I mentioned on a panel yesterday “front-loading ecclesiology” in Utah. I worry that I was not clear or helpful in tone. Here is what I’d like to more carefully say:

All true Christians belong to the universal church. But meeting for small group or coffee over the Bible does not suffice to constitute a local church. A church regularly assembles around the word and the Lord’s Supper, has its own government, and is the chief community in which one practices the “one another” commands of the New Testament.

We have these beautiful commands in the New Testament to put up with, tolerate, love, be kind to, teach, sing with, and forgive one another. We can’t obey these without getting consistently close enough such that fallen sinners can relationally hurt us.

Even though ex-Mormon Christians in Utah (and in general, American evangelicals!) are cautious and sensitive about membership, committing, being accountable to a church community, we owe it to them to be up front about the reasonable Biblical expectation of making a conscious and community-affirmed decision to belong to a local church.

We are to have the kind of community where those unrepentant, yet who claim to be fellow Christians, can be “purged” from the community (1 Corinthians 5). There is an expectation that true believers “listen to the church” (Matthew 18), lest they be treated (even if courteously and graciously) as unbelievers. My point here isn’t about excommunication. It’s that such Biblical ecclesiology (doctrine and practice of the church) can’t even happen if believers don’t form into local churches and recognizably belong to them. This is at odds with endless wandering or church-hopping or merely watching YouTube sermons.

Church membership, which at least means knowing who is consciously committed and mutually affirmed in your local church as fellow believers in good standing, is a healthy and natural practice of this. The formalities are only important inasmuch as they help give expression to it.

We want to incubate, mentor, and disciple believers in the local church — not simply say hi to them every so often! We want believers to grow and become stable oak trees of influence, wisdom, and encouragement to the next generations. This growth doesn’t happen if one is detached from the local church.

So let’s be open about the doctrine and practice of the church early on. Even as we have to be meek, gentle, and patient for years with believers who don’t put both feet in. But let’s be clear about it. This will serve the church, help believers grow, and most importantly honor Christ.

This is the attitude I want to have in engaging issues like this:

“The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” (James 3:16-17)

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Addendum. Questions for professing believers who are not attached to a local church:

• Which local pastors do you submit to? (Hebrews 13:17)
• Which ones are accountable for overseeing you in the faith?
• Which body would first excommunicate you if you reached the end of the Matthew 18 process, or were identified (hypothetically) as an unrepentant adulterer (1 Corinthians 5)?
• Which such community affirms and gladly receives the credibility of the profession of your faith?
• With which primary body are you practicing the “one anothers” of the New Testament?

If none, then you need to find a church and explicitly let its members and leadership know that you are committed to them in this fashion.

If there’s one thing I could impart to my fellow evangelists who meet to work together, it’s to unabashedly increase your joy through fellowship with other believers. Heartily greet, and if possible, pray and sing and delight in each other. And bond.

“Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name.” (3 John 1:15)

This makes for joy, joy, joy, and sustainable, repeat-evangelism, and friendships, and old friends. All in Christ. Partnering together in the gospel.

This joy flows downstream in your evangelism.

“We aim that they share our joy and that we share theirs, so that both joys are larger because of being shared.” (John Piper, “What Jesus Demands of the World”, p. 282)

Would God be pleased to give us another “Manti” in Utah someday?

You are saved by faith alone apart from works.

Not by your performance or moral success or credibility or reputation or past or habits or disciplines or purity.

“We hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” (Romans 3:28)

God is delighted to receive your empty-handed, incomplete, immature, needy, desperate faith and give you 100% of Jesus, declaring you righteous, uniting you to him, forgiving you, adopting you, indwelling you, and securing you.

This is the gospel. And it is the foundation for addressing private, workplace, parenting, marital, or public failures. Start with preaching to yourself: God has forgiven you in Christ Jesus by faith alone apart from works, according to his word alone.

You have equal standing before God with every other believer. God has declared you perfectly righteous in Christ Jesus.

And you now can be live free from paralyzing guilt or wretched ambition. And go seek reconciliation with hard people and love your enemies. God loves you.

It was a beautiful letdown
When I crashed and burned
When I found myself alone, unknown, and hurt

Beautiful Letdown, by Switchfoot

Switchfoot songs did a great job of capturing my existential crisis and coming to faith.

I had given up on truth and explored whatever made me feel good. My high school girlfriend had dumped me. I didn’t go to a reputable university. I was a lonely commuter to a community college. I found myself lazy, arrogant, and lusty.

