From: dzeigler@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Daniel R Zeigler)
Subject: Re: Local Church Names
Summary: There are some dangers in the "Church in <City Name>" paradigm
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 14:25:02 GMT

Dear Dan:

Interesting solution to the problem of naming the local church.  May God enable
the "church in Concord" to grow into the name!  May the brothers and sisters 
with whom you currently fellowship grow increasingly connected to each other 
with bonds of love!  May you continually grow in your ability to be Christ's 
hands and feet and shoulders to the city of Concord!

I would like to issue one admonition--less for your sake, Dan, than for my own
and for the sake of the others who have read my post.  There is a danger of
being sectarian in our non-sectarianism, of becoming a non-denominational
denomination.  (I've been there in the past--but that's another story.)  Let me
quote from Watchman Nee to illuminate what I'm saying:

"To say, 'I am of Paul,' or 'I am of Cephas,' is obviously sectarian; but to
say, 'I am of Christ,' is sectarian too, though less obviously so.  The
confession, 'I am of Christ,' is good as a confession, but it is not an
adequate basis for forming a separate church, since it excludes some of the
children of God in a given locality by including only a certain section who
say, 'I am of Christ.'  That every believer belongs to Christ is a fact,
whether that fact be declared or not; and to differentiate between those who
proclaim it and those who do not, is condemned by God as carnal.  It is the
fact that matters, not the declaration of it.  The sphere of a church in any
place does not merely include those in that place who say, 'I am of Christ,'
but all in that place who * are * of Christ.  It extends over the entire area 
of the locality, and includes the entire number of the Christians in the 
locality.  To take one's stand as belonging to Christ alone is perfectly right,
but to divide between Christians who take that stand and Christians who do not,
is altogether wrong.  To brand as sectarian those who say, 'I am of Paul,' or 
'I am of Cephas,' and feel spiritually superior as we separate ourselves from 
them and have fellowship only with those who say, 'I am of Christ,' makes us 
guilty of the very sin we condemn in others.  If we make non-sectarianism the 
basis of our felowship, then we are dividing the church on a ground other than 
the one ordained of God, and thereby we form another sect."

Sometimes I half-jokingly say that the name of our fellowship here in Columbus,
Ohio is "Dan and Carol and Scott and Linda and Shawna and ... "  In truth, we
don't use any name, in part because we don't want to start another denomination
or movement, but rather become a unitive force among the saved ones in our 
town.  It has been a good platform to work from.  I love the Nee quote above 
because my own heart is so prone to the sin of factionalism.  May God protect 
us all from it!

Dan, none of this is to criticize you or your fellowship in Concord.  It's just
that--knowing the sinful nature as well as I unfortunately do (from 
experience)--I want to encourage you to stay away from the traps I've fallen 
into in years past.

In Jesus,
Daniel
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