Ecclesiology --- Our approach What’s at play?

Transcript:Ecclesiology --- Our approach What’s at play?:
Ecclesiology --- Our approach What’s at play? Acknowledging our perspectives… If the Bible is silent… Stop! Stick with what is said. Go! As long as it doesn’t contradict what is said. NORMATIVE REGULATIVE Definitions of “church” A definition (Mark Dever)… “The church is the gospel made visible.” A definition (Greg Allison)… The church is the people of God who have been saved through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and have been incorporated into his body through baptism with the Holy Spirit. It consists of two interrelated elements: the universal church is the fellowship of all Christians that extends from the day of Pentecost until the second coming, incorporating both the deceased believers who are presently in heaven and the living believers from all over the world. This universal church becomes manifested in local churches characterized by being doxological (worshiping), logocentric (centred on the Bible), pneumadynamic (empowered by the Spirit), covenantal, confessional, missional, and spatio-temporal. A definition (Greg Allison)… cont. Local churches are led by pastors (also called elders) and served by deacons, possess and pursue purity and unity, exercise church discipline, develop strong connections with other churches, and celebrate the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Equipped by the Holy Spirit with spiritual gifts for ministry, these communities regularly gather to worship the triune God, proclaim his Word, engage non-Christians with the gospel, disciple their members, care for people through prayer and giving, and stand both for and against the world. Definitions of “church” Reflection Ecclesiology --- Where is the church? In a column published some years ago in a popular Christian magazine, a well-known preacher was venting his own loathing for long sermons. January 1 was coming, so he resolved to do better in the coming year. "That means wasting less time listening to long sermons and spending much more time preparing short ones," he wrote. "People, I've discovered, will forgive even poor theology as long as they get out before noon." Unfortunately, that perfectly sums up the predominant attitude behind much of ministry today. Bad doctrine is tolerable; a long sermon most certainly is not. … Traditional methodology—most notably preaching—is being discarded or downplayed in favor of newer means, such as drama, dance, comedy, variety, side-show histrionics, pop-psychology, and other entertainment forms. The new methods supposedly are more "effective"—that is, they draw a bigger crowd. And since the chief criterion for gauging the success of a