Chapter Two: Possessing the Whole Truth 

Chapter Three: The Select Society 

Chapter Four: Vengeful Discipline 

Chapter Five:  The Narrow Circle 

Chapter Six:  The Larger Place 

Chapter Seven:  What Should I Do?

INTRODUCTION

Many people in the body of Christ have come into contact, at one time or another, with an unbalanced Christian group. We might call such groups by other names too: “ultra sectarian,” “toxic,” or “cultish.” They aren’t cults in the traditional sense of the word, but some of their characteristics make them similar in how they impact their adherents. In order to minimize misunderstanding, however, I’m going to use the term unbalanced in this discussion. This is an apt description, because in all cases something has gone wrong in the group’s dynamic, making them focus too heavily on some things to the detriment of their overall Christian health.

The spiritual damage that can be done by unbalanced groups is enormous, both to individuals and to the larger body of Christ. So it’s important that we become aware of some of the danger signs associated with imbalance and take action to make sure such excesses don’t take root in us.

Recognizing imbalance can be difficult. With the cults, we can pick out definite differences in dress, manner of life, and most importantly, what they teach as doctrine. The frustrating thing about unbalanced Christian groups is they seem to do everything pretty much like every other evangelical church group. Even what they teach from the Bible is usually orthodox; we could find no fault with their major doctrine concerning Christ. What has gone wrong is so subtle that Christians can participate in the group for years with nothing more than a vague feeling that “something is wrong here.”

Among these groups the problems come from such intangibles as wrong attitudes, unhealthy relationships, and too much of a good thing. Such assessments are necessarily subjective and individual, and because of that we might not consider them reliable means of judgment. But the truth is, there’s no way to make the distinction between something balanced and something unbalanced entirely objective. Without the help of the Holy Spirit, giving us moral clarity and biblical understanding, we’d find the task impossible. But with His help, we can make these assessments. Then we must be willing to act in accordance with His leading, no matter what others in the group might say to try to dissuade us.

I hope this attempt to discuss imbalance in Christian groups won’t be perceived as a tool to further divide the already hurting body of Christ. I’m not trying to create an artificial sense of alarm or paranoia for practices or views that may be different from our ideas about what is “normal” Christianity. Under the umbrella of orthodox Christian doctrine, there’s room for various expressions of diversity in minor doctrinal ideas and worship practices.

The goal of this book is not to create division. Rather, I want to to bring unity to the various expressions of Christ’s body by helping those who are struggling in a truly unbalanced group to break away from its bondages and enjoy  the freedom of the Larger Place—the place of mutual acceptance and fellowship around the person of Christ.

Light is never at risk of exposure, only darkness. That’s why Paul encouraged the Corinthian believers to “examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5). We shouldn’t be afraid of healthy self-examination, either as individuals or as groups. We need to test all things in the light of Scripture, with the discernment and wisdom available to us through the Holy Spirit.

As we take a closer look at some of the characteristics of unbalanced Christian faith, may we come to the place where we can experience what Paul prayed for his fellow believers in Philippians 1:9-11. “This I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

One of the first characteristics to emerge in an unhealthy Christian group is the tendency to view its leadership as above reproach or censure. Although this tendency shows itself early in the group’s development, its growth is so slow and gradual that it isn’t easily detected. Only when it’s deeply entrenched in the minds of both the leadership and the group’s members can it be seen for what it is.

Important questions need to be asked about how the leader—the pastor or teacher—of the group is viewed. (For the sake of convenience, I’ll refer to this leader as an individual. However, a team of leaders can also fall into this trap.) Is the leader seen as a servant of the people in the group, a man gifted to lead but not necessarily “better” spiritually than anyone else in the congregation? Or is he perceived as some kind of spiritual giant—an awesome figure—who is respected as the final judge of all spiritual matters?

This latter perception need not be the result of what the leader actually says. He may speak in a truly humble manner, frequently confessing his spiritual failings before God. What’s important is not what is said, but rather how the people in the congregation relate to him. Very rarely would a truly Christian man openly proclaim his own righteousness or worthiness to be followed, as the cult leader Jim Jones did at People’s Temple.

What’s more likely to be develop in a Christian setting is the emergence of a small group of people near the leader who promote his “super spiritual” image for him. To question or disagree with one of his proclamations may not solicit any reaction on the part of the leader. After all, he is aware that 2 Timothy 2:24 says “the servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition.” But the loyal group around him will react quickly to such “insubordination” and try to shame the member into silence.

Probably the saddest aspect of this unhealthy view of leadership is how Scripture is twisted to suit the whims of men. Unlike a full-fledged cult, these groups rarely misinterpret the Bible outright. Their error is in how a Scripture is stretched to make a point. Their overemphasis distorts to some extent the meaning that should be applied when balanced with other Scripture.

Admittedly, judgments like these take great insight that often comes only with Christian maturity. Young Christians may not have the necessary experience in handling Scripture to make that kind of call. This is why they must rely upon the Holy Spirit to alert them in such instances. Often an older, more experienced Christian who’s not connected with the unhealthy group can offer an objective perspective about the situation and help the young Christian sort out the excesses and distortions in the teaching. Such godly advice confirms the “check” from the Holy Spirit that the young believer has been feeling. Then he can pray about the best course of action to take.

The Lord’s Anointed

A verse often quoted in groups with an unbalanced or unhealthy view of leadership is 1 Samuel 24:6. David, God’s choice for Israel’s king, was running for his life from King Saul and his men. When David and his band of men arrive at a cave in En-gedi, they can’t believe their good fortune—Saul is there, sound asleep, and is unguarded. David snips off a small piece of Saul’s robe and withdraws, even though his men press him to go ahead and kill Saul while he has the chance. But David responds: “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.”

David’s heart was right in this matter. He had confidence that God would deliver the nation’s kingdom into his hand when the time was right. He knew it would be wrong to take matters into his own hands. It’s interesting that after he cut the piece from Saul’s robe “David’s heart troubled him.” In his spirit he knew that what he had done was wrong. God is faithful to lead us by His Spirit if we’re open to Him.

There’s nothing wrong with the interpretation of this passage in regard to not taking something from the anointed of God unlawfully. But what’s often done in unhealthy groups takes it a step further. They use this verse to justify any action on the part of the leader as above reproach and censorship simply because he is the leader—God’s anointed. That’s stretching the point too far.

Evangelicals are quick to criticize Roman Catholicism because of its hierarchical religious system and its idea that the Pope, though a man, speaks unerringly as the very voice of God on spiritual matters. Yet I have heard this verse in 1 Samuel 24 and the one in 1 Chronicles 16:22 quoted in much the same way in some evangelical groups. Any questioning of teaching, or disagreement with conduct, raises the cry of “touching the Lord’s anointed.”

Using the verse in this way creates a smokescreen, allowing leaders to do whatever they like without having to answer to anyone else. It may be appealing from a leader’s perspective, but it is thoroughly unbiblical. After David became king, he fell into sin with Bathsheba, another man’s wife. No one said a word to him because, after all, he was king!

God eventually sent a very brave prophet to confront David with the accusation, “Thou art the man!” Nathan had no idea if David would hear him out and repent, or if he would order his head to be cut off. All he knew was that his primary loyalty was to God, since he was His servant. So he obeyed the directive to speak to David about his sin, regardless of the consequences.

This is an important principle for all of us to remember. We don’t answer to men and we shouldn’t look to them for our approval, if it comes at the cost of pleasing the Lord. As Paul pointed out, “with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord” (1 Corinthians 4:3-4).

Each member of the Lord’s body, whether he’s in a position of leadership or not, needs ministry from other members of His body. If there’s no avenue for correction, rebuke, or instruction from another, the leader is destined to become more and more capricious, demanding, and unbalanced as time goes on. For his sake, as well as the sake of those he leads, there must be the opportunity to respectfully question and disagree with his actions and policies.

Respectful Disagreement

The word respectively is important, because another scriptural principle brings balance to the relationship between leader and group member. Paul instructs the believers in Thessalonica to “recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves” (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13). The writer to the Hebrews reminds us why we need to esteem our leaders highly: “They watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you” (Hebrews 13:17).

In other words, don’t make trouble for your leaders because of your own sin. Honor and submit to them whenever it is appropriate to do so, and if you need to question something about their manner of life or leadership style, do so with love and respect. In a healthy Christian group, this is relatively easy to do. Those who rule well are “counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine” (1 Timothy 5:17). It’s in unhealthy groups that this relationship begins to break down. Leaders who don’t rule well tend to bully and intimidate those they rule over. Unchecked, they become emotional tyrants. Seeing themselves as more spiritually enlightened than anyone else, they become arrogant and unwilling to learn from anyone else.

A.W. Tozer, in his essay “On Receiving Admonition,” pointed out the dangers of growth and success in Christian ministry. “Success itself becomes the cause of later failure. The leaders come to accept themselves as the very chosen of God. They therefore must be right, and anyone who tries to call them to account is instantly written off as an unauthorized meddler who should be ashamed to dare to reprove his betters.”[1]

Jesus is the standard by which leaders should measure themselves as they carry out ministry in His body. He came, not to be served, but to serve others in humility and submission to His Father. One of His disciples, Peter, watched Him carefully and later wrote: “The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ. … Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by constraint but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble’” (1 Peter 5:1-5).

In the body of Christ, mutual submission will help to keep our roles and relationships balanced and healthy. If submission is always expected to be in one direction—from members to the leader—something is wrong. Leaders need those who will bring correction to their lives too. Yes, we should approach them with our questions and concerns in a respectful way. Yes, we should pray for them and support them in their role as much as we possibly can. But when they become abusive, unapproachable, isolated, and arrogant in how they lead, the Lord expects us to do something. To let it continue unchecked means we give tacit approval to what is happening.

When I became a Christian, I joined a group that was led by a very gifted older Bible teacher. His knowledge of the Bible was truly awesome to me, and I felt privileged to sit under his instruction. Most of what he taught was thoroughly biblical and many of the truths he imparted I still carry with me to this day.

There were certain points, however, that didn’t sit right with me, even as a young Christian. I would walk away from the meetings feeling like I could never measure up to my full potential in Christ’s body, since I was a female and therefore of less importance than my male counterparts. The teachers didn’t say that in so many words, of course, but that was the impression I got when they shared anything about church order. I was asked to keep my head covered as a sign of my submission, not only to my husband but also to the other men in our congregation. And I was to keep quiet in our worship meetings, even if I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to offer an insight or a prayer.

