter and that nothing ever need be said or done concerning it. As for them and their house, they can only believe and practice what they see clearly in scripture. And of course it is necessarily simply the fact of the matter that they consider themselves to be right, and everyone else in the kingdom of God, that is, those who believe in infant baptism, to be wrong.

And so it is with ourselves concerning the matter of what churches ought to be like. As clearly as millions of believers see in scripture how the New Testament churches practiced baptism, we likewise see how they practiced everything else too. We want to be like them comprehensively and not just piecemeal here and there. What other believers do about it is for them to sort out before the Lord for themselves, but as for us and our house we can do none other. And lest you be tempted to say, “Ah yes, but unlike those who practice believers baptism, when it comes to all this stuff about church life you are part of the absolute tiniest of minorities.”, then I will reply, “Yes, you are right, we are. But was there not a time when those who practiced baptism for believers were in exactly the same situation? Indeed, were they not also actually persecuted by the Reformers for their faithfulness to God’s Word?”

You see, the issue must never be whether minorities, tiny or otherwise, might be right or wrong about something. The issue must forever be what scripture teaches! If the church here of which we are a part is not based on what God’s Word teaches, then those of us who comprise it are surely, and without a shadow of a doubt, wrong! But if we are based on what God’s Word teaches then we are equally surely, and quite equally without a shadow of a doubt, right! And of course that obviously and inescapably means that those who do things differently are surely, and without a shadow of a doubt, completely wrong!

However, if God’s Word doesn’t actually teach anything in particular about how churches ought to be, as many believers seem (strangely) to think, then the simple truth of the matter is that we are free to basically do church pretty much anyhow we like. No one could be right or wrong. After all, how could they be if there’s nothing particular by way of right or wrong to go by one way or the other? And of course in that scenario what we are here advocating by way of what churches ought to be like ought to be accepted and honored by all as a valid and important alternative to what already exists on the Christian scene. Curious then that what we are advocating often seems to be about the only variation that the vast majority of believers, once exposed to it, find completely unacceptable. Strange too that many who are happy to stand hand in hand with churches as diverse as Pentecostal churches on the one hand, and Catholicism on the other, nevertheless seem to maintain a very definite and safe distance from those churches such as we are here describing.

I wonder why that is? What do you think?