Digging Out the Embedded Church - The Maranatha Community

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people and they have failed. The Church‟s inquisitions and Acts of Uniformity likewise did not succeed in creating harmony among believers. It is no light matter to be indifferent to the unity of Christians. In the measure in which we work, here and now, towards the visible unity of all Christians and are peacemakers in a divided and warring world, we are in tune with God’s plan for the universe. In the measure in which we keep separated from our fellow Christians and are indifferent to the disharmony of our world and go our own ways, we are out of harmony with the Divine will, not only for the Church, but for the whole of humanity. k) Christ has left us an example – that we should love one another. In Romans 12.10 Paul writes: „Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honouring each other.’ Christians should not only accept one another but love one another deeply – as Christ commanded. This involves honouring one another by putting others in first place and desiring their blessing and success before one‟s own. There have been significant breakthroughs when clergy have prayed, „Lord bless me, but only if you will bless my brother more.‟ And even more significant blessing has been seen when churches in a locality have deliberately chosen to pray, „Lord bless our church, but only if you will bless the other churches in this area first.‟ Such an attitude completely removes all sense of competition and replaces it with a delight in all that God is doing in other fellowships and churches. l) Jesus Christ is the centre of Christian Unity. One of the perennial causes of disunity in the Church has been building churches around personalities. It always needs to be guarded against. One guard against this tendency is to develop a strong sense of „spiritual ecumenism‟. With this sense, however singular a person‟s expression of faith is (and pioneers of new churches are often singularly innovative), the forcefulness of the personality of the pioneer will be tempered by a desire not to cause divisions in the body of Christ. As the spokes of a wheel come closest together at the centre, the closer we are to Christ as our centre, the closer we will be to each other. When we meet as Christians we meet in the name which is above all other names – Jesus Christ. Any other focus than Christ as our centre will hinder unity. We may have the highest regard for our Church or tradition, but Christ must come first. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3.20-21 NLT Page 165
APPENDIX 1 THE NICENO-CONSTANTINOPOLITAN CREED This is the text of the Vatican-based interdenominational International Consultation on English Texts (1975). We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from (of) the Virgin Mary and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father (and the Son). With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen. This is not the Nicene Creed which came out of the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, but a development of it, one probably ratified by the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD and affirmed at Chalcedon in 451 AD. The developed version of this Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed differs in no essential respect from that which came out of Nicaea in 325 AD. The later Creed is fuller in expressing the Biblical basis of the Christian faith. For instance, where Nicaea 325 stated that Jesus „suffered and rose again the third day‟, the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed has „crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered death and was buried and rose again on the third day according to the scriptures‟, clearly a more Biblically accurate confession. In both Creeds the eternal deity of Jesus is affirmed. Nicaea 325 has „the only begotten Son of God who was begotten from the Father before all worlds‟; the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed has „the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God‟. In both Creeds, Jesus‟ suffering was „for our salvation‟. Page 166
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Digging Out the Embedded Church Dis
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The Maranatha Community comprises t
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Introduction CONTENTS Chapter 1 Chr
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ead, nicely browned on top. He plac
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HOW DO WE DIG OUT THE EMBEDDED CHUR
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That the Church should express this
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For Alfeyev, „Faith is a gift, th
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„heresies„ of the Early Church
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Traditionally, the Church has made
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CHAPTER 1 CHRISTIAN UNITY IN THE EA
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A certain Docetic teacher, often id
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Novatianism When the persecutions o
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The fortunes of the Arian party in
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An attempt was made in 482 AD (29 y
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was development in the interpretati
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CYPRIAN AND AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO The
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position would see baptism as not t
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The Eastern Church‟s relationship
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insisted from the second Lateran Co
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There is so much that Orthodoxy sha
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we do not talk to each other. Our t
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The question of heresy does not com
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They were missionary-minded and the
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Lollard ideas lingered in English r
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CHAPTER 4 THE SECOND GREAT SPLIT: W
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unity‟s sake in subsequent centur
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Erasmus wrote he asserts, through o
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attle-cry, is perhaps the most famo
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Regulations for the good ordering o
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Eucharist was not just a commemorat
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CHAPTER 5 QUOTATIONS ON THE THEME O
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How rare then it is to meet a man w
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are often much bigger divisions bet
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St Germanus of Constantinople - 8 t
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manner. He declared that men could
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S L Greenslade - 20 th Century: „
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CHAPTER 6 HOPES FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY
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imminent return of Christ (Komensky
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a concern that merchant adventurers
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also anti-Socinian. Calixtus himsel
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The Eastern Churches were not rent
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everyone - from outward forms to in
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Women were not usually members of t
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work in America, shows him, though
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The aim of the conference was to br
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From 1768 Harris‟s home at Talgar
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twice more to congregations of Whit
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denominations was not their distinc
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It was from the overseas Protestant
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THE OXFORD TRACTARIAN MOVEMENT Anot
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the Church of England‟s doctrinal
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„We pray that… all who desire t
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thereof, in prayer, in the remembra
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honours the Lord and his Word; the
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apostolic church enjoyed, and that
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episcopate were too radical for mos
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Denominations began to form their o
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In this Shanghai Conference‟s Rep
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With so much talk of unity and coop
Page 119 and 120: „The liturgical movement in weste
Page 121 and 122: • Sharing a corporate life of wit
Page 123 and 124: • Our acknowledgement of the Apos
Page 125 and 126: (h) The Evangelical Church in Germa
Page 127 and 128: It changed nothing in respect of do
Page 129 and 130: Some Evangelical Protestants want t
Page 131 and 132: • It is in continuity with the
Page 133 and 134: But things have changed. Richard Ma
Page 135 and 136: evangelism - (and) state what the r
Page 137 and 138: Repentance and faith are at the hea
Page 139 and 140: outcome of being justified. Agreeme
Page 141 and 142: Virgin‟s salutary influence on me
Page 143 and 144: h) Confession The sacrament of pena
Page 145 and 146: demanding way would be sin. The que
Page 147 and 148: If the opportunity for the Church t
Page 149 and 150: Ministers, priests and laypeople in
Page 151 and 152: West Kirby, near to my home, the Si
Page 153 and 154: n) Shared Study Courses There is a
Page 155 and 156: Even some Protestant churches today
Page 157 and 158: Vincent de Lérins spoke of a „pr
Page 159 and 160: It is not likely, in the foreseeabl
Page 161 and 162: Christ and are trying their best to
Page 163 and 164: upon the name of our Lord Jesus Chr
Page 165 and 166: Perhaps this dying process is now b
Page 167 and 168: economic factors giving rise to suc
Page 169: deeper ecumenism, one that does not
Page 173 and 174: APPENDIX 2 FOUR BIBLICAL TEXTS ON T
Page 175 and 176: The „apostles and elders‟ of th
Page 177 and 178: „The purpose of the Reformation C
Page 179 and 180: What all three traditions have in c
Page 181 and 182: Cromwellian period, in a treatise o
Page 183 and 184: BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS
Page 185 and 186: Cullman, Oscar, The Earliest Christ
Page 187 and 188: McCarthy, Tim, The Catholic Traditi
Page 189 and 190: Letter concerning the civil princip
Page 191 and 192: Coptic Orthodox Church, 10 Council
Page 193 and 194: Parousia, 24, 68, 93 Paul VI, 10, 1
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