This was very confusing to me, especially since our group claimed to be charismatic, operating under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. On the one hand, everyone was encouraged to participate in the service as they felt led, but there was another message being passed that definitely favored male participation.

For months I agonized about what to do about this. I felt so blessed by the fellowship of the group that I didn’t want to threaten my acceptance by them. But I was also very aware that I needed to obey the Lord above any person, so I didn’t want to ignore the clear leading of the Spirit to share when I felt prompted. Which of the two conflicting messages should I accept, I wondered. Did the Lord really value men more than women? Or was this teaching just a hold-over from our leader’s own spiritual past, some “old wine” that was being forced into “new bottles”?

It was hard for me to sort these things out, and my husband and I spent many hours pouring over the New Testament writings to try to determine what was the greater spiritual truth being communicated by the early church leaders and praying for the Lord to give His wisdom about what would most honor Him. We had to come to our own conclusions about this because the teaching elders refused to acknowledge the contradiction. They assumed we would bow to their superior knowledge about the Bible and not question their judgments, even if the Holy Spirit was not witnessing the truth of their teaching to our hearts.

I remember there were specific scriptures given to me during this time that I felt led to share with the church leadership. I made arrangements to meet with them on the night they regularly met, and obediently shared what I had been given without comment. I figured if the Lord wanted to get their attention, He could speak through the passages themselves better than I could try to interpret them.

The texts (James 3:14-18, 5:9; Galatians 5:14-15; Proverbs 13:10) were concerned with why we were having contention in our group—something we had not had in the beginning of our relationship—and how it would eventually tear our congregation apart and harm all of us in one way or another. The elders politely listened to me but gave no real attention to what I had brought. Within minutes I was on my way, feeling sad for the consequences I knew would follow from their spiritual pride and arrogance. But at the same time I felt like the burden had been shifted off of me because I had “delivered the goods” as the Lord has instructed.

Within a year that once vibrant and spiritually healthy congregation of born-again believers had been torn apart and scattered. A few of the core group stuck it out and continued to meet together, but the vast majority left. Most of them continued to serve the Lord in other congregations, but some left the faith entirely, disillusioned and angry that what had started out so wonderfully had ended in such division and discord. I’m sure the devil had lots of fun pointing out the hypocrisy of it all and assuring them that the whole experience had been a colossal waste of time.  

There’s a tremendous difference between respectful support and unquestioning loyalty. Distinguishing between them is vital, because one fosters healthy interaction within the body and the other contributes to an unhealthy atmosphere of intimidation and censure. When imbalance begins to manifest itself in your group, don’t sit back and wait for it to get worse. Pray and ask the Lord what you should do, and then bravely do it.

No leader or group of leaders in God’s kingdom is above being respectfully questioned or challenged. The prophet Nathan is our example in this. He was careful to put his loyalty to God above any earthly teacher. If you see the attitude among your leaders of being wiser than the rest of the body, above correction or censure by “lesser” members, or more important to the functioning of the group than everyone else, beware. Such unhealthy views will likely manifest in other ways as well. We’ll continue to explore them in the following chapters.

Another tendency of unhealthy Christian groups is to see themselves as the possessors of God’s truth—in its entirety. Usually they put great stock in the written Word of God. They venerate the Bible and its teachers highly. This is good, of course, except that they take it too far.

In their zeal to know and obey the Word of God, these groups begin to trust in their own knowledge and spiritual insights, believing that God is giving them an inside track on understanding His mind. One of the scriptures they twist to their advantage is 2 Peter 1:20: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Using this text, an unbalanced teacher can assert that individual Christians (especially younger ones) shouldn’t feel free to come up with their own interpretation for a Bible passage, because there is only one right answer to its meaning … and guess who has it? The teacher, of course!

No doubt there is a perfect understanding of each Bible verse written. I’m looking forward to heaven, when my earthly mind will finally be perfectly aligned with God’s. But while we’re still here on earth, subject to our flesh and other human limitations, who can claim that he or she has tapped the entirety of God’s wisdom and can perfectly expound every idea expressed in His Word?

As strange as it may sound, there are groups of Christians that honestly believe they can. I’m not talking about the cardinal truths of the Christian faith—the essential truths that are “able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). All Christians—from youngest to oldest—should know the fundamentals of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and be able to impart them to others by the power of the Holy Spirit. But when it comes to minor points of doctrine, that’s another matter. To think that every Christian worldwide will come up with an identical view concerning every Bible passage is naïve and absurd.

Over the years, as we mature in our faith, all of us slowly develop a system of theological belief. After years of consistently studying the Bible, we begin to formulate certain ideas about the larger issues found within its pages. End times teaching (eschatology) is put in some kind of logical package; a philosophy about God’s plan of salvation is usually formulated as well, including an orientation towards Calvinism or Arminian views; prophecies directed to the nation of Israel are put into an overall perspective concerning how we believe God is dealing with them as opposed to the church, etc. This kind of formulation is perfectly normal, and it evolves as a result of the teaching we expose ourselves to—whether through media sources, group or individual Bible study, reading other Christian books, listening to sermons, attending Bible school, or whatever else.

We need a systematic approach to Scripture. If we don’t have a framework in which to hang new ideas and truths that come to us, we will be in a constant state of confusion and, for that reason, we may be easy prey for deceptive teachers. The problem isn’t having an opinion about biblical issues. We become unbalanced and unhealthy when we begin to believe that our opinions are authoritative and reliable in all cases. And if anyone disagrees with us on some issue, they are written off as heretical or uninformed.

People in ultra-sectarian Christian groups are not open to any debate or differing views about what they have been taught. Without any sense of distinction, they hold everything as “God’s truth” because it has come—as far as they are concerned—from an inerrant source. As we mentioned in chapter one, people in these groups see their teachers and leaders as awesome spiritual figures above reproach on scriptural matters. To question their views would be disloyal. That’s why they come at anyone with alternate ideas with such vengeance and hostility.

When my husband challenged something held by a member of such a group, he was surprised by the swift reaction he encountered. The other person, ostensibly a brother in Christ, uttered a curse upon him: “You’re nothing but a child of hell. I hope you burn forever for the errors you hold and the truth you oppose!”

This particular characteristic can take one of two directions. The person can strike out at what he perceives as error (like what happened in the incident with my husband), or he can block off any divergent ideas by a kind of “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” response. As one Italian lady involved in a sectarian group said recently to an American missionary, “I’m not like most people. I don’t want to go to America. I’ll probably get exposed to ideas I’ve never heard before, and I don’t want to get confused!” This isolationism is a far cry from Paul’s boldness to face anyone and anything with confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Honest Differences

When we’re grappling with the issue of divergent scriptural ideas, we have to ask ourselves some important questions. Is there no possibility of honest disagreement about certain passages—passages that do not deal with the fundamentals of the Christian faith? Is there no room for personal convictions in matters dealing with conscience rather than command?

To the latter question, the apostle Paul would answer with an emphatic yes! In Romans 14 and 15, we find him discussing examples of issues where sincere Christians honestly disagreed with one another. One had to do with Christians eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols, and another centered around what constitutes a holy day. In such minor issues he seemed to see no problem with one Christian holding a different view from another: “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers each day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5).

Following Paul’s teaching about each man deciding such issues for himself, John Wesley believed that we should earnestly search the Scriptures and make informed decisions about minor doctrinal ideas and modes of worship. This is our responsibility before God. We need to be sure our decisions are made for the right reasons—not according to whim or personal preference, but based on what we believe best reflects Christ’s life and teaching. Once we decide what we believe on these issues, we can then attach ourselves to a congregation that affirms those beliefs and practices. It’s natural and right for us to join groups of people who share a like mind and conscience with us.

In his discussion in Romans 14, Paul isn’t saying differences of opinion about minor doctrines don’t matter at all. He’s saying that compared to the possibility of dividing the body of Christ and harming the conscience of other believers, our opinions are of lesser importance in God’s eyes. Yes, we seek out like-minded believers to worship with, but we don’t shun or criticize other Christians who may not see things the way we do. Focusing on what unites us, not what divides us, helps us to follow Paul’s directive: “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God” (Romans 15:7).

One of the marks of an unbalanced Christian is his inability to see beyond his own views about Scripture. He cannot make allowance for a divergent view, even on the most minor doctrinal point. He doesn’t care how many fellow believers he tears down and discourages along the way in his zeal to be right. He misses Paul’s point entirely in Romans 14, to refrain from judging one another because each believer is ultimately answerable only to God on matters of conscience. “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls” (v. 4).

No Proselytizing

It’s interesting to note in this chapter that Paul doesn’t advise one camp to try to “win over” with persuasive argument the other camp to its point of view. Attempts to proselytize, especially if they come with an arrogant or critical spirit, create misunderstanding, anger, and division among the members of Christ’s body—and that grieves the heart of God. That’s why Paul advises us to do the very opposite: “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (Romans 14:19).

To have an opinion on every issue raised in the Bible isn’t a problem. It’s when we believe that every one of our opinions is “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” that we become unbalanced and ultra-sectarian. A.W. Tozer saw the danger in this kind of arrogant thinking in his day and wrote the following:

“A new school of evangelical Christianity has come up of late which appears to me to be in grave danger of producing a prime crop of intellectual snobs. The disciples of this school are orthodox in creed, if by that we mean that they hold the fundamental tenets of the historic faith; but right there the similarity of their school to New Testament Christianity ends. Their spirit is quite other than the spirit of the early church. … One indispensable quality is missing—humility.”[1]

Humility and a willingness to learn from others is the true test of a New Testament Christian. For someone to claim, or imply by their actions, that he has all the answers about spiritual matters is the height of self-deception. One day we’ll all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. What a glorious day that will be, because we will all walk away from it with the same mind. No more disagreements, no more questions, no more uncertainties! For we will “know fully, even as [we are] fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12, NIV). Until then, however, we must be content with some maybes along with the certainties we hold.

Areas where sincere Christians hold different views are many and varied. Issues like ecclesiology—how to best govern church congregations—and what constitutes holy behavior are two good examples. Others include beliefs about worship practices, prayer and fasting, marriage and remarriage, how and when Christ will return to earth, tithing, parental discipline, God’s sovereignty and foreknowledge, modes of baptism, roles of men and women in ministry, which Bible translation is most reliable, etc. The list could go on and on. 

Sure, there are things from Scripture that we can be very sure about—so sure, in fact, that we would be willing to die for those truths. But other issues may have room for disagreement without being considered hills to die on. For these minor doctrines, balanced Christian groups can extend grace and patience to those who hold different opinions. They know that the way we can best honor God is to “have a walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3).

