Here is the introductory essay for the Local Church Networking Institute proposal/plan that I have been working on over the last couple of days.
Overall the pieces is quite rough, but I have a meeting tomorrow and needed to present something somewhat coherent.
The divisive nature of the Church is in essence antevangelism. The antithesis of evangelism lies not in a stagnant nature, which renders a motionless Church, but in its active, dynamic witness that results in opposing the first classical mark of the Church – oneness. This mark, found in the Apostles Creed, searches for unity, even in the face of inconsistency within the Church. The lack of unity portrayed to the church and the unchurched alike is in direct opposition to the Gospel.
Not only does disunity preach ante-Gospel, but it distracts churches from recognizing and providing for the local needs of the community. This is a huge disaster, and highly contrary to the essence of the Church. The Church is to care for its local community, those within its walls and without. Due to its divisive nature, resources in effect get consumed in warring with other churches rather than serving the community.
Theological unity is a nearly impossible task, and though important for the Church's continuance and survival, the method of ecumenism through theological synthesis has not been effective. Another approach is necessary so that the Church can be unified and can address local needs adequately, in working partnership with other local churches.
The necessary approach is partnership through local ministry. Local churches must band together around community needs, not only to create unity but to remain locally relevant. Unity and relevance are imperatives for local evangelism. Churches within a similar area, be it zip-code or block radius, typically encompass a similar demographic and residents are effected by similar concerns. No matter what the denomination of the churches, neighbors will inevitably be unified by their concerns and local churches must address these concerns in order to reach their community. Local churches then must be unified around similar concerns.
It is around this unity of concern that the church as “One” can be effective and reach their community for the Gospel. Through addressing these concerns, churches can pool resources, be they financial, capital or human resources and transform their community. The Church already has two central components to outreach – the great commission and the Holy Spirit. These two facets of the Church, gifts to extend and embrace locally, make churches the most effective bodies to effect local change.
This is not rhetoric for the social gospel, in which the Church attempts to usher in the kingdom, rather the kingdom is now and not yet – instituted by God alone. The Church has long stepped aside and allowed government and other institutions to take local authority. To be sure, there does exist a separation between church and state in America, however there is rarely discouragement upon churches for addressing local needs. The Church need not compete for this authority, but embrace and engage its community, positively effecting and allowing for the Holy Spirit to transform the local community. The Church may not be the legal authority, but it does reside in the power and authority of God to preach the message of hope and reconciliation and to act in positive outreach.
The Church in Acts engaged locally in evangelism. It did so, buttressing the message of hope with acts of hope. It was clear early on that the Church was not totally unified in theology or always in practice, however its one-ness rested on the unified message of the Gospel and engaging in the local community.
This operation seeks to reorder the Church to mimic the Acts model contextually – in the 21st Century. The operation is to mobilize local churches to actively partner in Spirit and in resources to dynamically address the issues concerning their local community, thus unifying the Church and providing a powerful witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Often pastors and parishioners do not have the time to do the footwork of building strategic local partnerships, let alone do community needs assessments. This operation sees its function as doing the research for assessing community needs, surveying local churches and their resources and fostering dynamic partnerships to address these local needs in the San Gabriel Valley. To do this adequately and timely, the operation will require two full-time workers to assess needs, develop partnerships and provide assistance to empowering churches to address the needs.
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