But God drew me close. I met him in the New Testament. Romans blew me up. Grace came alive. I spent my early college days blasting Switchfoot with the windows down, glad that God had loosened my grip on the world.

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Psalm 73:25-26

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Count me among the Christians who are absolutely stubborn in their belief that God is good:

Even staring at death.

Even suffering injustice.

Even in great pain.

Even under another’s abusive authority.

Even while having involuntary identity.

Even when feeling trapped.

Even when dreams are dashed.

Even when realizing regrets and permanent failures.

God is good. He is right in all that he does. He owes me nothing. He is working all things together for our good. He loves his people. He loves me. And he can do what he wants. God is good.

• RSVP if possible (no biggie).
• Bring a water bottle, a Bible, and a pen.
• Warmly greet the brothers and ask for names 10x. We need reminders too.
• We assume you have a healthy relationship with your local church. We can’t love and serve you in the same intimate way believers from your local church can.
• Don’t bring deceptive tracts. We are overt, not stealthy.
• Feel free to shadow an existing conversation.
• Please avoid a believer/unbeliever ratio that makes the unbeliever feel uncomfortable.
• Feel free to pick unbelievers off of group discussions that are on the edges.
• Please don’t audibly insert yourself into an existing conversation unless explicitly invited.
• If you hear our dialog partner say 10 things worth refuting, but don’t hear us react, it’s probably because we’re being patient and gentle, trying to go down a path and stay focused.
• We can be cheerful and even goofy with strangers. We’re trying to be friendly.
• If a crowd forms, we may preach.
• If you feel like preaching, do it! But please be considerate of existing conversations around you.
• If you preach, speak slowly, inflect your voice, and stick close to Scripture.
• 95% of what we do is simple one-on-one or small group interactions. It’s boring by worldly standards.
• We often guage body language in deciding whether to continue to engage beyond handing out tracts.
• We are nervous too, managing our own fears. Hoping to ride a wave of occasional bravery.
• If someone says something ugly or rude, we feel you. You are a human being made in the image of God. You were meant to be treated with respect and kindness.
• Retorting or reacting isn’t typically a wise way to deal with angry or foolish passerbys. Let them go. We want peace
• Work hard. Get rejected a lot. God almost always provides a good conversation.
• Being a mere friendly presence helps us.
• If a young child wants to take a tract, defer to their parent. Get their permission.
• Old people get extra gentleness.
• You’re among Christian weirdos. If you have a different idea on how to start conversations, go for it!
• We love having a diversity of men, women, old, and young among us. Spanish speakers too!
• Evangelists are easy to please. If God gives us one good conversation, we are satisfied.
• If you only come to pray and be with Christians, that is 💯% ok. It adds to our joy and encouragement.
• If you mess up, we love you. We love newbies. We trust God’s providence. God loves working through you. Your fresh bravery encourages us.
• We love fellowshipping in-between interactions! Abrupt interruptions are normal though. Expect them. We may jet off mid-sentence to hand a tract to a passerby.
• We like praying before and after as a group.
• We like talking doctrine and theology.
• We love warmly greeting brothers in Christ we meet from around the world.
• We love making friends in the context of evangelism.

Tonight’s Temple Square theme: drama & spiritual warfare.

As I arrived there was a large group of young believers praying — mostly from Chicago. We scattered and covered different spots around Temple Square. I don’t know how their night went, although I did see a young man from their group at the North Gate named Ben. He was bold! He kept kindly handing out tracts and weathering repeated rejection with an excellent, kind attitude.

Continue reading “Evangelism report” →

• Do you believe that Jesus was God in the flesh, that he died on the cross for our sins, and that he rose again from the dead?
• Are you trusting in Christ alone for your salvation?
• Have you repented of your sins, and do you submit to Jesus as your Lord and Savior?

Therefore I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Every Sunday morning is a members meeting. The kind that guests are invited to visit.

The church gathering is that of locally committed, mutually affirming, publicly recognized believers in Jesus.

They are washed by the word. They practice the ordinances, and are led by elders and served by deacons. They are ministered to by people of various gifts that Christ has lavished his people with. They practice the one-anothers, and act in unity by one Spirit. They greet each other in the Lord. They are called out from the world to form an outpost of the kingdom.

How important! How fitting! How beautiful that we gather and govern as Jesus, our True Emperor, laid out in his holy word.

Lord, please encourage believers who are not a part of this to be convinced, to joyfully repent, and to dive in.