Unhealthy Christian groups, by contrast, teach their people to stand their ground in every point of Scripture, no matter how minor it may be. They grieve the Spirit of God by creating division and discord among the members of Christ, yet they blindly carry on, thinking they “do God service.” How sad! They don’t realize how much harm they are doing, both to themselves and to others, by their arrogance.

Being able to make fine distinctions is one of the ways we recognize intelligent people. Life is mostly gray; few things operate by strictly black and white principles. And life in Christ is like that too. Often we have to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us in matters that aren’t distinctly clear to our human way of reasoning. It takes humility to admit that we don’t know everything yet, even if we are in possession of the mind of Christ through our new nature. Paul said, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror” (1 Corinthians 13:12), but we can look forward to the day when “we shall see face to face.” 

At the beginning of 1 Corinthians 13, Paul makes another important distinction between good deeds and the surpassing importance of the motivations of our hearts. He talks about all the good things we can do—speaking in the tongues of men and angels, being able to prophecy and understand all mysteries within God’s kingdom, moving mountains, giving all we own to the poor, and even sacrificing our lives in martyrdom. But at the end of the list he concludes by saying that without love, all of it is of no consequence spiritually. Love (charity) is preeminently more important than any of those things.

To see everything in life with the same intensity and to ascribe the same importance to every issue creates a kind of spiritual madness. That’s why we want to avoid the unbalanced groups and individuals who display this tendency. We need the focus of a systematic framework in which to hang our doctrinal views … but we also need to know when it is permissible by God to follow our own conscience and to allow others to do the same. Following the lead of Augustine, John Wesley came up with a wonderfully succinct way of striking balance in our Christian life. With it, I’ll close this chapter.

In essentials, unity;     

In non-essentials, liberty;

In all things, charity.

In order to persuade people to come into a particular group, a certain amount of salesmanship is usually involved. That’s true in every area of life, including church life. Often we enthusiastically share the strengths of our group simply because we enjoy what we have together and we think others will too—in the same way we tell about a good restaurant experience we had or a good movie we just watched.

In a church context, some groups are more attractive for all the right reasons. Maybe they do a good job of meeting the needs of their members, or they have a real heart for sharing the Gospel with the lost around them and do it more effectively than other groups. Sometimes they are exceptional in fostering a good worship experience. Or maybe they are good at Bible exposition or some other area through which people grow and mature in their life of faith.

Some groups have the ability to release ministry into the hands of their members, encouraging them to develop and use their gifts for the good of the wider body. Others may be known for their sacrificial financial giving to help others. Some are good at equipping believers to minister in a cross-cultural setting, making them leaders in the area of sending out short-term and full-time missionaries.

These are all good reasons for being attracted to a Christian group.  If we find that one group is a better fit for our Christian calling to the body, then we shouldn’t feel it is wrong to join ourselves to them. If, on the other hand, someone from a Christian group begins to try to convince us of their superiority and seeks to tear down the group we are currently involved in, we should beware. They could be seeking to draw us into their numbers for all the wrong reasons from a biblical perspective.

Here, we want to explore an attitude that emerges over time that tends to lead people into unhealthy isolation and separation from all other Christian groups. The “select society” mentality causes a group to believe it’s superior in all ways to every other Christian group or denomination, and spends a lot of its time trying to convince other Christians to join their ranks so that, as Paul wrote to the Galatian church, they can “glory in your flesh” (Galatians 6:14).

The issue in Galatia was circumcision. Those who still felt loyal to Jewish law felt every Christian should be circumcised and keep the law, even though the requirements of salvation had been clearly proclaimed: simple faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the Cross for us. As Paul wrote, “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation” (v. 15). It was okay to be circumcised and it was okay not to be. It was not a major doctrine on which to split people. Yet, certain teachers in Galatia were doing just that, and it really upset Paul. He knew what really mattered was letting the Spirit of God transform us from the inside out, conforming us to the image of Jesus and making us a new creation. “As many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God” Paul concludes in verse 16. Christians are the Israel of God because of new birth and a transformed life, not because they adhere to certain ordinances and promote certain minor doctrines.

Here’s where the imbalance comes in for unhealthy and sectarian groups. Certain teachers begin to teach that their particular distinctive related to some minor doctrine they found in Scripture is enough to set them apart from all other Christian groups. As a result, the members of that group start to believe they are the only ones holding out for all scriptural truth—everyone else has compromised in some way—and as such they are God’s best representatives in the world.

It’s the same attitude that Elijah adopted in 1 Kings 19 when he said he was the only prophet left in Israel who truly followed the Lord. In his case, he was consumed with self-pity because he felt all alone in his mission. In unhealthy Christian groups, members are more likely to become prideful about their own importance. Believing they are truly God’s “select society,” they are consumed with passion to evangelize all other Christians into their camp. That’s when they become divisive and destructive to the body of Christ.

Majoring on the Minors

 Minor doctrine in the hands of these zealous “missionaries” becomes the key by which this idea of a select society is spread. Since most churches share similar beliefs about the person of Christ and other foundational truths of Scripture (the essentials of Christian faith), unhealthy groups grasp on to some distinctive that sets them apart from—makes them better than—other groups, and usually that is found only in some minor doctrinal idea they take out of Scripture.

If they are dedicated to convincing Christians from other church groups to join their “superior” group, they must do so by emphasizing what they hold as true that others do not. It doesn’t always have to be doctrinal, the thing that sets them apart. It can also be what they see as a spiritual lifestyle, method of worship, style of baptism, etc. But more times than not, they believe what sets them apart is a superior understanding of some truth from Scripture.

Many holiness groups, for example, took the Scripture in 1 Peter 3:3-4 to the extreme, encouraging their female members to abandon every hint of trendy clothing, hair styles, adornments (like jewelry), or makeup. Their taboos concerning jewelry even included the wearing of their wedding rings! Another group that we knew made a big deal out of doing everything in Jesus’ name, since the Apostles throughout the book of Acts performed their miracles in His name. They went so far as to deem Christian baptism in the name of “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost” (see Matthew 28:19) as insufficient—anyone who had been baptized this way needed to be rebaptized in Jesus’ name. That’s pretty amazing when you consider they saw their understanding about the practice as more enlightened than Jesus’ view. After all, He is the one speaking in Matthew 28:19!

Unfortunately, examples abound in this area of sectarian division around minor doctrinal issues. Some groups see their view of God’s sovereignty as more enlightened than other views, even though this subject is perhaps the most obscure and hardest to nail down doctrinally in the entire Bible. If all the scriptures that mention man’s free will and God’s sovereignty were examined as carefully as those that agree with their view, such groups would see the absurdity of taking a dogmatic stance.

In many cases, the Bible seems to contradict itself as to which is the truth—God’s absolute sovereignty and control over all human events or man’s free will to make decisions and thereby influence outcomes in history. Because of the seemingly conflicting statements, we need to acknowledge that this subject is probably too big for our limited understanding to grasp at this present time. I’m sure it will all become quite clear in eternity, once we see things from God’s perspective. In the meantime, how wrongheaded we are to divide up  the body of Christ into conflicting camps about this. As in all other minor doctrine, it’s okay to have an opinion. When it becomes wrong is when we feel we must convince everyone else to adopt our view. 

In any unhealthy group, members openly discuss how their group is superior to other Christian groups in terms of scriptural interpretation (doctrine), response to the Scripture (obedience), and/or separation from the world (holiness). Sometimes they capitalize on all three; other times one or two are emphasized as important to spiritual success. Accompanying a “modest” extolling of their virtues is a detailed explanation of the spiritual weaknesses of other groups.

The idea conveyed is that someone in another group is deprived of something wonderful that God wants to impart to them through their select society. If Christians don’t leave the group they are in and join themselves to their superior group, they’re doomed to second-class status in the kingdom of God.

This is a good example of the wrong reason to switch from one group to another. As Paul made clear, there are no second-class citizens in God’s Kingdom. As members of Christ’s body, we are one with Him, no matter what group we may belong to. Paul said we should display the opposite attitude with regard to other Christians:

“With all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. [Why? … Because] There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:2-6).

No one can be a serious student of the Bible and condone the carving up of Christ’s body into factions and camps that compete with and oppose one another. We’re in this together! When we begin to put loyalties to our “select society” ahead of our loyalty to the person of Christ, we have become unbalanced and unhealthy. We need to return Jesus to the center of everything we are about and everything we do in His name.

In unbalanced Christian groups, Paul’s exhortation to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3) is made secondary to getting more numbers in our camp and being able to glory in how we’ve convinced them of our superior lifestyle or view about Scripture. Whole denominations form around some minor doctrinal idea and leaders become even more entrenched in their positions as more and more people come over to their side.

All of this leads to the development of another characteristic destructive to the body of Christ: spiritual possessiveness. People become commodities to be battled over and won to one side or another. Lost is the sense of each Christian being the Lord’s disciple. His membership or allegiance to the unbalanced group is what is most important.

Loyalty to Christ above all

There’s nothing wrong with denominations or associations forming around common belief—as long as they don’t begin to see themselves as better than all other Christian groups or denominations. Pastors, leaders, and teachers are responsible before God to develop loyalty within their people to the larger body of Christ, not just to their particular brand of church structure or individual congregation.

Each Christian’s first loyalty must be to Jesus Christ himself, not to the church or group where they are currently serving. We should be able to move from one place to another and find fellowship with other Christians around the person of Christ. Our fellowship shouldn’t depend upon us holding every idea about the Christian life in common.

Unfortunately, members of a Select Society spend the bulk of their “witnessing” time trying to convert other Christians to their superior group and ignore the lost who need to be introduced to Jesus Christ. A conversation with a Christian from another background quickly narrows in on the scriptural emphasis they’ve been taught, and they delight in showing him how ignorant he is on the subject. Converting the converted—as ridiculous as it may sound—becomes a very real pursuit in an unhealthy group. And the reason is clear: they feel they must win everyone to their particular group in order for them to be a “real Christian.”

The sectarian group that I was associated with claimed to be non-denominational. The leaders were very insistent about not putting any label upon us as a congregation other than “The church at (our city).” The idea was that we would be led only by New Testament principles and attached only to the Lord Jesus himself. It sounds great in theory, but it didn’t work out that way in practice.

When I began to notice, I saw that our church congregation was exactly like others in other cities. So while there was no formal association with a denomination, our church adhered to standards of practice and doctrine that were shared by other churches like us. We were a kind of denomination without a recognizable label. Our church organization was identical to other groups, and they were the only congregations with whom we had fellowship. We also shared identical views of scripture, which indicated that we had been taught and influenced by common teachers and leaders (another trait of a denomination).

