Monday, May 2, 2011

OneBody Charlotte: The Whys and Wherefores

In advance of our next citywide gathering on Saturday May 7th, we will share some vital kingdom values to explain what we’re doing and why.
Our ministry team is very eager to resist the temptation to “reinvent the wheel”.  So we avoid that by sharing values already articulated very well by brothers and sisters we are tracking with in Australia.  Our friend David Orton compiled “A Statement Concerning the City-Church” back in 2005.  You can read the entire document here:



For this blog, we’re pulling out Article IV:

Geographical Basis of Unity
We affirm that there is only one church in any given city. The only apostolical ground for the division of the church is the city. The civil jurisdictions and boundaries of cities (including sub-cities comprising larger metropolitan cities) are the exclusive ground for the differentiation of the one church that is in Christ.
We affirm that all those who have the Spirit of Christ comprise the church of that city.
We deny that God ever intended any distinction of the church other than by city boundaries. Scripture does not sanction or model any extra-local configuration of the church whether regional, national, or international. Neither does it sanction any division of the church according to a particular theology, experience, leader, race, class, age, or gender
.

Our participation in these gatherings, and the relational connections that follow, build into the fulfilment of Jesus’ prayer.  We hope you will join us Saturday May 7th at 6pm on the campus of 2XSalt/Salt Mine Christian Ministry.  You can learn more about the events and the process at this link:







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