One area where I have had a theological shift over the last few years is in regards to independancy.

I used to be in favour of independancy however of late I have become convinced that the Apostles made it clear that the Church should be a united institution and to seek to be independant (and I will come onto what I mean by this later) of the catholic Church is not an option. In doing so you cease to be part of that Church and become a sect.

I do not see seperate denominations or even independant Churches as necessarily being a hallmark of independancy from the catholic Church. To some extent all Churches are seperate by dint of geographical distance and the immediate authority that resides in each Church. If we look at what the hallmarks of a Church are we can see that such requirements are possible within the context of a catholic Church despite seeming independancy.

The three marks of a true Church are sound doctrine, right administration of the sacraments the right administration of discipline.

For sound doctrine it seems necessary to agree without reservation with the historic creeds (The Apostles' Creed, The Nicene Creed, The Symbol of Chalcedon and The Athanasian Creed), I would be mindful to also add Sola Scriptura to this requirement as even when we disagree on conclusions we should all agree on the basis of authority being the scriptures as interpreted though the Church. As individual congregations we should accept differing theology as being sufficiently sound as long as these creeds are maintained.

For right administration of the sacraments there is a requirement that both baptism and the Lords Supper are observed.

For the adminstration of discipline there has to be a form of membership with oversight of members and with Communion being witheld where required.

In order for a Church (or denomination) to take its place in the catholic Church it must respect the discipline of other elements of the true church. And it must actively do so. This requires that those seeking to take communion are first examined (even if this is only by affirmation) and if it comes to the attention of that Church that a communicant is under discipline in another Church the presumption must be that such discipline must be maintained (subject to an examination of abuse). It must also offer the scarements to members under the authority of other true churches, not to do so would by definition to deny the catholic nature of the church. Lastly doctrinal agreement must not be required for communion with other true churches to be respected as long as such doctrinal disagreements do not offend the Church creeds.

On this analysis it is just as possible for denominations to be guilty of independancy as it is for individual congregations to be so guilty. It is also possibel for an independant congregation (or indeed a denomination) to act as a part of the physical catholic Church.

This posting suggests that closed communion equates (in a bad way) to independancy, be that on the basis of denominationalism or novel theological positions (i.e. insistance on mode of baptism). I also suggest that independancy is more a matter of how a congregation relates to other congreagations than being a matter of Church government.

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Mike
London City Presbyterian Church
London
England

"Surely, we wish to be orthodox, but we must first learn what real orthodoxy is. Surely, we wish to be progressive, but we must first have a basis to progress from."