If they were truly non-sectarian, they would have found fellowship with Christians from a variety of denominational backgrounds. If they were truly gathered only to the Lord himself, they would have embraced and welcomed all who claimed a relationship with Him through new birth. But our group was actually very suspicious of anyone who didn’t come out of a similar church background and didn’t know the same buzz words from Scripture that identified them as “one of ours.”

After my husband and I moved on to work with Christians from various denominational experiences, we discovered how small our Christian world had been in the unbalanced group. It was as if we were on a very narrow island that did not receive anything from the outside, and we were not allowed to leave the safety of the island. As we moved about on it, it wasn’t obvious at first how restricted our experience was, but once we got off the island it was quite evident.

We found that we could learn from and enjoy other brothers and sisters in Christ who weren’t cookie-cutter imitations of ourselves. In fact, many of them reflected far more Christian virtue and fruit than the members of our sectarian group had, even though they felt they were the most serious and obedient disciples around! It took us years to overcome the prejudices and misconceptions we had been taught about other Christians when we were in the unhealthy group.

The distinguishing mark of the select society mentality is the attitude adopted towards those outside of the group. If they are viewed as less enlightened spiritually, less obedient to the commands of Scripture, and less holy in behavior, our glory is not in the Lord at all, but in how wonderful we are. Our loyalty is more towards the group than towards the Lord’s body.

This tendency towards self-congratulation and condemnation of others has always been around. It comes out of our old sinful nature. Paul wrote to one congregation, “Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you” (Romans 12:3, NIV).

In another letter Paul tries to point out the absurdity of dividing up the Lord’s body into conflicting camps through the exaltation of a man or particular group, when they are all just instruments through whom God builds His kingdom. “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow” (1 Corinthians 3:5-7, NIV).

Since unbalanced groups see themselves as the epitome of Christian life, few within them ever consider leaving. After all, who wants to leave something superior for something that fails to measure up, even if the “select society” is making them feel uncomfortable? Members figure it’s something wrong in them that’s causing the discomfort, not the group itself.

If someone does speak up to question something at work in the group, he finds out pretty quickly that it’s unwelcome. If the dissident member chooses to leave the group because of the difference in opinion, leaders often use 1 John 2:19 to explain the situation to the other members: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”

Isn’t this a clever way to control people? If anyone is brave enough to leave an unhealthy group, he is labeled a spiritual outcast, not worth pursuing to find out why he went out. In fact, it is concluded that the real reason for the departure is that the person never really belonged—he wasn’t “one of them.” The implications are clear to those who stay behind: If you leave, you’ll be censored and judged by everyone else. There’s never the sense that there might be a good reason for the departure that needs to be addressed. The group as a whole is always right, and the individual parts are expendable.

If, instead of leaving right away, the dissident member decides to stay and try to address the issue that has come up, the group has to handle him another way. We’ll discuss this in the following chapter.

Nowhere is the imbalance of a group proved more convincingly than in how it handles its members that dare to disagree with it. Whatever the nature of the disagreement, the group’s leaders (whether they are identified in a formal way or not) react with a vengeance. That’s because everything outside of the group’s prescribed “party line” thinking is seen as a personal affront to God, to the group as a whole, and to the group’s leadership. As such, it invites a variety of disciplinary actions, depending upon the group’s views concerning church discipline.

Before we go into the particulars, it might be helpful to look at church discipline in a more general way. Then we’ll hopefully have a better perspective to consider how it can become unbalanced and unhealthy. We see from New Testament writings that there are occasions calling for swift disciplinary action on the part of church elders to protect the congregation from harm. False teachers must not be given the opportunity to spread what Peter called “destructive heresies” (2 Peter 2:1; see also Titus 1:10-11; Acts 20:28-31; 2 Corinthians 11:13-14).

At times, individuals who knew the Lord had to be publicly censored because of their blatantly sinful behavior. The man at Corinth (1 Corinthians 5) is one example. Paul advised the church there to put him out—quit fellowshipping with him—until he repented of his sexual immorality. In contrast to the select society mentality, however, Paul didn’t characterize the sinful man as someone “not of them,” someone to be forever written off as unworthy of their company.

In fact, in his second letter to them, Paul warns the Corinthian believers to “not be too severe” in their dealings with the sinful man. “This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man. You ought to forgive and comfort him,” lest he be “swallowed up with too much sorrow” (2 Corinthians 2:5-7). Once the Lord brought the individual to repentance, the church was to welcome him back as a restored member of the group. In other words, the discipline was meant to be corrective, not merely punitive.

How Christians respond to one another when they fall into error will affect the entire body of Christ, since we’re all related and interconnected. That’s why it’s important that we stay balanced in how we handle this delicate matter. When the problem is relatively localized in its effects, affecting just a few people, Paul’s advice in Galatians 6:1-2 is sufficient: “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” The key word here is restore. This should be the goal for any discipline directed at a member of Christ’s body. False teachers who don’t belong to Him are in a different category altogether.

We are called to exercise meekness and loving concern towards our brothers and sisters in Christ who fall into error, believing the best of them and expressing confidence that they will choose to make things right. Nowhere does the New Testament give us license to be high-handed or condescending in our attitude towards one who has fallen into sin. There are two important points we shouldn’t miss in the verse just quoted from Galatians 6.

One is that the person administering the discipline needs to be spiritual. Now spiritual doesn’t mean the person who knows the most Bible verses, has been saved the longest, or occupies some prominent position in the group. Those who are spiritual are like Jesus—in their correction they show gentleness, not judgmental condemnation. They are the ones who can apply the salve so that it heals, not just stings.

The second point is that those who administer discipline must understand their own vulnerability to sin. As they give discipline they should consciously remember that one day they might be the one in need of correction. So they are careful to “do unto others what they would have others do unto them.”

The Pain of Discipline

Many Christians have been hurt by harsh censure from someone in their church or Christian group. In some cases, they were never spoken to directly—they were victims of a smear campaign behind their backs. When they were most in need of kindness, godly concern, and restorative correction, they received stinging condemnation instead.

It’s common for such people to walk away from their experience vowing to never trust another group of Christians. As a result, they are left stunted in their spiritual growth and the body of Christ is robbed of any gifts and spiritual contributions they would have made. That’s why this issue is important and needs to be handled in a biblical way.

It’s hard to prevent all pain when discipline is administered, but it should be of short duration and followed by loving restoration and healing. After all, we don’t want to err on the opposite extreme either, closing our eyes to sinful behavior simply because we don’t want to hurt or offend anyone. Hebrews 3:13 says “exhort one another daily, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

We should be willing to keep each other accountable in our spiritual journey. It’s especially important in the places where we have “blind spots”—patterns of behavior we can’t even see in ourselves without the help of a good friend. Jesus assumed we would do this for others—point out areas where they need to improve, but He warns us to be careful to consider ourselves and how we fall short before we try to help others. Sometimes the “beam” in our own eye makes it difficult for us to objectively see the “mote” in a fellow believer.

Reminders to put God first in our lives, to be faithful in what He has given us to do, to shun unbelief, and to “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7) are needed on a regular basis for us to live as we should. That’s why the Bible encourages us to continue meeting together for mutual edification. “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another” (Hebrews 10:24-25, NIV).

Unhealthy Discipline

In unhealthy Christian groups, members are dealt with harshly, and discipline is administered for the sole purpose of punishing and humiliating. When someone steps outside of the group’s prescribed behavior patterns or ways of viewing Scripture, the leadership begins to separate that person from the rest of the flock in blatant or clandestine ways. The usual pattern is for the dissident person to be called in to speak to the elders/leaders/teachers privately. If he cannot be persuaded to return to what they consider normative behavior or belief, then other steps are taken that involve the group as a whole.

Since they are doing the teaching and preaching, the leadership can draw parallels between the dissident member’s attitude or behavior with unflattering examples from Scripture. One example they often use is King Saul. The story is recounted in 1 Samuel 15.

Before attacking the Amalekites, Saul was told to make sure his army utterly destroyed every person as well as every animal as a punishment for what they had done to Israel. When the Lord’s prophet Samuel arrived on the scene and saw that Saul had spared not only their king, Agag, but the best of their sheep and cattle, he cried out to the Lord all that night. When he confronted Saul the next day, Saul tried to defend his actions, saying that he had spared the animals so he could use them in sacrifices to the Lord. But Samuel could see through the excuse, and he didn’t hesitate to deliver the message he had received from God:

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.” (vv. 22-23)  

In unbalanced groups, the lesson behind the biblical lesson is clear: Members who don’t listen to the word of their leaders are rebellious and stubborn. If they persist in their rebellion, they should be considered no better than witches or idol worshippers. The comparison couldn’t be more unflattering or damaging because Bible students know how Jehovah God viewed witchcraft—it was something so abhorrent that people involved in it were punished severely and harshly (see Deuteronomy 18:10-12).

It’s easy to see how such a damning comparison can encourage a variety of hateful responses, including gossip, shunning, and public rebuke. It takes a very strong person to hold up against this kind of group censure. That’s why most dissidents end up leaving the unbalanced group. Some stay longer than others, but eventually it becomes so awkward and counterproductive that it seems the most Christian thing to do. In most cases, unless something within the group dynamic changes, the individual can’t ever clear his name or gain back any influence he lost by his “rebellion.”

I actually saw this kind of discipline take place in our group. The unfair comparison was applied to one of our elders/teachers who didn’t agree with some policy being promoted by the other leaders, and as a result he was effectively shut down and silenced. Other members might not have fully understood what was going on, or maybe they were just too intimidated to question the unfair comparison. In any case, this leader had to take a back seat from that time on. Eventually, he moved on to another place where he could begin to use his teaching gifts once again.

This punitive action on the part of the leaders didn’t just affect the teacher, leaving him with no opportunity for exercising his gifts from the Lord. It also robbed the rest of the congregation of the ministry he would have provided had he not been subjected to this imbalanced and vengeful discipline. We could see in a practical way what Paul meant when he wrote “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).

The sweet fellowship we had once enjoyed turned sour, and even those not involved in the contentious issue could sense the tension when we met together. I no longer went to our church meetings with a joyful heart. In fact, it was hard to worship the Lord in those circumstances. The only one who can benefit from a vengeful attitude in a Christian group is Satan. If only we could remember that in the heat of controversy!

