on 31 January 2023
Dear all at IPC,
Our church’s name is the International Presbyterian Church but the name of the denomination to which we belong is also the International Presbyterian Church.
At times that is a bit confusing.
All the other congregations in the IPC have different names, Trinity Church, Grace Church, Christ Church are the standard ones. But when it comes to our congregation, I take an ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ approach. I quite like that we’re up front in telling people who we are as a church.
The issue I want to address is subtle and you may well not have noticed it: we are not the International Presbyterian Churches but the International Presbyterian Church. You might not think that is a big deal, but I want to argue that it is a huge deal.
Each Sunday we confess in the Apostle’s Creed, “we believe in the One Holy Catholic Church”. It is not as if we are saying IPC is the only church, but we are seeking to express, in the way our church is governed, a vital truth regarding the oneness of Christ’s church.
In the Old Testament, there are 12 tribes but there is only one Israel; there are many cities but only one people. The people of God are one because the God whom they worship is one. It wasn’t like that they had the Bethlehem Village Church which was completely independent of the Nazareth Living Waters Fellowship.
In Acts 9:31 we are told “that the church throughout all Judea, Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up”. It can’t be that there was just one congregation in that whole area. There must have been multiple congregations, but Luke sees them as one church.
If you look at the way the Apostle Paul addressed his letters to churches in the NT, apart from in Galatians, he is speaking of ‘the’ Church. It would be slightly absurd to think that in a city like Corinth there was only one congregation, or the church in the capital of the Roman empire had one solitary church. From the end of the letters it is plain that even at that early point of the new testament there were numerous congregations meeting in a city. It is clear there was the local church, the regional church and the universal church. The letters written by Paul were circular not private letters intended to be read to the church and passed on.
In the book of Romans 1:7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: 1 Corinthians 1:2 (and 2 Cor 1:1) To the church of God that is in Corinth
Ephesians 1:1 To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus
Philippians 1:1 To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi
Colossians 1:1 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae
1 Thessalonians 1:1 ( and 2 Thess 1:1) To the church of the Thessalonians
Even when Paul writes to the Galatian churches (1:2) he is recognising that the Church in Galatia, is one and connected to each other.
Presbyterianism is seeking to give expression to the biblical truth that we are one church. We need to hold it generously, acknowledging there are others who interpret the Biblical data differently. We must strive for unity with others wherever we can.
Tragically the history of Presbyterianism is littered with splits. We need to not be so Presbyterian- ly minded that we lose sight of the catholic church (catholic in the sense meaning universal church). Yet we do believe that Christ, as King of his church, has clearly set out how his church is to be governed in Scripture. The doctrine of the church flows out of the doctrine of who Christ is – the Lord of his Church.
Our Presbytery has 17 churches in it at the moment in the UK – we are tiny. (It is worth remembering that 15 years ago we only had 2 congregations!) We are not a network of churches working together, nor a family of churches, we are not a fellowship of churches loosely connected together. We are one church. We are bound together, we subscribe to the same confession of faith, we are bound by the same book of church order. The sadness of one church effects another, the joys of one church delights the others. We are not independent of each other, infact, we are dependent upon each other. That manifests itself particularly in difficult times but it will show itself in decisions we make together. We have a duty towards one another. In the day to day running of church life we will not think independently but recognise we have duties and responsibilities to each other. It must affect the way we will allocate our budget, the way we will think of training in the congregation, the planting of congregations. It’s imperative that we don’t think of ourselves just as a local independent church that’s loosely attached to others.
How Christ’s church is governed matters. It’s a ludicrous thing to say that how Christ’s church is governed is a matter of secondary importance or even worse, of little importance. We have a duty and responsibility towards the other IPC congregations.
It is why as elders we devote a considerable time to the congregations within our denomination and to the work of Presbytery. It is why a significant part of our budget goes to the planting of and strengthening of those churches. We recognise we need help and wisdom from outside: Proverbs 15:22 ‘Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed’. There is an accountability which is needed. If you disagree with what our session decides, you can appeal to our presbytery. It delivers you from the tyranny of the great chief who has a dominant personality.
Presbyterianism does not safeguard a congregation or a denomination from sin, church history teaches us that. Church government is only as good as the people who are in it. We must never be naive enough to think that sin can be controlled by a church structure. We would though argue that God has given a clear pattern as to how his church is to be governed with a Presbytery and elders and deacons.
We are not on our own. We are not an island. The New Testament does not speak of networks or families or fellowships of churches. It tells us of the Body with Christ as its head. A church governed by Christ’s officers – elders and deacons. It’s why Church Government matters and to deny this is an affront to Christ.
Your Minister and friend,
Paul