Problems with 'Free Church Ecclesiology'

But why the emphasis in unity?  Why is it so important that the churches are united?  One common answer to this question is to quote John 17:21, 'that they may all be one ... so that the world may believe that you have sent me'.

This is not in itself an argument.  The main difficulty I have with it is that I don't know what is meant by 'be one'.  It has been understood by ecumenists as structural unity.  Others argue that the traditions should be united in mission and that church structures are helpful in terms of being organised but do not need to be reconciled for Christians to be united.  The problem with their view is that without structural unity, at least as a goal, it is too easy to drift, to lose sight of the goal of unity.

There are of course fast growing churches that have opted out of major church structures and indeed out of the goal of unity.  These are varied churches covering fundamentalist through to radical theologies; including Pentecostal, evangelical, charismatic and house churches. 

I heard a lecture in January 2004, given by Doug Gay, called 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'.  He described these churches as having 'free church ecclesiology', self-certified and uneasy about unity and catholicity.  He named a few churches where this approach to church had gone wrong, in some instances through abuse of church members.  This can be a heavy price to pay for their failure to find a place in the mainstream churches.  The mainstream churches have a degree of historical wisdom; they know how to negotiate issues of power and conflict.

He went on to state that he believes God provides for the church and that the new churches sometimes refuse to accept what God provides.  He gave three examples of the way new churches might do this:

1. Inertia - the belief that we are the last Christians.  The refusal to believe that God has anything new to offer the church.
2. Amnesia - the belief that we are the first Christians, and so do not believe that there is anything of value in the established traditions.
3. Xenophobia - the belief that we are the only Christians - a refusal to accept the richness and diversity of human culture.

He finished by saying he believed that unity belongs to the future and so it is a union of churches that we should be seeking.  Openness to God is through openness to all churches; it shows that you are in fact a church.

This was a stimulating challenge to the new churches but is there any chance of the older churches meeting them on common ground?  If the challenge to new churches is to take on board the wisdom and experience of the mainstream traditions, what challenges are being made to the older traditions by the new churches?  I will attempt to answer this question in my next post.