How adherence to a view or position becomes more important than our relationships within the Lord’s body is hard to understand when we look at New Testament teaching on the subject. But our pride and sectarian loyalties take over in such environments and snuff out the “sincere love of the brethren” that comes through our bond in the Spirit (1 Peter 1:22).

Charles Finney ran into the same kind of spirit when he was preaching revival meetings in the 1800s. He called it “loveless light” and explained it this way:

“While men’s minds are enlightened about what they ought to be and say, they are not at the same time enlightened about how to act as they try to fulfill these duties. Malign emotions take the control of the will, and hurry the individual away into an outrageous and vindictive effort to sustain what he calls right and truth. Their prayers, their exhortations, everything they say or do, are but a stream of scolding, faultfinding, and recrimination.”[1]

Such attitudes and behavior don’t happen overnight. Gradually the unbalanced group is drawn into these malign emotions, and the result is a kind of vindictive, vengeful discipline towards its uncooperative members. When it first appears, it may distress many within the group, but gradually they become used to the leadership’s heavy-handed rule and, out of fear for their own position, they say nothing. In time, some even begin to participate in the disciplinary measures and enjoy the Pharisaical feeling of superiority it gives them.

All of this grieves the heart of God. As brothers and sisters in Christ begin to “bite and devour one another” their collective witness in the world is lost, and they end up being “consumed by one another,” as Paul said in Galatians 5:15. This is why we must be alert to the characteristics of unhealthy Christian groups and resist the attitudes that will develop unless we fight against them. 

In the next chapter we’ll look at yet another unhealthy characteristic that accompanies imbalanced Christian groups. Then we’ll turn our attention to God’s desire for all of us: the Larger Place.

By now a general pattern is beginning to emerge of what an unbalanced Christian group looks like. The various characteristics are all interrelated and blend together to form a whole that is closed, narrow, critical, condescending, and full of spiritual pride.

One of the reasons these groups place such heavy emphasis upon discipline and insist upon a blind kind of obedience is because they are unable to accept responsibility for any wrongdoing. Emotional immaturity is common in such groups, yet the majority of those involved don’t see themselves that way at all. Sadly, they cut themselves off from the very things that would expose their tendencies and enable them to repent of them. They resist any attempts by anyone to bring balance to their views and practices.

In this chapter we’ll discuss the concerted effort on the part of unbalanced groups to keep their members from divergent ideas. One of the ways they accomplish this goal is to restrict the reading materials their people are exposed to. In some cases this is done quite explicitly. The leadership makes a list of “approved” authors and titles and highly suggests that members stick to them for spiritual edification. Some groups even have a preferred version of the Bible and insist that all their members use that particular translation.

Sometimes the desire to restrict exposure to variant ideas is carried out in a much more subtle way. By introducing young believers and new members to certain authors on a regular basis, an appetite is developed for a particular set of doctrines or point of view with regard to Scripture. The members aren’t forbidden to read other material, but the strong suggestion to stick to approved sources is constantly reinforced through example.

To be fair, all Christian groups do this to some extent or another. Any responsible leader or pastor doesn’t like to see members of his flock exposed to spiritual views that contradict the clear teachings of Jesus. The age, maturity, and experience of Christians should be considered before recommending certain teaching materials. The unbalanced Christian group takes this precaution too far, however. They insist on excluding any Christian writer or teacher who does not line up precisely with every point of doctrine and practice held within their group.

By insinuation, outright criticism, or an attitude of condescension, unbalanced Christian groups dismiss the perfectly orthodox writings of Christians outside of their control and influence. They might not forbid their congregation to read their books, but in withholding praise and commendation from them and lavishly bestowing praise on their approved authors, they effectively prevent all but the very brave (or foolhardy) from exploring ideas outside of their sectarian circle. The members of such groups are largely ignorant of the rest of the body of Christ and their views of Christian life. Their select society mentality assures them that they have all they need to serve Christ effectively, so why would they want to explore other views? Why mess with perfection?

Often members of imbalanced groups are taught erroneous ideas about what other Christian groups believe. Sometimes this is done in genuine ignorance of the facts, and sometimes it is done maliciously. The intent is to keep their people away from wrong ideas, and sometimes in their zeal to do that, teachers distort and misrepresent what others believe.

Being told that you “hate the doctrine of grace” is hard to hear when you’re an experienced Bible teacher who has always stood for the truth of the gospel. You know that the accusation is completely false, but how do you convince the person who is proclaiming it? How do you defend yourself against such an outlandish claim? Such unfair accusations come from false views and assumptions taught by the group’s leadership that are in turn embraced by the members.

If people decide at some point to leave their imbalanced group, they will need to investigate these kinds of views for themselves and sort out truth from error. It can take years sometimes to unlearn the false information they’ve been fed. This is tragic, because it falsely separates members of Christ’s body from one another. It is one thing if someone truly is a heretic, believing and teaching something contrary to the doctrine of Christ. It is quite another if he or she just disagrees on some minor point of doctrine. In imbalanced groups, this distinction usually isn’t made, and teachers convince their students that anyone outside of their particular group cannot be trusted.

This attitude is carried over into the area of fellowship as well. Believing that their group is the only “true” manifestation of Christ’s body, they see no value in seeking fellowship with other groups who claim to know Christ. Their only exposure to other Christians is to those who share their views. The result is a careful selection of approved camps, conferences, and youth groups for the children of the group. The adults seldom attend any conferences and seminars outside of their group’s experience either. Compared to the larger body of believers around the world, the group’s circle of contacts is narrow indeed.

Missing Out on New Opportunities

If asked to participate in a citywide outreach that requires many differing groups within Christ’s body to cooperate together, unbalanced groups will almost always decline. The reason given by leadership makes no sense, but it’s given anyway, and most of the members buy it: “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what communion has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14). The apostle Paul would be appalled with this interpretation, but that doesn’t stop leaders from using the verse to their advantage. In their minds, contact with anyone unlike themselves opens the door to compromise, and so they discourage it wherever they can. They see separation as the more godly stance than the alternative.

But this isn’t the only reason for their refusal to cooperate with other Christian groups. A less spiritual reason is that they can’t control what takes place at such events. A differing doctrinal idea might be expressed, causing confusion to some of their weaker members. Or some strange new worship practice might come in to their midst, if they were mixing with outsiders. Why take that kind of chance?

Early on in his Christian life, the apostle Peter rigidly conformed to what he felt would most honor God: to keep himself pure from the influences of non-Jewish practices. But the Lord showed him something new that would transform how he fulfilled Jesus’ commission to “feed my sheep” (John 21:17).

While Peter was staying with Simon the tanner in Joppa, he had a very strange vision. He saw heaven open and a sheet with animals descended to him. The animals and birds in the sheet were those that had been designated “unclean” for eating according to Mosaic law. When a voice from heaven told Peter to “Rise, kill and eat” he was quick to respond with the correct answer for a Jew: “Surely not, Lord! I’ve never eaten anything impure or unclean” (Acts 10:13-14).

But the voice told him the same thing three times before the sheet was taken back up into heaven. Peter had been sure before this happened that he understood God’s mind about such things. Yet the voice of the Lord brought new information that trumped what he had been taught: “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” In another version it’s translated this way: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean” (Acts 10:15, NIV).

God was preparing Peter through this vision for the unthinkable: to receive Gentiles as brothers and sisters in Christ. Up to that point, the church had included only Jewish followers. Gentiles were still considered “dogs” and outside of the covenants of promise. To Peter’s credit, he received this new revelation as from God and was obedient to the Holy Spirit’s instruction concerning Cornelius, a Gentile centurion. Peter went to Cornelius’ home in Caesarea and proclaimed “the good news of peace through Jesus Christ” (v. 36). All the circumcised believers (Jews) who went with Peter were astonished when this Gentile group began to speak in tongues and glorify God.

Later, Peter had to defend his actions to spend time in the company of “uncircumcised men” to the Jewish church leaders. But once they understood God’s revelation concerning what had once been considered unclean, they had to agree that Peter had done the right thing. “When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, ‘So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life’” (Acts 11:18).

Here’s the point of this passage that unbalanced Christian groups miss: What we understand about God’s ways and God’s desires may need to undergo some revision under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. If we cut ourselves off from all further knowledge and revelation concerning His kingdom, we put ourselves in a position of entrenchment. We’re unable to respond in obedience to a new calling from God.

If Peter had clung tenaciously to his Jewish cultural understanding about the church, he would have missed out on the joy of seeing Gentile believers brought into fellowship with Jewish believers.

It’s important to make a point here about new revelation from God. What may appear “new” to us isn’t really new; it’s just that we were unaware of it. This was the case with Peter in Acts 10. God’s intention all along was for the church to include people from both Jewish and Gentile backgrounds to make up one new body in Christ. The idea was hidden from their Jewish understanding, but it had been mentioned all through the Old Testament. This was Paul’s great commission, to fulfill what had been prophesied so many years before: “Through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise of Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 3:6, NIV).

To claim “new revelation” from God that contradicts what He has written in the Bible and runs counter to the fundamentals of Christian faith cannot be defended and isn’t what I am talking about here. We do have to be careful about receiving new doctrine that has no basis in the written Word. Peter is an example of one who received more of God’s truth because he was not too proud to learn something new, but the truth had been there all along.

Freedom and Responsibility

Unbalanced groups, through their narrow associations and refusal to learn anything from anyone else, carve for themselves a rut that is practically impossible to drive out of. They are caught in a net of their own making, and the only way out is to repent and ask the Father to free them.  As His children, we need the freedom to explore new territory under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. With the clear boundaries of orthodoxy, we can always learn more about God’s nature and how His kingdom operates through us. To think that we have discovered all there is to discover about those things is the height of arrogance and provincialism.

The “law of liberty” mentioned in James 1:25 brings us into a Larger Place (more about this in the next chapter). There, we will experience the exact opposite of what we find in unhealthy Christian groups. There we will not be restricted from exploring and discovering, and we will not be insulated and protected from other Christians who don’t think exactly like we do. In the Larger Place we’ll be able to use the unique gifts and passions we’ve received from God for His glory and for the edification of His body. But there’s a condition: We must be willing to embrace the freedom He has given us in Christ.

The philosopher Eric Fromm wrote a book called Escape from Freedom, which seemed like a contradiction of terms. Everyone wants to be free, don’t they? The amazing thing he found was that people often didn’t want political freedom because they loathed personal responsibility. It was far easier to have someone else make important decisions for them.

This human trait explains why some people are reluctant to leave an unbalanced group. They like having elders and teachers spell out for them what they should believe and how they should act. Instead of exploring the Scriptures for themselves, they let their leaders interpret them and make the applications for their everyday lives. This is not the Lord’s desire for His people! He wants to bring us into a place of freedom, joyful service, and love for every member of His body. It’s called The Larger Place.

