Justin welby has suggested that 'good disagreement' is the answer to a particular issue in the church of England. My immediate response was that this was a very Anglican idea. If we are a broad church then good disagreement should be our first instinctive response to any controversy.
Thinking more about it, I think good disagreement is a rather better ides than that. Any church should search for an issue to have good disagreement on because if they do they'll be a better church.
The idea of a church is a rather strange element of Christianity. Why can't you just be a Christian on your own is an often-asked question. The epistles in particular seem clear that you can't but maybe aren't clear enough on what the problem is.
I want to suggest that this requirement to be in a church is linked to the commandment to love your neighbour as yourself. Of course 'our neighbour' includes difficult people with opinions we dont like. To get good at this would take practice, and the ideal place to practice would be with a bunch of people also committed to this practice but who do disà gree about important things. Fortunately churches are good at finding things to disagree about, so a church is the perfect place for this practice. Of course, while charity dose begin at home it doesn't end there; the practice must lead to love of neighbours outside the church.
So church becomes a reflection 'in a glass dimly' of the heavenly kingdom, in that it is a place where everyone is trying to love one another. Of course, in the kingdom of God, the love, and hence the disagreement, won't be good but rather perfect.
How significant an aspect of church is this? Well it seems to me that the new testament says more about good disagreement than about any other aspect of being church.
So maybe the most important thing to look for in a church is good disagreement. What should you disagree about? Well that's up to you but the most passionate disagreement I've ever heard about at a PCC was about replacing a worn carpet. Of course, disagreement is very painful, especially if people hold views that seem to utterly miss the point of Christianity (as you see it). But maybe a positive way of looking at things is that they're still going to hold those views if you aren't in the same church as them, and it's best if the holy spirit is there to guide any good disagreement which might happen with you.
Thinking more about it, I think good disagreement is a rather better ides than that. Any church should search for an issue to have good disagreement on because if they do they'll be a better church.
The idea of a church is a rather strange element of Christianity. Why can't you just be a Christian on your own is an often-asked question. The epistles in particular seem clear that you can't but maybe aren't clear enough on what the problem is.
I want to suggest that this requirement to be in a church is linked to the commandment to love your neighbour as yourself. Of course 'our neighbour' includes difficult people with opinions we dont like. To get good at this would take practice, and the ideal place to practice would be with a bunch of people also committed to this practice but who do disà gree about important things. Fortunately churches are good at finding things to disagree about, so a church is the perfect place for this practice. Of course, while charity dose begin at home it doesn't end there; the practice must lead to love of neighbours outside the church.
So church becomes a reflection 'in a glass dimly' of the heavenly kingdom, in that it is a place where everyone is trying to love one another. Of course, in the kingdom of God, the love, and hence the disagreement, won't be good but rather perfect.
How significant an aspect of church is this? Well it seems to me that the new testament says more about good disagreement than about any other aspect of being church.
So maybe the most important thing to look for in a church is good disagreement. What should you disagree about? Well that's up to you but the most passionate disagreement I've ever heard about at a PCC was about replacing a worn carpet. Of course, disagreement is very painful, especially if people hold views that seem to utterly miss the point of Christianity (as you see it). But maybe a positive way of looking at things is that they're still going to hold those views if you aren't in the same church as them, and it's best if the holy spirit is there to guide any good disagreement which might happen with you.
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