I just read, for the gazillionth time, John Winebrenner's claim, which he made on the day the Church of God was formed in October 1830, that in order to fulfill the dream and vision of the Church of God will require "another great reformation."
Understand, then, that, from Day One, the founders of our movement...
...the men and women who committed themselves to what they called "the gospel ministry"...
...whose movement peaked, sixty years later, when the Church of God listed 800 active congregations...
...shared two convictions about the Reformation:
1. It had, by their time, failed to create a scriptural form of Christianity.
2. It had to be moved beyond.
The Church of God associated with John Winebrenner and his colleagues was, from its first moment, post-Protestant. It was radical at the beginning. Radicalism is in the history of the Church of God. Radicalism is in our DNA.
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Forget Winebrenner and what he said...and what he did...in 1830.
In 2009, the CGGC created a Mission Statement borrowing from language used by Winebrenner on that day in 1830.
The Mission Statement set the goal of making disciples by establishing churches on, borrowing Winebrenner's words from 1830, "the New Testament plan."
Interestingly, and importantly, it was in explaining the meaning of the term "New Testament plan" that Winebrenner claimed that to accomplish the Church of God vision required another great reformation.
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I've been fascinated by references to the celebration of the 500th Reformation Day in the CGGC.
There are some churches in the CGGC where the Reformation Day is being embraced with a joy and an enthusiasm that would make any good Lutheran blush.
And, I have to wonder who the heck we are.
In the aftermath of the creation Winebrenner's radical movement, do we love Winebrenner's radical vision or Protestantism which our movement deemed to have failed.
My guess is that a few of the Winebrennerians of the 21st century share Winebrenner's conviction but most are bland, modetate and traditional Protestants.
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I've said this before: There is no truth that centers the people of the CGGC, no truth that connects the people of the CGGC to each other.
There was such a truth in 1830.
And, propelled by a shared and radical truth that 1830 gathering of a handful produced 800 active congregations within 60 years.
In a couple of months, the hierarchs of the ERC are, apparently, going to foist another new Strategic Plan on the body without the approval and authority of the body.
The PDF that justifies the new New Strategic Plan envisions a transformed Conference in 2022.
It won't happen...
...for one reason,...
...there is no us.
There is no truth that connects us.
"The Church of God associated with John Winebrenner and his colleagues was, from its first moment, post-Protestant. It was radical at the beginning. Radicalism is in the history of the Church of God. Radicalism is in our DNA."
ReplyDeleteWell it's clear to see - Winebrenner was NOT disobedient to the heavenly vision he received and was in complete alignment and agreement with the Father of glory and HIS dream for HIS church!
Let the reformation begin - "Yet once more," shake everything that can be shaken and remove all those things that can be shaken." Heb. 12:27