The church at Corinth was dysfunctional in many ways. That’s why Paul wrote two separate letters to their congregation, discussing various tendencies that were emerging that troubled him. In chapter one of 1 Corinthians, Paul acknowledges the good things they had going for them. He mentions how God had poured out His grace upon them (v. 4) and as a result, they “were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge” (v. 5). They came behind in no spiritual gift (v. 7), and they were also financially well off, a sign that many Jews saw as a clear indication of God’s favor.

However, in spite of all that they had been given, the Corinthian Christians were not living up the lifestyle modeled by Jesus Christ. They were displaying imbalance in areas that were crippling their spiritual growth and hindering them from effectively advancing God’s kingdom. Earlier in this book I talked about the man in their midst who was involved in sexual sin with his father’s wife. Paul addresses this problem in chapter five. But here, we want to look at the tendencies that the whole congregation was displaying that had attracted Paul’s censure. There were three main areas he put his finger on that were affecting the whole congregation:

• Divisiveness
• Immaturity
• Lack of love

In chapter one Paul entreats them to abandon the loyalties to leaders and minor doctrine that was dividing up the body of Christ into contentious groups within the church. “I plead with you by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, … that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you … that there are contentions among you. … Each of you says, ‘I am of Paul,’ or ‘I am of Apollos,’ or ‘I am of Cephas,’ or ‘I am of Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (vv. 10-13) He finishes the chapter by quoting “as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.’”

Dividing up the body of Christ is a far more serious sin than most of us understand. Paul saw that it would hinder their witness to the outside world and create unnecessary pain in their church members. That’s why he continued to warn them throughout this letter to guard the unity of the Spirit and not judge others by how eloquently they spoke or how “wise” their spiritual interpretations might appear. He pointed out that God uses the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and the things that appear weak in men’s eyes to shame the things that are mighty… so that “no flesh should glory in His presence” (1:27-29). Exalting one leader or idea to the extent that divisions are formed within a group is unbalanced and destructive. Paul sees their behavior as not only divisive but also immature.

He begins chapter three by saying he could not speak to them “as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.” What made him think that? He saw the characteristics of people whose hearts have not been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. They still demonstrated the works of the flesh towards one another—envy, strife, divisions (v. 3).

How sad that these intelligent, skilled, and blessed believers weren’t living out all that they had been saved for. They still lived as carnal men and women, much the same as their pagan neighbors did. Paul again admonishes them to not glory in men and their accomplishments and gifts but to remember that they belong to the only One who really deserves all glory and honor: the Lord Jesus Christ.

He points out that we are mere servants of Christ—all equal before Him—and we have been entrusted with the mysteries of God as His stewards. Our primary role is to be found faithful, not to bring glory to ourselves or any other man. God wants us to use our gifts to bless and build up the entire church, not just the select little group that we’ve decided to identify with.

To foster division on any basis other than outright heresy is immature and carnal, according to Paul. He encourages the Corinthians to flee from such spiritual vanity: “that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other. For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? … if you did indeed receive it, why do you glory as if you had not received it?” (4:6-7).

All the apostles at that time (including Paul) were suffering dishonor, deprivations, and persecution, yet the Corinthian church seemed to feel they were somehow above such things. Paul tries to warn them about their attitude of superiority, reminding them that by one Spirit they were all baptized into one body in Christ (12:13), and because of that, they shared the afflictions of the apostles with them. “If one member [of that body] suffers, all the members suffer with it” (12:26).

The Absence of Love

This brings us to the third tendency that is so closely tied to the first two. Instead of recognizing their mutual dependence and interconnection with other members in the Lord’s body, the Corinthian believers displayed a lack of Christian love, even though love was the one sign that was supposed to distinguish the disciples of Jesus (see John 13:34-35).

In the 11^th chapter of 1 Corinthians, we can see clearly how this congregation felt about each other. Paul mentions their divisions again, and postulates the reason: “For there must be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you” (v. 18). In the next verse he states something surprising—their coming together was not what they assumed. “It is not to eat the Lord’s Supper.” He goes on to explain what he means.

In order to really remember the Lord together, we must “discern the Lord’s body” (v. 29). We must understand that we are one body—united by a common faith and spiritual baptism—and we stand before God as brothers and sisters in Christ. We are from the same family, and our Father expects us to show the same kind of love to one another that He showed to each of us. Communion (the Lord’s Supper) implies a common life together and a commitment to the good of each other.

In Corinth, the members of the church were divided up into subgroups and didn’t care about those outside of their particular group. One expression of this disregard for the welfare of others was demonstrated in their communion meeting. The “have” families would callously bring in a sumptuous meal for themselves in plain sight of the families who were hungry. Some even came in to the meeting drunk. “What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in?” Paul asks. “Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you” (v. 22).

This greedy behavior betrayed how they felt about the “lesser” members of the congregation. They weren’t worth worrying about! In the next portion of his letter (Chapter 12), Paul explores how each Christian is related to every other Christian worldwide. He explains how spiritual gifts work within the Body and how each member of Christ’s body should honor and care for other members, no matter what their life circumstances might be or how unattractive they may appear outwardly.

“Those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; … that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another” (vv. 23, 25).

Chapter 12, the teaching on the Lord’s body, leads naturally into the most famous chapter of the letter, the preeminence of charity (love). Chapter 13 is read at almost every wedding these days, but Paul’s remarks on the centrality of love was meant to be applied to all human relationships, not just the one between husbands and wives. It should be especially evident in churches, since this was the “new commandment” that Jesus gave His disciples before He went back to heaven (John 13:34).

Paul was grieved by the Corinthian believers’ lack of love, both towards him and towards each other. In his second letter to them, he writes: “We [he and the other apostles] have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also” (2 Corinthians 6:11-12, NIV).

Those in unbalanced Christian groups have a hard time opening up their hearts to those unlike themselves. They view Christians from other groups suspiciously, for all the reasons we have already discussed. The result is they avoid contact with them or any contact they do have is mostly full of anger and accusation. After all, they believe, these other so-called Christians have chosen to disobey what God clearly teaches in His Word! Like the Pharisees in Jesus’ day, they see duty to God and right doctrine as more important than finding the common faith and shared doctrines. In order to “open wide” their hearts, they need to find the Larger Place.

Where Is The Larger Place? How Do I Get There?

In the apostles’ letters to the churches God’s intentions for His children are revealed. The recurring themes throughout the letters of mutual submission and interdependence, freedom from restrictive rules and divisive doctrine, and joyful service to Jesus and others form the foundation for Kingdom living. They reveal something that members of imbalanced groups rarely grasp: that God is more concerned with our heart attitudes than with specific codes of behavior.

These lifestyle principles are lived out in the Larger Place, but we shouldn’t assume that they are easily adopted or maintained. It may be called a larger place, but few people are comfortable in it at first. Only after we’ve been there a while will we begin to appreciate how wonderfully edifying it is.

Since the world’s values have shaped us for so many years, we find the Lord’s values hard to accept at first. From childhood we’ve been taught to look out for old number 1, to view others as competition, and to always ask, “What’s in it for me?” In many ways, these motivations drive the destructive tendencies found in unbalanced Christian groups. Selfish ambition, envy, fear, and pride interfere with mutual submission and contribute to an atmosphere in which division, strife, and domination reign.

In stark contrast to unbalanced groups, members living in the Larger Place find humble not arrogant leaders; freedom to express divergent ideas on minor doctrine, not controlled thought; a variety of worship practices, not restrictively narrow “approved” behavior; restorative correction, not vengeful discipline; and acceptance towards everyone who knows the Lord Jesus, not a judgmental avoidance of anyone not associated with our particular group.

The Larger Place may look kind of scary at first, since no one is acting as a policeman to keep out those who might threaten our orthodox faith. We must study the Scripture for ourselves, not expect our leaders to interpret it for us. Paul encouraged Timothy to “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15, NIV). Once we are familiar with what the Bible teaches, we will need to rely on the direction of the Holy Spirit to help us apply it effectively to our lives.

We must be able to distinguish between what is major doctrine that we must contend for (see Jude 1:3)—our common salvation—and what is a matter of personal conviction and conscience (see Romans 14:22-23) that may vary from one Christian to another. In the last category, we will likely see great diversity in The Larger Place that does not threaten our common salvation.

Benefits of the Larger Place

Here are just a few of the benefits of living in the Larger Place:

• Unlimited and unrestricted fellowship with the worldwide body of Christ
• New converts for Him, not our particular group
• Greater opportunities for spiritual growth

Have you ever met a fellow Christian that you seem to have nothing in common with… yet you enjoy instant fellowship around the person of Jesus? That’s the work of the Holy Spirit! Because we share a common salvation experience, adhere to the same book of Scripture (the Bible), and have dwelling inside of our hearts the same Spirit of God, we can find fellowship with anyone who is also born of God. That’s what we miss out on when we belong to unbalanced groups. We’re going to spend eternity together, so we may as well start to enjoy all of our spiritual family right here and now!

One of the unfortunate results of sectarian loyalty is that new believers become commodities to battle over. As one group gains a convert, other groups scheme how they can “win” that person over to “their side.” We should be rejoicing with one another that a lost sheep has been found and delivered safely into the Savior’s arms, but instead we grouse about “sheep stealing” and fret that the new convert won’t be privy to our superior spiritual understanding if they stay in the other group.

How much more freeing it is to point people to the Lord Jesus himself, not to our particular camp in the Kingdom. If they belong to the Lord, it’s His responsibility to watch over them and bring them to maturity. Sure, He will enlist the help of His people in doing that, but ultimately He is the shepherd of each individual sheep. We should be glad of that! The government of God’s kingdom is on His shoulders (Isaiah 9:6).

Opening up gates and fences does run the risk of losing track of some members of our individual flock, but it also gives Christians a greater area in which to graze, cutting down on their chances of becoming diseased or malnourished spiritually. Individual groups or denominations may lose some people, but Jesus makes sure that “none of them is lost” (John 17:12). Christians need room to explore and grow within the fences of orthodoxy. If their area of grazing becomes too small and restrictive, they grow restless and discontent, and in time their sources of nourishment become depleted.

There’s a verse in 1 Corinthians 3 that captures quite well the atmosphere of the Larger Place. “So don’t be proud of following the wise men of this world. For God has already given you everything you need. He has given you Paul and Apollos and Peter as your helpers. He has given you the whole world to use, and life and even death are your servants. He has given you all of the present and all of the future. All are yours, and you belong to Christ and Christ is God’s” (vv. 21-22, TLB).

