Always Reforming

One of the great ecclesiological debates of our day is regarding the validity of holy orders.  Whom do Roman Catholics recognize?  What about the insular, ethnically-focused Eastern Orthodox?  How do Presbyterians, Baptists, Lutherans, and other Protestants interact with clergy outside of their tradition?  Anglicans, who purport to be Catholic and to hold the Apostolic Episcopate, seem to spend an inordinate amount of time talking about this.  It certainly is an important issue as it relates to questions about full vs impaired communion, the validity of the sacraments, and how denominations work together on the mission field.  Ultimately, it is a key subset to the broader question of authority, which is the pressing issue of the Church in our era. My goal today is not to answer (or even address) this question.  My assertion, instead, is that the discussion is altogether misguided.  To say it another way, if you are debating the validity of one den...

Church polity has been a divisive issue, to say the least, throughout Church history.  Should individual congregations govern themselves independently?  Should regional groups of elders oversee the Church?  Is the Episcopate a divinely ordained and indispensable means of unity for the Church of Jesus Christ?  How should clergy be selected, trained, etc.?  How do we determine jurisdiction?  Wars have been fought and heads lost over over these and similar questions. I myself am a bit of an ecclesiastical mut.  Having attended a presbyterian church, a quasi-presbyterian church, and an elder-led, non-denominational church, I am currently serving as a deacon in an Anglican church, which features an Episcopal form of church government.  I am no expert, but over the years I have learned a few things about how church government actually works out in real life.  I won't attempt a thorough treatment of this subject, but here are a few thoughts on churc...