Wyatt Graham

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Ecclesiology

There is no “the local church” if that Means Something Distinct from “the Church”

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There is no “the local church” if that means something distinct from “the church.”

There is West Highland Baptist Church, Pineland Baptist Church, Grace Toronto and so on. These titles name congregations that meet within buildings or rented space.

These congregations are local expressions of the body of Christ, that is, the church. The church is the body of Christ. The church is all believers united to Christ by faith in the Spirit. [Read more…] about There is no “the local church” if that Means Something Distinct from “the Church”

The Essential Church

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In Ontario (where I live), the government has mandated stay-at-home orders except for essential services. Churches may still meet under these guidelines but with only ten people.
 
In response, at least one church has decided to host many services of ten people; others have decided to go online; still others have decided to remain open despite the mandate. And I suppose some churches will continue to do host multiple services in the week as they had done even before the pandemic.
 
In this sense, Christians have shown in various ways that they believe the church is vital. Some use the language essential to (I think) indicate that churches should remain open like other essential services (e.g., a grocery store). In Ontario, we still can meet with ten people. But these recent restrictions do limit our freedom to worship.  
 
Here, I want to use the language of essential to argue for a particular way to describe the church’s relationship to the world: namely, how the church is to the world as the soul is to the body. 

[Read more…] about The Essential Church

Does Hebrews 10:24-25 Command the Whole Church to Gather on Sunday?

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Hebrews exhorts the letter’s recipients to not neglect meeting together “as is the habit of some” (Heb 10:25). Many apply this verse to churches such that it becomes a command to meet together as the whole church on Sunday mornings. 

Everyone agrees that this passage exhorts the audience of Hebrews to not neglect (or forsake) meeting as some others had done. The question I am asking is: does it command the church universal to meet on Sunday morning as a whole gathered body? And if it does, then would that command be at odds with submitting to governmental mandates that temporarily restrict or prevent regular Sunday morning worship? 

Here are my thoughts. [Read more…] about Does Hebrews 10:24-25 Command the Whole Church to Gather on Sunday?