In his book entitled Christ at the Round Table, Christian missionary E. Stanley Jones, who served in India for many years, comments on this verse: “Both liberty and law have a truth within them. … Here is the liberty: All things belong to you: Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, the present and the future—all things. A universe is thrown open. Was there ever such liberty offered to human beings as this? Here is the law: You belong to Christ—the most amazing bondage ever insisted on in life. For this ownership and sovereignty goes down to the last thing, the most secret aspiration …  nothing is left out of its sway. Was there ever such a law imposed on human nature as this?”[1]

Only in Christ Jesus can we find a perfect blending of these two elements of truth. He had dominion over everything in the world and out of it, yet He willingly made himself subject to another’s will—the Father’s. That “law” affected every movement of His life and eventually took Him to the cross. Yet, at every moment He was completely free. Liberty and law found their best expression in Him.

The Larger Place is available to anyone who has put faith in Jesus Christ and has been born again of His Spirit. If we choose to dwell there, we will need to be intimately connected to Him, not some particular group or doctrine that will draw our affections away and rob us of the spiritual power we need. Jesus declared that His purpose for His people was that they “may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

In an unbalanced Christian group, spiritual life is far from abundant. It is more like the meager existence of those living in poverty. They get by, but just barely. In the Larger Place, we experience a richer, fuller spiritual life and have the opportunity to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

Because of the diversity of spiritual opinions, practices, and perspectives in the Larger Place, we have the opportunity to exercise more forgiveness, reconciliation, and grace towards others. That means we will grow and mature in our faith, becoming more like Jesus in how we live and think. As the fruit of the Spirit begins to permeate our personalities and changes us from the inside out, we will be better equipped to accept, love, and edify all other members of the body of Christ.

Then we can see Paul’s prayer for believers in Thessalonica fulfilled in us. “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints” (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13).

Increasing and abounding in God’s kind of love—that loves in spite of, not because of— is only possible when we are faced with people who don’t agree with us on every point. As the old saying goes, “It’s easy to be an angel when nobody ruffles my feathers.” In the Larger Place, where freedom and diversity are welcomed, we must know what we believe and why we believe it. Then we must learn how to express those beliefs with grace and truth towards those who may not share them. We tenaciously hold on to our biblically based convictions, but we inform our brothers and sisters of them in a way that honors them and their relationship with Christ Jesus.

Church Leadership in the Larger Place

Paul told Timothy to “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance” (2 Timothy 2:24-25, NIV).

In unbalanced groups, this is rarely practiced. I’ve seen leaders quote this verse, then exercise unfair and cruel measures against a member who has dared to oppose his biblical teaching on some point. Some groups go so far as to bar such an “unruly” member from taking communion, sending a clear signal that they either don’t consider him a fellow Christian or they don’t care to see him restored to full fellowship unless he recants his position publicly.

This spirit of retaliation is not biblical, and those in the Larger Place won’t bow to it. They know that God has instructed his leaders to be gentle with His flock.

“To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder … Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” (1 Peter 5:1-3, NIV)

In balanced Christian groups, leaders will be held accountable to these guidelines. They are called to set a standard for the rest of the congregation of loving, consistent discipline that is administered “without partiality and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17). They gently and patiently instruct those who are in error, remembering that they are God’s stewards over His church and the members of His body. Error must be addressed—it would be irresponsible for church leaders to overlook it, whether it is in the area of behavior or doctrinal thought. But in the Larger Place the leader is careful about the spirit in which he administers that correction.

When I was a brand new Christian, I believed in something that was clearly unscriptural, but I didn’t know it yet. Before coming to Jesus, I had been exposed to the Hindu idea of reincarnation and had embraced it because I thought it seemed fair in terms of righting wrongs in the world. It appealed to my sense of justice. I had been looking for some evidence of it in the Scripture, but several weeks after becoming a Christian, I still hadn’t found any evidence for the idea.

Finally one of the elders in our church fellowship felt he should talk to me about it. He turned to Hebrews 9:27 and read it to me, asking me what I thought it meant. He was gentle and humble in his approach and didn’t put me down for my obvious ignorance about the subject, just as the passage in 2 Timothy 2 instructed.

When I saw what the Lord said about death and immediate judgment, I realized that I would have to make a choice. Would I keep my pet belief in defiance of the Bible, or would I submit to God’s Word on the subject? It was my choice to make, but I believe the Bible teacher’s kind attitude made it easier for me to make the right decision—to submit to God’s wisdom. That’s the kind of interaction that the Larger Place encourages within the body of Christ.

Discerning the Lord’s Body

There’s no place for spiritual pride or arrogance in the Larger Place. Unbalanced groups tend to view those who are different from them as less important than themselves. In fact, if individuals don’t join their ranks, they figure they are second-class citizens of heaven, unable to do anything meaningful for God’s kingdom. This attitude is a clear violation of all that Paul and the other apostles taught throughout the New Testament.

In the parable of the tenants in Mark 12, Jesus describes a scene that speaks to church leaders as well as to the Jewish leaders of His day. A wealthy landowner gives oversight of His vineyard to tenants before going far away. Soon the tenants begin to regard it as their own—they forget that they are simply stewards of something planted and owned by another.

When the landowner sends his servants to collect the fruit produced on the land, the tenants treat them shamefully. The first two they beat up and send away empty. The third is killed outright. Finally the landowner sends his son, thinking they will surely respect him, but they kill him too. In all this, the tenants demonstrated their flagrant disregard for the owner and revealed how contemptuous they were of his authority and power over them.

Leaders of God’s people need to heed the warning of this parable. God will hold them accountable for how they treat His servants, just as the landowner held the tenants responsible for those he sent in his name. In Ezekiel 34, there is a stinging rebuke to Israel’s shepherds that could be applied to many leaders in unbalanced Christian groups as well.

“You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered… and became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.” (vv. 4-6, NIV)

This passage ends with the awful pronouncement that God is “against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock” (v. 10). This is why the New Testament writers warned church leaders of their grave responsibility in leading a church congregation. James (a leader himself) advised, “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” (James 3:1, NIV).

The rest of us aren’t off the hook, either. We’ll also give account as to how we have treated each other. We’ll all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and we’ll have to answer questions like these: “Did you discern my body? How did you treat your fellow servants, the ones I sent to labor together with you? Did you show them love, as I instructed, so the world would know that you belong to me? Or did you let your sinful nature rule your behavior—showing strife, envy, suspicion, and arrogance towards those who did not agree with you?”

When we choose to live in the Larger Place, we learn how to value and honor each member of His body through mutual submission, taming our tongues, and loving others simply because they belong to Christ. The landowner in Jesus’ parable was shocked that the tenants had so little regard for him or his representatives. When we mistreat one of the Lord’s servants, we show a similar disregard for Him. They are part of His body, so in mistreating them we are actually mistreating Him too. That’s what Jesus was pointing out when He said “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40).

The Basis of Christian Fellowship

Author Paul Billheimer writes: “It is clear that God fellowships with people on opposite sides of various disputed doctrines. This suggests that, in God’s book, fellowship should be on the basis of life rather than doctrine. I know of no other possible ground for universal unity except a common life, an authentic family relationship. No amount of grace will ever enable all born-again people to agree on what formulated doctrinal system constitutes absolute conceptual truth. If the prayer of Jesus for unity of the Body is realized this side of heaven, it will have to be on the basis of agape love. It means that love for the family will exceed devotion to one’s personal opinions in nonessentials to salvation.”[2]

This sounds wonderfully simple in theory, but how do we put this principle into practice? One of the best documents I’ve run across that seeks to address this issue of worldwide Christian fellowship across denominational lines was compiled by Keith Price (1929-2001), former founder and director of Christian Direction in Montreal, Quebec and Minister-at-Large for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada for many years.

He writes, “These principles are based on many years of inter-denominational fellowship and are conclusions I have reached after making many mistakes and after having had considerable discussion with scores of Christian leaders. I am particularly indebted to the correspondence of Anthony Norris Groves, a dentist-missionary to Baghdad in the 1830s, who practised many of these principles. Although they have never before appeared in the form I now give, I have retained a number of the excellent expressions he used in his correspondence.”

These principles can serve as a starting point for finding genuine and authentic fellowship around the person of Christ regardless of denominational affiliation or doctrinal persuasion. Here are the main points of his compilation:

1. The basis of our fellowship is life in the Christ of the Scriptures rather than Light on the teaching of the Scriptures. Those who have part with Christ have part with us. Because our communion is one of life and love more than one of doctrine and opinion, we seek to show that the oneness in the life of God through Jesus Christ is a stronger bond than that of being one of us – whether organizationally or denominationally.
2. Because our fellowship is based on our common life in Christ, we do not reject anyone because of the organization or denomination with which he may be affiliated; nor would we hold him responsible for the conduct within that system, any more than we would a child for the conduct in the home of which he is merely a part.
3. We do not feel it desirable to withdraw from fellowship with any Christians except at the point where they may require us to do what our consciences will not permit, or restrain us from doing what our consciences require. Even then, we maintain our fellowship with them in any matter where we are not called upon to so compromise. This ensures that (inasfar as we understand the Scripture) we do not separate ourselves from them any further than they separate themselves from Christ.
4. We do not consider an act of fellowship to be indicative of total agreement; indeed, we sometimes find it a needed expression of love to submit to others in matters where we do not fully agree, rather than to prevent some greater good from being brought about. Our choice would be to bear with their wrong rather than separate ourselves from their good.
5. We believe it more scriptural to reflect a heart of love ready to find a covering for faults, than to constantly look for that with which we may disagree. We will then be known more by what we witness for than by what we witness against.
6. We feel it biblical never to pressure people to act in uniformity further than they feel in uniformity; we use our fellowship in the Spirit as an opportunity to discuss our differences and find this to be the most effective way of leading others—or being led by them—into the light of the Word.
7. While enjoying such a wide range of Christian fellowship, we would not force this liberty upon those who would feel otherwise minded. In such circumstances, we enjoy fellowship as far as they will permit, then pray that the Lord would lead them further into this true liberty of the common life in Christ.

Point number seven reminds me of a wonderful little poem by Edwin Markham:

He drew a circle that shut me out,

Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout;

But love and I had the wit to win—

We drew a circle and took him in.[3]

That, in a nutshell, sums up the essential difference between the Larger Place and narrow, sectarian groups. In the final chapter we’ll talk about what we should do if we’re involved in such a group.

