The Early Church seminar had a profound
effect on me and, I suspect, most others in attendance. Certainly the
early Christians had a lifestyle radically different from ours. Their
perspective on doctrine, church, relationships, etc..., are very
foreign to contemporary Christianity. Lessons about the church and
the world revealed the destructive nature of Christians becoming
mainstream. A real treat was a speaker who is outside the ICOC coming
in to speak to us.
Douglas Jacoby's AIM teaching ministry
organized the weekend. He along with Steve Staten (Elder, Chicago
Church of Christ), Joey Harris (Teacher, Augusta Church of Christ)
and David Bercot (Elder, Ambersville [Mennonite] Community) provided
the lessons. Through lessons about Ignatius, Irenaeus, the Church and
changing polity we were challenged by the lives of the early church
writers and the (positive and negative) impact of separation and
friendship with the world. Certainly David Bercot's outside
perspective on an ICOC group was a unique treat.
David challenged our thinking by
calling us to look at the lifestyle, beliefs and attitudes of the
early Christians. By his own admission, over the years he found the
Church of Christ and conservative Christian Churches to be the
closest in doctrine to the early church. However, he also observed a
coldness and lack of love from many of those who are from our
Restoration heritage. His views, and what he believes the early
Christians views were, on who is a Christian are inclusive. Through
fellowship with others at the conference, we found each other
wrestling with such a broad acceptance of who is saved.
Besides the meaty teaching, there was a
personal encouragement which came from the weekend. David Bercot, who
is familiar with the ICOC and its history, commented on the profound
changes he witnessed. The very fact he was speaking to a group of
people from the Boston Movement was a large step. He also noted the
positive attitude of those in attendance who had given him feedback.
I cannot begin to capture the weekend
in such a short entry as this. If you are interested to learn more,
the IPI website has the DVDs available.
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