Digging Out the Embedded Church - The Maranatha Community

Corinthians 3.10ff), or a Body (1 Corinthians 12.13). Peter speaks of believers as being
„living stones‟ built together as priests into a „spiritual house‟ for the worship of God (1 Peter
2.5). The Apostle John uses the word koinōnia, a sharing in common, when he describes the
essence of the Christian life: „Truly our fellowship (koinōnia) is with the Father and with his
Son Jesus Christ‟ (1 John 1.3 NRSV). John in his vision of heaven sees the Church as a city,
the „new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a Bride adorned for
her husband‟ (Revelation 21.2 NRSV).
But the New Testament concept of the Church is that of a unity having within it diversity.
Paul speaks of the Church as having many members gifted in many ways. There is not here in
his thinking a monolithic concept of the Church; individuality in the Body is not despised or
ignored, but celebrated. The great challenge to the Church has always been how to manifest
this unity without stifling individuality and how to encourage this diversity without causing it
to fragment the Church.
The great model and inspiration for the Church in this quest for diversity within unity is the
Triune Godhead, in which the diversity of the three persons celebrates and enhances the unity
of the One Godhead. Mankind finds it impossible to have complete unity within itself: the
story of the Fall of Man shows how rebellion against God leads to division within the human
race. History is a continuous record of empires, nations, cities, dynasties and families fighting
amongst themselves and consequently losing any unity they might have had.
So the Holy Spirit is given to create the unity man cannot achieve (Ephesians 4.3), and it is
up to Christians to „maintain the unity in the bond of peace.‟ On the Day of Pentecost, when
the Holy Spirit fell on the Church there was complete unity: they were all „homou epi to
auto,‟ all together with the same thing in mind (Acts 2.1). Days later they were still of „one
heart and mind‟ (4.32), but this unity did not last long.
The Church is meant to reflect the harmony of the Trinity, complete in unity, rich in
diversity. Yet soon after the beginning of the Church’s growth, divisions began to appear
within its ranks. Jesus’ prayer for the unity of his followers, ‘that they may be completely
one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you
have loved me’ (John 17.21 NRSV) has never since the very earliest days been realised.
So, are those who hope today for a widespread movement towards Christian Unity, when the
Church is so much larger and complex than it was in those first days, just naive optimists,
idealists who are always going to be disappointed in their hopes for the Church? Certainly,
the Church‟s record in history of attempts to bring about unity is not an inspiring one. At
almost every period of history it has been true of the Church that it was „by schisms rent
asunder, by heresies distressed‟, and that is true still today as we begin the Church‟s 21 st
century.
Yet there is this to say. We are entering a period in which it may well be possible for the
Church to enjoy a ‘spiritual ecumenism‘ not experienced so far in its history, by coming to
accept that many of the schisms and heresies of the past are really no bar to the declaration
of oneness in worship and witness.
Arianism was a heresy that the Early Church recognised as creating a barrier to unity, and its
teachings on the Person of Christ are still held today by one or two sects. That barrier must
still hold if the Church is to be loyal to its Scriptures and Creeds. But there are other
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