CHURCH PRONOUNCEMENT
An issue which is causing increased concern within the Church—a concern shared alike by laymen and ministers—is the role which the Church is assuming in the realm of pronouncements on economic, political, and social matters. The issue deserves objective consideration.
Some people feel that the influence of the Church is enhanced by her issuing statements and making pronouncements on almost every secular issue that arises. This is felt to be in keeping with the “prophetic role” of the Church and her ministry.
Others feel that once the Church ventures into the secular field, particularly on matters where men of equal piety and devotion to our Lord disagree, she has exchanged her spiritual role for one in which she can well find herself aligned with forces inimicable to both the Church and society as a whole.
Some ecclesiastical leaders view with strong distaste the opinions of laymen who hold to the historic concept of separation of Church and State. But many of these laymen are deeply concerned that the distinction shall be kept clear, primarily that the spiritual message of the Church shall speak to the basic need of redemption and regeneration, without which there can be no lasting social reform.
With the ecclesiastical organizations of the major denominations largely in the hands of men committed to such Church pronouncements, it is more or less the universal practice of these denominations during the course of their annual meetings to make deliverances which thereby become the “official” position of the Church.
I would like to discuss the matter as objectively as possible.
The matter of the Church, as a corporate group, entering into economics, social problems and politics, will not be solved by raising a false issue, as some have done.
No one wishes to “buy” any church. But thousands of men are apprehensive lest the Church sell her glorious spiritual heritage and obligation for a mess of secular pottage.
The Church (and I speak of all major denominations) has a heritage of a faith firmly planted in the revelation of God in Christ as recorded in the Holy Scriptures. She has a heritage of strong convictions regarding the separation of Church and State. To her alone has been committed the message of salvation from sin. Above all else she is the repository of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is her duty to preach it at home and abroad.
Any emphasis for secular matters without a corresponding conviction of the content of the Gospel message is a deviation which harms the Church and detracts from her influence in the secular world which she has been commissioned by her Lord to reach.
The Church does have a responsibility, but it is not that of secular deliverances; rather, it is the faithful witness of the Gospel which is man’s only hope now and for eternity.
The Church, as a corporate organization, placing her emphasis more on the peripheral, even controversial, areas of personal and national life, may aim to correct the ills of the political, social, and economic world but fail to affect the eternal destiny of one soul out of Christ. Such would prove a triumph of Satan and the world’s greatest tragedy.
Every minister of the Gospel, along with individual Christians, has the right to preach or speak on social and other issues if he is so led by the Spirit. But the Church, as a corporate group, has a spiritual ministry from which her influence emanates, while her basic task is to tell of the One who alone empowers men to righteous living. The message of the Church should lead to the regeneration of the individual through faith in Christ. The Christian, as a citizen should through personal activity as an individual, and corporately with others, help in the reformation of society. But as sure as there is truth to be preached, the social order will never be greatly changed until the hearts of the individuals making up that society have their hearts changed by the living Christ.
Unless the ministry and message of the Church is unique—the Gospel committed to her custody—she will become lost in the plethora of secular and humanitarian movements which look to man to change his own conditions of living and destiny.
Because the Church is the sole custodian of the Gospel of redemption through the atoning work of Calvary, she must put first things first and be faithful to her heritage and her witnessing obligation. The concern for social reforms can become an obsession which overshadows her primary task in the world.
Unless Christian citizens exercise their influence through the ballot box and personal righteousness, the pronouncements of the Church go for nothing. These social concerns can only be implemented by concerned Christians. For the corporate Church to demand reforms “in the name of the Church” is a form of coercion, bringing to bear on the social order the force of law. This is not the spiritual healing to which the Church is committed. Furthermore, such actions of Church courts authenticate positions which may prove to be contrary to Christian ideals.
To illustrate: dedicated Christians disagree with reference to laws which enforce the closed shop, right-to-work laws, birth control, deficit spending, and so on. For the Church to take official action on one or the other side of these issues immediately places the Church in a position our Lord himself would not take when he said: “Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?” And then he went on to utter these searching words: “Take heed, and beware of covetousness; for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesses.”
When the Church enters the field of official deliverances on secular matters, she finds herself suspect both within and outside the area where she is supposed to operate. This may seem to some a fine distinction, but it is a very real one. The minute the Church becomes officially involved in secular areas she begins to forfeit her power and witness in the spiritual field.
The Church should be guided by revealed principles which have their basis in divine revelation. But this is very different from claiming divine authority to make pronouncements regarding particular programs, parties and personalities.
We know of no one who wishes to buy any church or denomination. But we know of thousands of concerned Christians who do not wish to see the spiritual mission of the Church sold for a social program which can never save one soul from eternal loss.
L. NELSON BELL
