The Second Reformation

It is no longer a question if there will be a second reformation in Christianity.  There can be no doubt about it:  a second reformation is already well underway.  But unlike the first reformation, spearheaded by the likes of John Knox, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Eurich Zwingli, and Menno Simmons, tracing this reformation to specific historical leaders is a difficult, if not impossible task for the historian to undertake.  And while one could perhaps examine the movements that have influenced this reformation, such as the Pentecostal and Charismatic renewal movements, the underground Church in China, and the like, I believe this reformation would best be likened unto three specks of leaven hidden in a loaf of bread.  It has been a largely unseen movement, but over time, has slowly but surely begun to leaven the whole lump, as it grows every single day.

Why does this second reformation lack much in the way of any visible leadership?  Because this second reformation is concerned with only making one leader visible, and that leader would be Jesus Christ.  For Jesus Christ is the leader of the second reformation.  That's not to say that there haven't been and aren't other leaders in this movement.  For undoubtedly, there certainly have been and are.  But they prefer to go unnamed, unseen, and uncelebrated, for while being like glorious stars in the sky, because of the surpasing  glory of the Sun, discerning their presence becomes difficult at best.  For the philosophy of these leaders has always been, "He must increase, while I must decrease."  And the more they decrease in visibility, the greater His influence, and the more He becomes seen.

Like the rising of the sun, as with the nature of all reformation, such does not happen instantly, or with one giant blow.   Rather, it happens gracefully, gradually, incrementally, and smoothly, until the sun fully rises, or as in the other analogy, until the leaven consumes the entire lump.  Over time, the present ecclesiastical system that is undergoing reformation will simply collapse upon itself, as an unsustainable model that will be counted as but a forsaken relic of the past.  For His people who have become holy discontent with the present order, who deeply hunger for the fullness of the presence of Christ in the Church, with Him operating unhindered as its true head, will simply find no reason to carry on with the way we've operated for centuries, laboring largely in the dark.  For their eyes will be opened to the glory that rises out of the eastern sky, and once seen, they will no longer desire what they knew in the night.

We aren't there yet.  Many of our brethren, are still living in a place where much darkness abounds.  The reformation is not yet complete.  Be patient.  Don't attempt to do for the Lord what the Lord is doing in His own timing.  Continue to just wait on Him, and let Him arise.  Teach, exhort, and rebuke much.  But pray even more.  Don't try to force anything, or to try and take some imaginary shortcut to the reformation.  For if you do that, you will find yourself in a battle without the Lord.  Walk with the Lord in what you do, and love the brethren even as the Lord loves them.  Abound in forgiveness and major in mercy.  For that is how Christ has behaved towards us, so let us have the same attitude towards our brethren who have yet to have their eyes opened to the truths we've come to know. 

Don't forsake assembling yourself together with them, and fellowshipping with them, but rather, spend all the more time with them.  Even if they resist you, and find themselves at odds with you.  Share with them the same fragrance you have smelled.  Lead them to the same waters you have been drinking from.  Model for them what you have come to know.  Be an example to them in all things.  If they slap you on one cheek, offer them the other.  If they curse you, bless them in return.  Don't pull back from them in pride, but like our Lord, forget yourself, and truly become a servant to them in all things.

For ultimately, the only way for the second reformation to prosper is that it be a movement that doesn't make much about itself, and what is going on.  Rather, the second reformation will prosper because it makes itself much about Christ, and speaks often of Him.

What you are speaking of, is not
so much reformation as restoration.
Th LORD desires to see a glorious
Church, blameless and holy before
HIM; revealing HIS glory and virtue,
expressing HIS mercies and truth,
proclaiming HIS faithfulness and
salvation, desiring HIS presence,
HIS purpose, HIS Will!!

Restoration is a good word too :-)

Jimmy, you need to make up your mind :)

LOL. Oh Frank, you should know very well that I am a person who has their mind very well made up. Sometimes I do speak in paradox though. :-)

So whats it gonna be Jimmy? :)

I believe with all my heart that we'll all simply just "grow up" to the point where we realize that we simply don't need to wear diapers anymore, and we'll simply switch to "big boy" underwear. It won't be this big "come out of her" thing you guys envision. It will be more of an "oh, I don't need that anymore" sorta thing.

In the remnant heresy post, you stated your views very clearly, and you have a right to believe that people are heretics, but in this post its almost the exact opposite of that.

Notice in this post, I don't exactly call for a "come out of her" position. I believe that's simply a wrong attitude and position to have. Specifically in my second to last paragraph in this essay I state:

Don't forsake assembling yourself together with them, and fellowshipping with them, but rather, spend all the more time with them. Even if they resist you, and find themselves at odds with you. Share with them the same fragrance you have smelled. Lead them to the same waters you have been drinking from. Model for them what you have come to know. Be an example to them in all things. If they slap you on one cheek, offer them the other. If they curse you, bless them in return. Don't pull back from them in pride, but like our Lord, forget yourself, and truly become a servant to them in all things.

