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TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks on Personal Problems (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 60. Some Wrong Ideas.
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Some Wrong Ideas.
"Are you a member of Church? " I was asked by an earnest Christian woman recently. It was at a conference of Christian people for speaking about Jesus and the great truths of Christian life and service. She is a gifted woman, earnest in her spirit of devotion and service. "Yes," I replied, with a bit of wonder at the question, "I certainly am; I am a member of the Church in which I was born and reared."
"But," she went on, "how can you be? Are there not many things there of which you do not approve, and things taught that you do not believe?" I reminded her that church membership was not a matter of approving everything that was done, nor yet a matter of believing certain things. It is the gathering together of those who believe in Jesus Christ, and gather in His name for mutual helpfulness, and for a great world-service.
It is because I seem to have met many whose thought of the Church has not been clear, and who have wavered in their devotion to it, that I want to talk a bit here about the Church, and our personal relation to it. This is one of the personal problems that comes up in the life of very many who would climb the highest levels, and always ring true.
There have been a good many common mistakes current in thinking about the Church. It is supposed by some that church membership necessitates a belief in all the items of her creeds; by others that it is a sort of profession of peculiar goodness or sanctity; and by others that it is largely for one's own helpfulness and enjoyment. The personality of the minister has entered in to a very large degree, and very naturally. That must always have influence. The Church has sometimes, in some quarters, been thought of practically as an exclusive club to which non-members are not welcome without a personal introduction by a member in acceptable standing. It has been thought of, too, as the doorway into desirable social circles, and some very earnest, Bible-loving people have thought of it wholly as a place to be fed and fired up.
And let it be frankly said that there has been and is much in various quarters to give coloring to these various suppositions. Yet the simple thought of the purpose of the Church is quite different from any of these ideas. It will surely help, to get some clear thought of the mission of the Church, and of one's true relation to it.