ORDER
(3rd in a series)
By Elder Mark Green
Much of the order among the churches involves the principle of fellowship. To understand how important this principle is, we must remember that the Lord’s church has no earthly headquarters. There is no central earthly authority or national or state headquarters that is dictating to the churches and mandating that they believe and practice particular things. Thus, the relationship among our churches is a purely voluntary one. We recognize them because we understand them to be “of the same faith and order” as we are. That expression means that their beliefs and practices are the same as ours, and thus we regard them as a “sister church,” a true New Testament church with whom we have gospel relations.
The term “in fellowship” has different meanings as used by Primitive Baptists. We are not in fellowship with other religious orders, and by that we mean that we do not recognize them religiously and have no church dealings with them at all. However, sometimes there are schisms between churches within the Primitive Baptist ranks in which, though there is a recognition of the identity of the sister congregation as a church, nevertheless her conduct, either in doctrine or practice or both, has caused her to be perceived as being so dangerously close to what we might term “fatal error” that functional fellowship between them has been lost.
Since error and disorder cause a break in fellowship between churches, and since we recognize that we all do not understand everything as we ought, the issue that churches constantly are called upon to weigh is how much error can be tolerated before fellowship is broken. Primitive Baptist history is replete with examples of churches being too “quick on the trigger” and, conversely, of being too tolerant and too slow to act. In both cases harm was done. If reaction was too slow, then the error was able to take root among the churches; if it was too quick, then an unnecessary division between brethren was made. The severing of fellowship is a matter of judgment. We do not get a letter from heaven telling us how much error persisted in for how long is too much and too long. It is our duty to make those hard decisions, and the consequences of a wrong decision are often staggering in terms of damage to the church in one direction or the other. This is one of the more serious matters which local churches face in their day-to-day affairs. This delicate balance of longsuffering vs. resistance is one reason that factional division has been so much a part of the history of Primitive Baptists. The point is that Old Baptists do care greatly about their doctrine and practice; and since doctrine and practice directly affect fellowship, there has been a constantly-changing landscape of that fellowship among our people.
The severing of fellowship may be caused both by the seriousness of error or by its proximity. Smaller matters can become great in their effects upon us if they are close at hand and if someone is zealously promoting them. A preacher might have a strange idea about something, but if he would leave it alone, it would not be a cause for major concern. On the other hand, if he goes about “riding a hobby” on the matter, his error may be a larger issue than it should be simply because of the vigor and volume being put forth in its promotion in a certain locality. Conversely, a serious error a thousand miles away may not cause a pastor a great deal of distress, because the flock is never in contact with it; but if it becomes something which could affect the church he serves, he will find it necessary to resist it.
The degree to which Primitive Baptists visit sister churches is an amazing thing to people of other religious orders. However, seeing that we have no earthly headquarters, fellowship is the glue that holds the church as a whole together. If there is no communication and correspondence, then there is no fellowship, for in order for there to be fellowship, there must be a degree of confidence in the soundness and orderliness of a church; and until there is a familiarity with it, that confidence will not exist. It is generally the case that when a church ceases to visit among sister churches, it is either holding to something that it does not want revealed, or it eventually will be drawn into such things due to the lack of contact with other sound churches. This principle of relationship between churches is one reason that Old Baptists have put such an emphasis upon whether or not a brother is “safe.” By “safe” we mean that he is sound in doctrine and practice and that we know he will not tolerate damaging error where he is responsible.
Fellowship is a precious thing. It absolutely is worth the time and effort to cultivate it among the churches. It is “good and pleasant” for brethren to dwell together in unity. Many of our ministers have traveled to meetings in different parts of the country when they were too busy and too tired reasonably to be expected to go, but they did so for the sake of the fellowship that has existed among the Old Baptists. Fellowship is a sweet, sweet blessing. Believe me, brethren, it is worth much labor, as well as much caution and forbearance, to maintain and nurture it.