But at the same time in two paragraphs before I said:

Over time, the present ecclesiastical system that is undergoing reformation will simply collapse upon itself, as an unsustainable model that will be counted as but a forsaken relic of the past. For His people who have become holy discontent with the present order, who deeply hunger for the fullness of the presence of Christ in the Church, with Him operating unhindered as its true head, will simply find no reason to carry on with the way we've operated for centuries, laboring largely in the dark.

I believe the way things presently are will come to a gradual end, and it won't be because people are crying "come out," and then go wander alone by themselves. It'll be because God does such a work in the lives of the brethren, that we'll be gathered around together, even in our imperfect and largely denominational systems, and then we'll just not see the need for them anymore, and just get it one final good shrug off. The denominational system that exists in the church right now will simply collapse and be discarded.

Trying to compare these things to what happened in the Protestant reformation isn't exactly comparing like things in my opinion. What happened in the split with Rome was largely regenerate men realizing there was no room to fellowship with almost entirely unregenerate men, and that "the establishment" officially endorsed and was trying to propagate an entirely false and counterfeit gospel. There was simply no room for fellowship.

The reformation I see happening today isn't so much over the gospel as it is over the nature of church governance. Of course, there is, as there has always been, a contending for the purity of the gospel message where the gospel does get distorted. But the reformation I'm talking about is one that is happening in the church is in the midst of legitimate brethren. There are legitimate born-again brethren in most Evangelical churches today, no matter what the denominational (or non-denominational) tag on the door.

I don't believe I'm called to "come out" from amongst brethren simply because they have bought into an episcopal form of church government, or because they have cessationist tendencies, or because the building we meet at seats 5000 people and has a "staff." That doesn't mean I have to play by all the strange rules they setup either. Indeed, sometimes I may even do deliberately contrary to what these larger bodies say. I may have to pay a price to do such, and in fact, have done such many times.

Indeed, I had a Jesus and the money changers experience with a denominational official in a district service with the previous denomination my last church was affiliated with. Just when worship had brought heaven down, the "state bishop" decided to take up an offering, and milked it for all it was worth. He quenched the spirit of God in a violent way, and started quoting every verse on giving in the New Testament, trying to manipulate the check books. He then said we were going to take our offering and actually bring it up front, where he would personally receive it from us. This upset me greatly, and in a moment of prophetic fury, I grabbed my jacket, took two pennies from my pocket, and standing in the middle of the center isle I tossed it at "the bishop" while he was still preaching. I then stormed out of the church.

Needless to say, I never got invited to preach at any church outside of my own. But guess what? I still stayed at my local church, and had many great years of fellowship there afterwards. I still stay in touch with some of the brethren there, even though I am now a year removed from the church. I now go to the last place I thought I'd ever go, a large thriving mega-Church, where we have about 20 staff pastors. And guess what. God is still there. :-)

Of course, there is seldom a time I attend the Church where I am not keenly aware that one day, the building we are in will be forsaken. Many of the people on staff at the Church, if not all, will be forced to go become bi-vocational. And the Lord will over turn a lot of things that presently exist. But for all of our problems, I've discerned we are a very vibrant community of believers, and finding rich fellowship with mature believers has never been a problem.

Indeed, I'm quite sure that should a lot of the things we have in our Church vanish tomorrow, that many of us would continue in regular and close fellowship to one another. There is still need of reformation though. But I'm keeping my eye on Jesus, staying sensitive to the leading of the Spirit, and only do what I know He would have me to do. I know I am not at my current assignment but for a season, and that one day, the Lord will move me on to another.

Indeed, one day, I believe He has called me to plant a Church that is according to the New Testament pattern, or at least, as close to as possible at the present time (I don't imagine a perfect utopia) But, until that happens, I will continue to seek out the rich fellowship I have found in the Churches around me over the years, imperfect though they may be. And when I can, and when the Lord leads, I will speak on the way things ought to be. But you know what? Those things though very important to me, and as I know they are unto the Lord, are but secondary issues of importance, and we should never use these issues to create an "us v. them" mentality amongst brethren in fellowship.

Frank,

And yes, you can be Frank. :-)

I have a sense that maybe you and I are close to connecting on something, but perhaps though we are using the same vocabulary, perhaps we have different definitions. A phrase I keep seeing, "established Churches" throws me off a bit.

