by prescott » Sun Apr 03, 2005 7:14 pm
Okay... I sat down on my laptop and started something. Please reply with comment, rewording, addition, deletion, etc. Perhaps this is junk, needs a lot of work, or is good. (yea right) Perhaps a jumping off point Blake. Please reveiw.
Outline for a Brethren Manifesto 1st Draft - April 2005
* Purpose
- A View to the Future by an Examination of the Past
In the 1800's, a small group of men, dissatisfied with the state of their present day church, decided to gather together for the simple puropse of remembering their Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The manner in which they chose to worship and remember Him was in the breaking of bread. Though unintentional at the time, a new movement, the brethren movement was born.
Prior to His sacrificial death and glorious resurection, the Lord Jesus Christ took His disciples aside, and ate the Passover Feast with them in the Upper Room. During that feast, the Lord Jesus introduced a new feast, today commonly referred to as "Communion", or "The Breaking of Bread". He took a loaf of simple bread, broke it, and gave it to them, saying "This is my body, which is given for you". He then took a cup of wine, gave it to them again, saying "This cup is the new convenant in My blood, which is shed for you".
Upon His assesion into Heaven, His disciples remembered His words, and continued to meet regularly, many believe weekly, in this same manner; by meeting together in various houses, and breaking bread, the simple symbol of His Body, broken for us, and in the taking the cup, in which was the wine, in symbol of His blood, shed freely for us. As He commanded, "This do in rememberence of me." Luke 22:19
Over the centuries, this simple practice became a "sacrement", a ritualistic ceremony, administered by a man appointed as "a minister of God" on behalf of the people. Though there were various movements of reform over the centuries, this practice remained largely unchanged from about 300AD until the mid-1800's.
At this time, various men, in various regions of the world, upon their own examination of the Holy Scriptures, perceived that this pattern ought not to be so. One of the more well known examples of this was the men that met with J.N. Darby(?) in Plymouth, England, in 1820(?). The new and unexpected movement spread quickly in the UK and North America, as various believers had become disenchanted with the hierarchical structure and dead ritualism of the offical churches. Due to the location of their first known gatherings, they became known as the "Plymouth Brethren".
- History Repeats Itself
Over the decades, many of the same delemnas have re-arisen within this group that broke off from the mainline churches. There have been various divisions over interpretations of doctrines, divisions over practice and preferences, and in many cases, the dead ritualism from which we severed ourselves has reappeared within our walls. Some have tried to counter this stagnincy by embracing the culture of the day. Others have reacted to this and tried to stay on the conservative end of the spectrum, however, they too have been unable to address the problems that exist and that threaten to destroy what we believe to be the closest interpretation to the way of the New Testament practices in existance today.
We have traditionally had two movements, the Open, consisting of the Chapels, and the Closed. What we need is our own reformation; a re-birth, a renewal, an awakening, or as someone has said, a Third Way. Not an emotionally driven alteration as many liberals would advocate, nor an unemotional rejection of change for the misdirected sake of maintaining the status-quo as many conservatives would support... but a true and sincere changing of the hearts of all. What we need is a true and earnest desire to seek the face of God, to conform to the image of His Son, and to do one of two things; for those who lean toward conservatism, who view change as bad, to implement a heart transplant from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh; or for those who advocate more liberal views, to tame the wild ambitions of the flesh and to seek a whole-hearted submission to Him and His Word, no matter what that might cost. Only by so doing with the brethren movement, which we feel was initiated by the Holy Spirit so many years ago in an effort to preserve the Church, survive.
- Our Need for Today and Tomorrow
What we need is a Third Way, neither Open nor Closed, yet both... seeking to maintain the Biblical purity of the Church by adhering to His Holy Word, and a healthy embracing of new ways, a re-evaluation of old ways, and a rebirth of the patterns seen within the Book of Acts so that we may indeed hold true to the Scriptures in our daily walk, and so that these verses may once again be applied to the Church before His glorious return;
"And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, 'Be saved from this perverse generation.' Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:40-47 NKJV)
- A Plea for a New Way
There is a move afoot today within the assemblies. As in the days of Darby, it is being driven by the young, by those who will remain and live on as the previous generations pass on into the Glory. But the legacy that is left will be ours to live with, and it is our earnest and desperate prayer that this movement, the Assemblies, does not die. Some assemblies are closing their doors due to insufficent numbers to pay the bills. Many are filled with the older and wiser generations, with no youth to carry on the work of the Gospel. Those assemblies that are filled with the youth lack the older and wiser generations to teach them the truths they will need to live on, and are suffering spiritual plauges that are killing many. We need the elders to defend and direct us. We need the young to fight our battles and go on the offensive, to boldly proclaim the Gospel in this dark and dying world. We all need to swallow our pride, and seek reconciliation, to seek renewal, to seek rebirth. To begin a Third Way within the brethren movement.
