"Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches"

What about Baptist ecclesiology?  In his book, Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches: A Contemporary Ecclesiology John S. Hammett seeks to defend classic Baptist polity and ecclesiology in an easy-to-understand way making his case in all areas of ecclesiology.  He presents his thesis in a series of things he seeks to accomplish at the beginning.  First, the author wants to show that the church is God’s creation, Christ’s body, and the special instrument of the Holy Spirit in the world today (11).  Secondly, he hopes to establish that understanding the doctrine of the church is especially important to contemporary North Americans, because their pragmatic approach to church life, their concern to be relevant to their culture, and their desire to see their churches grow leave them vulnerable to the danger that their churches will be shaped more by those concerns than by the design of the Lord of the church (11).  Finally, he seeks to make the case that, even in our postdenominational age, there is a need for a book on the doctrine of the church from a Baptist perspective (11).
   
The book is then broke down into a five parts.  The first part asks the question, “What is the Church.”  In these chapters, the author discusses things such as the nature of the church, the marks of the church, and the essence of the church.  In the chapter on the marks of the church, the author highlights two answers.  The first is the creedal marks of catholicity, apostolicity, unity, and holiness as established in the early years of the Church.  The second answer is given by the Reformers who suggest that the marks of the church include the preaching of God’s Word and the administering of the ordinances of the Lord’s Supper and Baptism.
   
In the second part, the author asks, “Who is the Church?”  Here he raises the issues of regenerate church membership, a clear Baptist distinctive.  Here the author argues why regenerate church membership is necessary, is biblical, and how it affects other doctrines. Take for example the issue of infant baptism.  If the church is made up only of believers, then infant baptism is problematic being that the infant does not have a testimony of repentance and faith.  Furthermore, paedobaptism breaks the biblical mandate that the church be made up of believers so as to protect her from false teachers.  What the author argues here is a thorough, yet brief, argument for this Baptist distinctive that sets it apart from most other ecclesiological books.
   
The third section asks the question, “How is the church Governed?”  Here the author dedicates chapters to Baptist polity and his defense of Congregationalism, the role of elders (“leaders, not Rulers,” the chapter subtitle says), and the role and office of deacons.  In the chapter on Congregationalism, the author begins by presenting various polities common today including Episcopalian church government, Presbyterian church government, and finally Congregational church government.  He obviously favors Congregationalism and presents his case for it primarily based on Scripture. 
   
The fourth part asks the question, “What Does the Church Do?”  Here the author raises the issues of various ministries of the church and the ordinances of the church (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper).  The chapter on the ordinances goes into much detail regarding the theological, biblical, and practical issues surrounding each one.  For example, on the question of the Lord’s Supper, the author discusses in some detail the question over closed (what he calls strict) communion and open communion favoring strict communion.
   
Finally, the author asks, “Where is the Church going?” and here he discussion current trends in the world and the challenge they bring to ecclesiology and he discussion “The Future of the Global Church” (as the chapter subtitle reads).  In the chapter on current trends and challenges of ecclesiology, the author raises the problem of postmodernism as well as trends like the Seeker-Sensitive movement, and others.
   
This is a helpful book that offers a number of insights for the reader.  One insight regards an interesting defense of Congregationalism based on church discipline.  He argues that Matt. 18:15-17 clearly implies a church regulating its membership and choosing its leadership.  He notes that in this text the final decision for dismissing a member is not assigned to a bishop or elders, but to the church (147).  Hammett sees the same thing happening in 1 Cor. 5:9-13.
   
Similarly, the author offers practical reasons as a defense for Congregationalism that is real insightful.  The first practical benefit is congregationalism’s ability to counter the tendency of churches to drift doctrinally and thus suffer spiritually (149-150).  Secondly, Congregationalism provides for what is a practical inevitability (150).  In other words, churches are congregational in nature because they can continue to exist only as the people support them.  The people can always vote, with their funds and feet if in no other way (150).  These two arguments are insightful and offer an additional way of making the author’s case. Its just not theologically or biblically sound, but practically beneficial. 
   
Thirdly, the author defends “strict” communion but does so under the reminder that such a policy is impractical unless the church understands that membership involves commitment to the local body.  The author’s wielding of communion and the church’s responsibility for each member and each members responsibility and commitment to the church is extremely insightful.  It is a two way street.
   
Fourthly, the distinctions the author makes between modernity and postmodernity is helpful especially for those new to the challenges that each raise.  As society continues to become more and more postmodern, such discussions (and the chart he provides) offer simple and easy-to-understand means for the reader to understand.  The distinctions he offers were dead on and understanding the culture in which we live in allows us to understand the world and the people in which we are ministering too.

Finally, in general, the author presents a thorough case for Baptist polity and ecclesiology.  He raises a host of issues in what seems like a small amount of space.  His discussion of everything from Baptism, to the office of deacons, to Congregationalism were each insightful and were presented in a way that reflected the authors genuine attempt to honor Scripture, sound theology, and practicality.

I am left with two questions for discussion however.  The first regards the question of open vs. closed communion.  How to we affirm both catholicity and closed communion?  This is not to question the local church’s responsibility to its own members, but still I believe it is an important question.  Secondly, how would Hammett respond to Dr. James MacDonald’s bold assertion that Congregationalism is from Satan?  Both men make strong cases.

"A Light to the Nations"

One of the growing and popular trends in ecclesiology and evangelicalism is the missional movement.  In this book, Dr. Michael Goheen offers an missional ecclesiology that traces the biblical story.  From the first line, the author states that his thesis is to analyze the missional identity of the church by tracing its role in the biblical story (ix).  Goheen has a background in missional thinking and seeks to present the reader with an ecclesiology, rooted in the biblical narrative, that reflects missional convictions.  However, he notes that even the best missional books, thus far, have little sustained biblical-theological and exegetical work (ix).  And thus he seeks to present such a book that has been lacking in missional circles.
   