[2] Paul E. Billheimer, Love Covers (Fort Washington: Christian Literature Crusade, 1981), 28-29.

[3] Ibid., 113.

So what should we do if we decide that we’re in an unbalanced, unhealthy Christian group? The short answer is: Get out! But we of course have to consider how to do that in a way that honors the Lord Jesus and His body of believers.

Some have tried to stay and turn things around, but I don’t know of anyone who has been successful in doing that. What is more likely to happen is an escalation of misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and severed relationships as people start to take sides in the conflict. And we know that all these things do not honor the Lord or sow peace within His body. The unhealthy dynamics already at work within the group make any attempts at bringing correction that much harder.

We may be able to help the group once we’ve exited by continuing to pray for them and seeking to maintain a relationship with the members who are open to it. But that’s probably the extent of our influence once we’ve decided to confront the wrong attitudes and/or behavior being exhibited in the group. As we’ve already discussed, the leaders will find ways to block off our attempts to reach out with godly correction and will isolate us from the rest of the group members under their control.

I remember when my husband and I struggled with our decision to leave the imbalanced group we were in. It was very difficult for us because we had been saved and discipled within the context of that particular group. We loved every person who attended and wanted to continue our relationship with them. But we were also struggling with the long-term implications of staying. Here are some of the questions we had to consider carefully before we made our decision:

1. Is this an environment we want to expose our children to long-term?
2. Can we continue to grow in our relationship with Christ in spite of our discomfort with the group’s leadership?
3. Is there genuine ministry we can give to others within the group? Or are we being blocked off from all mentoring and teaching opportunities?
4. Is staying something that the Lord is asking us to do at this time? Do we find confirmation of this in the Scripture and in the witness of the Holy Spirit?
5. What decision would be the best witness to the lost in our community?
6. In our decision we may influence others in the group. As far as we can tell, what decision would be best for them as well as for us?
7. If God were our only audience, the only One we need consider in making our decision, what would seem the best course of action from His point of view?

Our decision to leave was not made lightly, and it was not done in anger. We prayed for months before deciding that we should leave. In leaving we decided we could best preserve the peace of His body by quietly doing so. We didn’t encourage anyone else to follow us, and we drew as little attention to ourselves as we could. We answered honestly any questions asked of us by others, but we didn’t gossip or offer criticisms of the group’s leadership when we gave our reasons for leaving.

We simply said (and it was the truth): We don’t feel it is the Lord’s will for us to be involved in this group at this time. But we do continue to value everyone as our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we will work for their good in any possible way we can.

We knew that every born again person in that group would be connected to us for all of eternity, so it was important not to strain our relationships with them any more than was absolutely necessary. We had to be obedient to the Lord above all else, but we also had to be mindful that the group of people we were leaving behind represented His body. We knew our Father would not be pleased if we dishonored them by our attitude or behavior.

Admittedly, this careful balancing act—between disagreeing without being offensive—wasn’t easy at times. The kind of response to our decision we got from the group’s leaders and even some of the regular members was hurtful and unscriptural. We couldn’t harbor bitterness, though, and we couldn’t retaliate without harming our own relationship with Jesus.

So we prayed a lot (and I cried a lot) during this difficult time of transition. In the end, when we were settled into another congregation where we felt free again, we were glad for the decision we made to leave the unhealthy group. We knew our children would benefit from being in a place that was wider and more charitable than where we had been. In the new group they could reach their full potential in Christ and enjoy the fellowship of Christians from all backgrounds. Finally, we had found the Larger Place!

Centered in Jesus

The key to balance and imbalance rests in Jesus Christ. If He is center of all we do, our group will be healthy and balanced. When we take our focus off of Him, and put it on our leaders or our doctrine or our holy practices, we begin to glory in ourselves. And that is sure to bring us to a place of cynicism, defeat, and disappointment, because no one is perfect or above reproach except Him. Only Jesus can perfectly reflect all the attributes of God without compromise or pretense. As He challenged the Pharisees, “I always do those things that please [the Father] … Which of you convicts Me of sin?” (John 8:29, 46).

In balanced and healthy Christian groups, each member recognizes how important it is to keep Jesus as the center, the core reason for their Christian service. They want to see Him receive the glory as they minister in the power of His spirit, and they resist all attempts to elevate themselves above other believers. They serve in humility and self-sacrifice, as Jesus did, and they love others because of God’s great love for them. “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16).

That’s the ideal, of course. Few human groups perfectly reflect the spirit of the Larger Place. But we should not give up in defeat because we experience many setbacks and challenges. Wherever we fall short, we can repent and receive His forgiveness and the power available in the Holy Spirit to do better. It’s an ongoing, maturing process that will likely not be fully complete until we go home to be with Him.

Right here and right now, we can know the freedom and joy of the Larger Place, but we must be willing to leave our sectarian, legalistic, controlling groups behind in order to do so. Once we’ve received the “go ahead” from God as to when and how to make our exit, we should be quick to obey. Sometimes we linger out of false loyalty or sentimentality—that’s common, in fact.

But this will only postpone the pain of separation and deny us the many rewards of the Larger Place. If the Lord is leading you to leave, you can trust Him to bring you to another fellowship of believers where you can be more effective for His kingdom. Let Him lead you as you begin a new chapter in your spiritual journey.

If you feel led to do so, you can write a letter to the group’s leaders to let them know of your intentions. If you want to confront some of the errors you have seen in them, be sure to do it respectfully and ask the Lord to prepare their hearts to receive it in the right spirit. If others leave at the same time, make sure they aren’t just following your lead. Challenge them about hearing from God for themselves before they take action.

Fear is Normal

It’s normal to feel some fear and anxiety about leaving. After all, we don’t want to leave if it isn’t the Lord’s will or timing for us. And because the Lord’s body is so interconnected, what we do will affect others—so we want to be sure we have made the best decision for everyone involved.

But don’t let normal fears prevent you from acting on what you believe is the Lord’s will. If you are leaving for the right reasons, it will prove beneficial not only to you but also to those who are left behind. By your courage, you may encourage someone else who has been struggling in the group to consider what he or she should do. And your action might also convict the group’s leader(s). In time, their conviction may cause them to repent and change their attitude and behavior.

Often young Christians are especially anxious about making these kinds of judgments. They wonder if they have the experience necessary to determine the leading of the Holy Spirit or to rightly interpret what the Scriptures seem to be advising them to do. As I mentioned in another chapter, it’s perfectly okay to seek out the prayer support and counsel of more experienced believers in other congregations before making a final decision. Often they will be used by the Lord to confirm what you’re already sensing about the situation. That will help you to proceed with more confidence.

We can best serve Christ and those around us by serving in an active, healthy part of His body. There are no perfect churches or Christian groups, of course, because we are all imperfect people. But there are groups and churches that operate in such a way that they promote the spiritual health of their members. Such groups honor the Word of God and have godly, loving leaders who are not arrogant and proud in their positions. They are outward looking, concerned with serving people outside of their group as well as those in their own congregation. They don’t see others as merely converts to their particular set of beliefs, but as those who need a vital relationship with the Savior above all else.

Keep Your Distance

As Edwin Markham’s little poem points out (see end of chapter 6), even those in unhealthy groups are still our brothers and sisters in Christ. As such, we must remember to extend the same love and honor to them that we do to people in healthier groups. But a distinction must be made between their position in the body and their current practices.

While we honor their position as children of God, we do not participate with them in unbiblical attitudes and behavior. Our love for them and the rest of Christ’s body can be expressed best from the perspective of the Larger Place, and that means we will need to remove ourselves from their sectarian, critical kind of lifestyle. In other words, we should continue to love them, but at a distance. If we enter into their dysfunctional state with them, we put our own spiritual condition at risk.

Here is how A.W. Tozer saw it: “When confused sheep start over a cliff, the individual sheep can save himself only by separating from the flock. Perfect unity at such a time can only mean total destruction of all. The wise sheep to save his own hide disaffiliates.”[1]

Does the Christian group you belong to have love for Christ’s body—not just the members that fellowship with them, but all members? Is this love demonstrable? In other words, do the leaders and members of the group both say and do when it comes to this issue? Most will love in word (give verbal assent to the idea), but do they love “in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18)?

Are you free to explore the truths of Scripture for yourself, or do you need to have them interpreted by leaders in your group? Can you raise objections or doubts with regard to teaching without being considered disloyal to the teacher? Are you free to exercise your gifts within the group, or do you feel constricted in following the leading of the Holy Spirit? To put it another way, are you controlled from above (by your leaders), or trusted and encouraged to serve the Lord and His body according to your own conscience and biblical understanding?

It’s hard to cover all the possible imbalances that can manifest in Christian groups, so in this little book I’m only dealing in depth with the ones I have experienced for myself. However, I hope that I’ve imparted some helpful principles that will enable you to spot imbalance when it starts to take root in any form.

The Larger Place is open to all who will enter in, and offers the best hope for living out the love that Jesus wants us to have for all who belong to Him. He will set us free if we’ll let Him (John 8:36), but we must be willing to take up the responsibilities that go along with spiritual freedom. I pray you will experience this abundant life, finding the pleasures of spiritual abundance:

“How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.” (Psalm 36:7-9)

As a foretaste of heaven, your Father bids you to sit at His banqueting table and enjoy fellowship with your brothers and sisters from “all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues,” as well as every denominational and doctrinal background. We can do this if we collectively “stand before the throne and before the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9), recognizing that He is the center of our shared life and purpose.

There is more that binds the body of Christ together than separates; more that we can affirm together than argue about. But we must make the choice of what we will focus on. Imbalance shows itself in the inability to affirm what we share, focusing only on our differences.

If we insist on being loyal to the narrow band of believers who look just like us, we are doomed to a very small Christian experience. How much better to embrace the Larger Place, where Christian virtue is learned as we interact with those who may be different from us in some ways, but help us to love and please our Savior more perfectly.

The Larger Place is not a new idea. Old Testament prophets saw a new covenant coming that would include the whole world in its embrace—where anyone can be changed by an all-powerful Savior and become part of His universal body. Isaiah, in describing this new covenant to come, wrote: “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your habitations; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations … Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth” (Isaiah 54:2-3, 5).

We are invited to enlarge where we live too—to lengthen our cords and strengthen our stakes, to make room in our hearts for a freer and more fruitful Christian lifestyle. If we choose to, we can start to enjoy right now all those who share God’s kingdom with us by new birth. Isn’t it time we left our tiny islands of sectarianism to claim our rightful inheritance in the Spirit? In Christ we will find all we need to live in the Larger Place.