There will be those who will listen, and there will be those who do not. Those older saints who do not will pass on to Glory perhaps with friut born for their Master, but not bringing in the harvest that is white and ready. The younger saints who ignore this plea will be left unprotected and unguarded, more likely to die a spiritual death of apostacy or to fall into the clutches of materialism, and lead unfriutful lives.
For those who listen, there is a hope. A prayer that these two camps, seperated for so long, will join together once again. We all need to examine ourselves, our differences, and even if we choose not to break bread together on Sunday due to our preferences, we need to unite together in all other ways so that we may carry on the Great Commission given to us by our Glorious Master.
Anything less will be to fail our Lord, our Master, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
* Confessions
- We confess that our movement, known as the brethren, has been fractured in the past by our sin against our brothers. We confess our need for the Holy Spirit to work within each and every one of us, and to live out the life of the Lord Jesus through us. We confess our need to submit and surrender to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and to His innerant Word in all matters, regardless of the personal percieved cost. We confess that each of us will endeavour to labour for His Name's sake alone, and to seek the unity prayed for by the Son before He gave His very life for our sake. We confess our need of His work to build His church, and that no amount of effort of our own will enable this to occur. We confess our need of a renewal and a rebirth.
* Practices
Nothing here yet
* Affirmations and Rejections
- We affirm the unity of the universal church of all born again believers. We reject that unity can be had with those who claim the name of Christ, yet are not born again.
- We affirm the Diety of Christ, His bodily incarnation, His sacrifical death as the complete and only atonement for fallen and sinful man, and bodily resurection. We reject any such group or teaching that deny these truths as unbiblical and non-Christian.
- We affirm the innerrency of the Holy Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments, as stated in the Chicago Statement on Biblical Innerency of 1978. We reject any teaching that sheds any doubt on the origins or authority of the Word of God.
- We affirm that there are many translations of the Holy Scriptures, and that the choice of such translation rests solely on the individual believer, so long as the translation remains true to the majority of the original manuscripts. We reject as unprovable the teaching that there is only one acceptable translation that exists in the English language.
- We affirm that there are believers that exist outside of the walls of the assembly. We reject the notion that true faith exists only within one group, or that any one group has the authority to deny the faithfulness of another group.
- We affirm the right of individual chuches to define their practices for themselves, so long as they do not contradict the doctrines of the New Testament. We deny that such preferential practices constitue a denial of the faith.
- We affirm that the Lord has ordained a plurality of elders for the oversight of individual assemblies, in submission to Him. We deny that such appointed men have any authority to interfere with the affairs of another assembly, unless such assistance is requested.
- We affirm the autonomy of each individual assembly. We reject the hirirarchical structure of Rome, and we reject the undue influence of one assembly over other assemblies unless such authority is specifically requested.
- We affirm that there is to be fellowship between assemblies as seen in the New Testament, a continual exchange of encouragement, blessing and assistance. We reject that any one assembly has the authority to force other assemblies to break fellowship with an assembly unless heretical teaching is continually proclaimed, or unless gross sin is exposed and left undisciplined. At such time, it will be up to the individual assembly to maintian or sever ties with that assembly, and at no time shall any assembly "disfellowship" another assembly or groups of assemblies for not severing such ties.
- We affirm that Blake Kennedy is better looking than Shawn because he can grow a beard. We reject any claim to the contrary as we also have facial hair, and we scoff at those who cannot so grow any. We also reject any requests to have this portion included in the final draft of the document. (sorry Blake)
* Summary
This statement is by no means a completed work. As fallen and sinful men, we pray that in so writing such a document, that we are in full submission to the Holy Spirit, however, we do acknowledge that as sinful men, we may also be influenced by the flesh, and are open to discussion and correction of this document.
To God Alone be the Glory, Forever and Always,
The Advocacy for Brethren Unity and Continuance
(ABUC - or "A Buck"... just some random thing I came up with)
Did I just post that on a Brethren discussion forum?