The author begins with a simple and important idea.  God has promised that he would bring about a new world and he would make it visible through community.  This is why ecclesiology is so important.  The local church and the universal church, rooted in the biblical narrative and the missional drive, will create such a world.
   
The problem is that the church is captivite to bad theology, cultural accommodation, etc.  Thus the author seeks to return the reader back to Jesus and the Gospels – the church’s origins.  Central to the Gospels and the ministry of Jesus was His preaching on the Kingdom of God.  Goheen says that the Kingdom is about cosmic renewal, the restoration of all creation and all human life and society; it is not the kind of announcement that should be tucked away in the religion section of the newspaper (17).  And it is in this message of the Kingdom of God, fulfilled in the cross and resurrection, that Goheen sees as central to a missional ecclesiology. 
   
The author sees the Kingdom of the God central to the gospel and the gospel central to missional ecclesiology.  Here he sees five landmarks of the gospel on ecclesiology.  First, the gospel demands of its hearers that it be accepted as the real story of our world (18)  Secondly, God’s purpose and activity to renew the entire creation and the whole human life (19).  Thus it is the mission of God to restore the creation and the life of humanity from the ravages of sin (19).  Thirdly, is simply the coming of the Kingdom of God.  Fourthly, God works out his redemptive purposes in this story by choosing a people to make know to all where history is leading (19).  And finally, the gospel reveals that this community chose and sent by Jesus is both the beginning of something new and the continuation of something much older (20).
   
It is from here that Goheen launches into the rest of his book.  From here the author traces this biblical story by which God restores all things, gathering for Himself a people, and builds the Kingdom of God.  And it is here that much of the great insight of the book is gained.
   
First, his discussion of missions in the Old Testament is rare and helpful.  He breaks missions in the Old Testament down into three parts: Universalism, Incorportation of Outsiders, and Proselytism.  Ancient Judaism, up to the time of Jesus, saw missions in these three areas.  God is a universal God, the creator of all people.  And the drive towards proselyticism reaches its climax seemingly during the first century AD.  Few discuss this aspect of missions and the Kingdom of God.  What Jesus presents in the Gospels is a continuation and a fulfillment of the work that was expected of Israel.
   
This leads to the second great insight.  God seeks to gather to Himself a redeemed people.  That is what Israel was to be in the Old Testament: a light unto the nations.  The great difference between the Jews in the Old Testament and the young church in the New Testament is how easily and almost immediately they break down barriers and include both Jews and Gentiles.  The cross and resurrection stands as the climax of this story that ultimately fulfills God’s plan of gathering for Himself a people.

Thirdly, the author sees in the cross and the resurrection everything.  The passion of Christ is the fulcrum by which the church stands and falls.  Missional ecclesiology, that is, is based upon the work of Christ on the cross and resurrection.  The author argues the full significance to the church of the death and resurrection of Jesus has too often in the last two centuries been let unexplored (101).  It is a connection that is rarely made.  The cross and resurrection drastically affects our ecclesiology.
   
And this leads to the fourth insight.  The emphasis on the communal aspect of the gospel is eye opening to how we present a more complete gospel.  The author does not diminish the individual aspects of the gospel.  Certainly we must embrace the gospel, we must be transformed, we must repent, and we must be more like Christ.  But limiting the gospel to individualism leaves it incomplete.  The gospel has a communal aspect of it and we must proclaim it.  Remember, God is gathering for Himself a people and that is what the Kingdom of God is.  And the Kingdom of God is found through the gospel – the cross and resurrection of Jesus.
   
Finally, his discussion on the various images of the atonement is helpful.  The author does not discount, reject, or diminish substitutionary atonement.  Propitiation is upheld, affirmed, and we must take the author at his word.  There is nothing in the book to suggest that penal substitution is unbiblical, ought to be rejected, outdated, or unimportant.  In fact, the opposite is true.  However, the author does note that it is dangerous to limit the significance of the cross to one of these images.  He highlights three: Christus Victor, Substitution, and Christ as Representative.  The author suggests that the first two have historically been pitted against each other, yet both are important to fully understand the cross for a mission church (see 108). It is incredibly helpful to take Scripture at its word and to apply each motif allowing them to speak.  Goheen applies them to the church, but we could easily apply them to each extension of the atonement: the eschatological, the communal and cosmic, and the transformitive (to use the authors language 109).
   
This all leads to two basic questions.  The first regards how the missional movement has been understood.  It would be fascinating to hear him discuss the liberal trend within the missional movement.  Many have confused “being missional” with the likes of the Emergent Church.  And like the Emergent Church, missional communities promote community and the biblical story.  How can missional churches avoid the Emergent trap that tends towards liberalism?  Why does it seem like mission communities are more susceptible to liberalism?
   
Secondly, why has there been so little ecclesiology developed out of missional circles?  What Goheen presents here is fairly straightforward and not complicated.  What he argues here can be affirmed by those who have watched the missional movement from a distance.  All Goheen offers is a survey of the biblical story applied directly to the local and universal church.  He is careful to avoid many of the common traps and presents a case that ought to be taken seriously.  His admission that there has been little credible books written on gospel-centered missional ecclesiology is right.  But why?  It would seem that a movement this large would have developed a book by now.  Why the wait?


For more:
Reviews - "The Radical Reformission"  
Reviews - "Nehemiah Factor" by Frank Paige  

Reviews - "Compelled By Love" by Ed Stetzer and Philip Nation