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Unity & Diversity in the Body of Christ
For the past few decades, many contemporary churches have learned to scratch us where we itch. Like hip-hop music? Try this new hip-hop church. Prefer country music? Try this cowboy church instead. But in the quest for relevance, have churches of this kind ended up dividing the body of Christ in unhealthy ways? Are they fulfilling the Great Commission or creating homogenous silos filled with like-minded people of roughly the same age, political persuasion, and demographic profile?
Michael Horton discusses this issue with Thabiti Anyabwile, author of The Life of God in the Soul of the Church. Join us for this edition of the White Horse Inn.
Guest Quote:
“In Christ, there is this new identity that is over and above all other lesser identities. And so, when we default to I’m going to be a hip-hop church or a cowboy church, or some other sort of homogenous unit— when we default to that, we’re actually tearing at the fabric of what Christ has united in himself. It’s a deep failure to understand the unity that we have in Christ and the unity that the Spirit works in our lives.’” – Thabiti Anyabwile
Term to Learn:
“Of the Catholic (Universal) Church”
We believe and profess one catholic or universal Church, which is a holy congregation of true Christian believers, all expecting their salvation in Jesus Christ, being washed by His blood, sanctified and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
This Church has been from the beginning of the world, and will be to the end thereof; which is evident from this that Christ is an eternal King, which without subjects He cannot be. And this holy Church is preserved or supported by God against the rage of the whole world; though it sometimes for a while appears very small, and in the eyes of men to be reduced to nothing; as during the perilous reign of Ahab the Lord reserved unto Him seven thousand men who had not bowed their knees to Baal.
Furthermore, this holy Church is not confined, bound, or limited to a certain place or to certain persons, but is spread and dispersed over the whole world; and yet is joined and united with heart and will, by the power of faith, in one and the same Spirit. (The Belgic Confession, Article 27)
(This podcast is by White Horse Inn. Discovered by Christian Podcast Central and our community — copyright is owned by the publisher, not Christian Podcast Central, and audio is streamed directly from their servers.)