Should I Participate in Multiple Churches at a Time? — A Parable
[Editor’s note: this article appears in the form of an allegory or parable. It makes a serious point, one which Christians should listen to carefully.]
Nathan the preacher spoke to David the layman, saying: “There were four men in a city, each married to a different woman. The first man’s wife excelled in hospitality. The second man’s wife excelled in encouragement. The third man’s wife excelled in discernment. And the fourth man’s wife excelled in child-rearing.
“The first man praised his wife for her gift but was disappointed to see that she was not equal to the others in encouragement, discernment, and child-rearing. He decided it would be good for his well-being if he lived three days a week with the other ladies to benefit from their strengths.”
David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan: “As the LORD lives, this man ought to be confronted. He has committed adultery.”
Nathan said to David, “You are the man. Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘I gave you your wife in your youth. You vowed to be faithful unto her from that day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part. Yet, you have “dealt treacherously” with her and sought out mistresses (Mal. 2:14-15).
“‘You say, “How have I done this?” Five years ago, you covenanted with a local church here in this town, promising to be faithful to her with your presence, your tithes, and your prayers. But you have despised the commandment of the Lord by absenting yourself and your family from the assembly of believers (Heb. 10:25). You have attended the corporate worship services of your church each Lord’s Day, as you affirm its doctrinal statement and reverent worship. However, you have refused to attend the adult Sunday School class because the teacher’s personality is not to your liking, and he only has a Bachelor of Arts in Bible. You therefore have dropped off your children for their classes at your church, and then walked across the street to listen to a different Bible teacher who has a Master of Divinity degree, a friendlier personality, but a different eschatological position than yours.
“‘Likewise, you have refused to attend the midweek prayer services at your church because they did not have a youth group for your teenage children. Instead, you have driven your family half-way across town each Wednesday to participate in another church’s youth program. You do not agree with everything in this church’s doctrinal statement, but you have found that their youth workers “connect well” with your children. Moreover, you have refused to visit the sick and the shut-in of your own church because there was no formal nursing home ministry. You have therefore joined another church’s senior care program on Saturdays which is thoroughly structured and hospitable, even though it is led by a female pastor. Lastly, your church does not sponsor small group studies, so you have used that as an excuse to drive across town to join another church’s Bible study each Tuesday evening. The worship is not reverent, but you believe they have great discernment in dealing with current issues.
“‘You thought, I, the Lord, would be pleased that you treated spirituality in such a hyper-individualized and consumeristic way. “After all,” you said, “this is what people do with everything else in life, from vendors in the marketplace to stations at a smorgasbord. Furthermore, are we not ‘all baptized into one body’ by one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13), and is Christ not our head (Eph. 5:23)?”
“‘It is true that each Christian becomes a part of the universal, invisible Church at conversion. Christ is the head of all (Jew, Gentile, bond, free, male, female, living, or dead), Scripture is profitable for all (2 Tim. 3:16-17), and Satan is the common enemy of all. But once a man is saved, he is not to live his life independent from all other believers under the so-called impulse of the Spirit (Judg. 17:6, 21:25), nor is he to live under the watch care of one huge, global assembly or multiple smaller assemblies. Rather, he is to join a local church and to be faithful to her. I have made sure that each church is “tempered” with a diversity of gifts, administrations, and operations for the edification of all within (1 Cor. 12:4-11, 18, 24). I have especially chosen elders (Acts 14:23, Titus 1:5) to oversee none but their own church. I have also appointed the older members in each congregation to teach the younger how to mature in the faith (Titus 2:4). Moreover, I have commanded each church to discipline those members who persist in their trespasses (Matt. 18:15-20, 1 Cor. 5, 2 Thess. 3:6-15).
“‘Alleged weaknesses in your church therefore do not justify your severance from that body and engraftment into others throughout the week. Infidelity defies my commands, hurts your church, misuses others, spreads your family thin, and causes doctrinal confusion, which has already begun in your home. Rather than pursue your needs your way, you should pray all the more for your covenanted community and strengthen her whenever possible. See to it then, that there is “no schism in the body; but that the members … have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Cor. 12:25-26, cf. Gal. 6:2).’”
Jonathan Peters serves as an administrative assistant at Reformation Bible Church and Harford Christian School (Darlington, MD).