By "established Churches," do you mean to include largely regenerated fellowships who are part of larger denominations? Do you mean to include those like my church, who have an episcopal polity, but yet have some very godly and anointed individuals who are on "staff?" Do you lump fellowships like mine together, with the likes of Roman Catholicism and liberal unregenerate "churches?"

My personal testimony is that in the Foursquare church I attend, which happens to be a thriving "mega-Church" with about 20 staff pastors, and approximately 3000 members, I find many awesome brothers and sisters in the Lord whom I could not ever imagine parting from. We are a church with problems no doubt. We recently had to remove our praise & worship leader from his ministry because he was involved in a sexual relationship with somebody other than his wife. But the Lord has blessed us greatly, and His manifest presence is regularly present when we gather in large assemblies, as well as small groups. People seem hungry for the Lord, and great love abounds for one another. Which honestly, the first time visiting my Church, I simply did not expect. But I found the Lord powerfully at work in it.

By established Churches, do you consider mine an established Church that "the remnant" needs to run away from? If so, I still contend from the original post you would be in grave error to think so, and without a Biblical leg to stand on. For though it is a Church that needs reform, without a doubt, it still qualifies as a geniune Church in my mind. But if such fellowships as I am a part of are not included, then, I think we are closer than it might appear to agreement. I don't think anyone should have anything to do with unregenerate "Christians."

Thanks for the clarification.

(edited for clarification)

I think I am in the middle between Jimmy and Frank's views on this issue. I agree with Jimmy in that I see many precious brethren who are part of the institutional church system and I do not want to "part" from them or have a hyper critical and divisive spirit or attitude. And I agree with Frank in that I see many problems within the institutional system, problems which hinder genuine Christianity from flowing in the Spirit. Currently I am in a place where I am seriously seeking the Lord in terms of starting a home fellowship(There are a few believers who are in mind as co-laborers/planters). Jimmy I would encourage you to seriously consider that possibility since you stated you are sensing the Lord leading you that way in the future. I believe we need more fellowships to be formed that can be good examples to the brethren, as to what genuine fellowship is.

Do 30 regular people get the chance to teach from the platform in your church Jimmy? Is it a clergy /laiety system? Is there the freedom to stand up and testify if the Holy Spirit prompted you? Could you stand up and share a Scripture if the Lord laid it on your heart. You say that the worship leader was removed because of sexual imorality, was this a paid position? If I were at your church, and the Holy Spirit laid a hymn upon my heart and asked me to stand up and start singing it in the time of worship, could I do that? Would the worship leader fall in behind that or would that not be acceptable? What if I had an exhortation? Is there the freedom to exhort the people? You get the idea?.......

Fair questions, to which I answer yes and no. Our church has made a microphone available for people to use if they feel the Lord has given them a word to share with the congregation, or if there is a tongue/interpretation. So, if you really feel the Lord has a word for you to share, you are free to do so. People have done it in the past, but, it is a rare thing.

Our services, as I'm sure you'd imagine, are not a totally open format. They are very structured. We have three services on Sunday mornings. If showed up with a guitar and were prepared to sing a hymn, such would probably not be allowed to happen though. And yes, our praise & worship leader was salaried. Presently though, we don't have an official worship leader, and they are simply rotating various members of the choir in and out of that position. Truth be told, I'm not sure the church is looking to replace the position any time soon. If they are, there has been no indication such is going to happen. As it is, we've been doing just as good if not better without our former leader.

So, that's the way things are. If memory serves correct, we also have around 50 small groups that meet at homes and other locations throughout our community. There is much more room for sponinaity in most of those.

Oracio,

Yes I have seriously considered starting such a church where I am at. But the Lord has told me no each time. He's called me to start a church in another part of the state, but not yet. I still have some growing to do He says.

And when I do finally venture out in this work one day, it is simply to plant a Church. Though I hope to mold it into a certain format, I am not starting a Church to have an open and simplistic style, though I hope it grows that way. I'm planting a Church simply because I believe that is what the lord has told me to do. Not because I have a certain theological axe to grind. I'm simply hoping to establish Christ where He is yet named and among those who have not called upon Him.

In my opinion, there is a world of difference between seeking to establish a Church that is much more in accord with the Biblical pattern, because the Lord has simply called you to plant Churches, versus that of planting a Church simply because you want to meet in a certain format that currently does not exist at your present fellowship. The first option is definitely of God. The second probably has something to do more with the flesh.

There is a difference, as some have pointed out, between "sent" and "went."

*edited for additional comment*

For Christ to be formed in us is the main objective..

Absolutely. Amen. That is what I strive for in my own life, and in my ministry. That Christ might be fully formed in me, and that He might be fully formed in others. There is nothing outside of that.

I'll TRY to read those essays later. I saw them earlier, but currently, lack the time at this moment.