Don't worry. As long as you hit that wire with the connecting hook at precisely 88mph the instant the lightning strikes the tower... everything will be fine. (Dr. Emmett Brown)
What's all that got to do with Drane's commentary on the changing shape of the earliest church. Well, nothing directly, but it just feels to me like one more subtle little shift in the Universal Church. How Drane treated his material was quite welcome to my sensibilities, and I appreciated the care he took with those who had little choice but to change what church could/should be. Before I continue, I guess it would be helpful for me to plainly state that I believe that each and every Christian and Christian congregation is a part of the one Church - that of Christ. We each have our own God-given responsibilities to fulfill, as God sees fit. That means that we are all part of a greater whole than I think we sometimes think about. God is in control, and He is working the components as is necessary to fulfill His will.
That, basically, has been what has happened as the Church has grown over the years. Don't get me wrong - I do not believe that God ordained the Crusaders to proclaim a gospel of the sword in Palestine. And I do not believe that God intended for the church to extract the dross from heretics in exactly the same way they would have gold. And I do not immediately see God's hand in the volumes of "prosperity preachers" who seem to flood the TV screens of those who are trapped by the gospels of false-hope. But none of that means that the Church cannot or should not change.
The first Church was comprised of "individual disciples [who] experienced the compelling power of the Holy Spirit for themselves." (p. 394) Their meetings were characterized by a charisma that is seldom seen in the institutionalized church. But, what some do is characterize the formalization of the Church and its structures as wrong and inconsistent with God's will. As I read this chapter, at first I thought certainly that this would be the direction in which Drane would take us. I was pleasantly surprised to read that the author took a much different approach. No matter what we take the first Church to have been, it was in its infancy. By the Spirit, it was birthed on that Day of Pentecost so many years ago. Like anything born, it had, and continues to have, life. And so...it must grow.
If decisive leaders had not have emerged from the Christian woodwork (far more many that only Justin Martyr or Ignatius of Antioch), willing to give all they had to stand for Christ's Church, where would our faith be today. (Hmmm - I guess that one goes ways, doesn't it?) But the facts are, there were people attempting to reshape the beliefs of Christians with quasi-Christian teaching. And although the earliest leaders/bishops may have gone a bit far with claiming apostolic succession, we need to stand up and applaud quite loudly that God saw fit to give the men and women of the now toddling Church the courage to move away from what they knew to something even greater (perhaps more important.)
Okay - back to 2010....
Folks, I believe God is still reshaping and reorganizing His Church to accomplish His mission. The challenges haven't really changed much - there a still groups out there spreading quasi-Christians messages, and trapping those they capture. Christ still has a proclamation mission for His Church. The times, they are a-changing and things seems faster, more demanding, draining - even for the men and women of the Church who have to go to work day after day after day after day after...I think it is absolutely beautiful how God has organized His Church. If you just read this and you still long for the first century Church, well you can go....
...back in time.
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