Christian Church - Convergence Movement
John
17:6-10 & 17-23
6
I have manifested thy
name unto the men
which thou gavest me out of the world:
thine they were, and thou gavest them me;
and they have kept thy word.
7 Now they have known that all things
whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
8 For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me;
and they have received them,
and have known surely that I came out from thee,
and they have believed that thou didst send me.
9
I pray for them:
I pray not for the world,
but for them which thou hast given me; for they
are thine.
10 And all mine are thine, and thine
are mine; and I am glorified in them.
John
17:17-23 (KJV)
17
Sanctify them through thy
truth:
thy word is
truth.
18 As thou hast sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the
world.
19 And for their sakes I sanctify
myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth.
20 Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them
also which shall
believe on me
through
their word;
21
That they all
may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in
thee, that they
also may be one in us:
that the world may believe
that thou hast sent me.
22
And the glory which
thou gavest me
I have given
them;
that they may
be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me,
that they may be made perfect in one;
and that the world may know that thou hast sent
me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Con·ver·gence
|
1.
|
A
coming together
from different directions, especially
a uniting or merging of groups
or tendencies
that were originally
opposed or very different
|
|
2.
|
The tendency of
different species to
develop similar characteristics
in response to
a set of environmental conditions |
The
convergence movement is
a coming together
of the
three major
historic branches of the Church;
1.
The
Liturgical/Sacramental
Li·tur·gic
|
1.
|
relating
to liturgy |
|
2.
|
relating
to religious worship or to a service of
worship, especially the celebration of
Communion in a Christian service.
|
Liturgy is;
a
body of
rites
(or
system of ceremonial procedures)
prescribed for formal public worship.
·
Although the
term is sometimes applied to Jewish worship, it
is especially associated with the
prayers and
ceremonies used
in the celebration of the
Lord's Supper,
also known as
Holy Eucharist.
·
During the
first three centuries of the Christian era, the
rite of the church was comparatively fluid (or
very likely
changing),
based on various accounts of the Last Supper.
·
In about the 4th century the
various traditions crystallized into four
liturgies, the Antiochene, or Greek,
the Alexandrian, the Roman, and
the Gallican,
from which all others have been derived.
·
The
Antiochene family of liturgies includes the
Clementine liturgy of the
Apostolic
Constitutions, which is no longer used;
·
The
Syriac
liturgy of
Saint James,
|
Syriac
= ancient Syrian language:
a form of Aramaic used
between the 3rd and 13th centuries that
survives in some Eastern Orthodox
churches |
·
The
Syriac
liturgy of
Saint James,
used by the Jacobite church and Syrian Eastern
Rite churches (see Eastern Rite
Churches);
·
The Greek
liturgy of Saint James, used once a year at
Jerusalem;
·
The Syriac
liturgy of the Maronites;
·
The Syriac
liturgy used by the Nestorian church;
·
The Malabar
liturgy, used by the Saint Thomas Christians of
India; the Byzantine liturgy, used in various
languages by the Orthodox churches;
·
The Armenian
liturgy, used by the Georgians and the Armenian
Eastern Rite churches.
sac·ra·ment
|
|
In Christianity,
a rite that is considered to have been
established by Jesus Christ to bring
grace to those participating in or
receiving it.
In the Protestant Church,
the sacraments are
baptism
and
Communion.
The Roman Catholic
and
Eastern Orthodox Churches
also include
penance
(or
confession & repentance),
confirmation
(completion of training for adult hood),
holy
orders,
matrimony,
and
the
anointing of the sick. |
Holy
Orders, the several different
degrees of ordained ministries recognized by the
Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Anglican churches.
-
For
Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, holy orders
rank among the seven sacraments.
-
Anglicans
regard ordination as a “sacramental rite,”
or as “commonly called a sacrament” .
-
The
outward and visible sign of the sacrament is
the
imposition of
hands by a bishop,
sometimes accompanied by the transmission of
an object or objects associated with the
order, such as a chalice and paten for a
priest.
-
The
sacramental inward grace conferred by
ordination is
the spiritual power and authority proper to
the respective orders.
2.
The
Evangelical
e·van·gel·i·cal
|
1.
|
relating or belonging to
any Protestant Christian church that
emphasizes the authority of the Bible
and salvation through the personal
acceptance of Jesus Christ
|
|
2.
|
relating to or
based
on the Gospels
of the Christian Bible
|
|
3.
|
enthusiastic or zealous
in support of a particular cause and
very eager to make other people share
its beliefs or ideals
|
Evangelicalism, is
a movement in modern Anglo-American (citizens
originating from Great Bitain)
Protestantism that emphasizes personal
commitment to Christ and the authority of the
Bible.
-
In the general sense,
evangelical
(from the
New Testament Greek
euangelion,
“good
news”)
means simply pertaining to the Gospel.
·
It is
represented in most Protestant denominations.
Protestantism, is
one of the three major divisions of
Christianity, the others being Roman Catholicism
and Orthodoxy.
·
Protestantism
began
as
a movement to reform the Western Christian
church in the
16th century,
resulting in the Protestant Reformation, which
severed the reformed churches from the Roman
Catholic Church.
·
The declared
aim of the original reformers was
to restore the
Christian faith as it had been at its beginning,
while keeping what they thought valuable from
the Roman Catholic tradition that had developed
during the intervening centuries.
·
The four main Protestant traditions
that emerged from the
Reformation were the
Lutheran
(known in continental Europe as Evangelical),
the
Calvinist
(Reformed), the
Anabaptist,
and the
Anglican.
·
Despite the considerable
differences among them in doctrine and practice,
they agreed in
rejecting the authority of the pope and in
emphasizing instead the authority of the Bible
and the importance of individual faith.
·
The term Protestantism
was given to
the movement after the second Diet of Speyer
(1529).
·
A protest
was signed by six Lutheran princes and the
leaders of 14 free cities of Germany, and
Lutherans in general became known as
Protestants.
·
The term
Protestant
has
gradually been
attached to all Christian churches
that are not Roman Catholic or
part of the Orthodox or other Eastern Christian
traditions.
·
In the late 1990s the world had
about 400 million Protestants (including some 64
million Anglicans), constituting about one-fifth
of all affiliated Christians.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006.
Evangelicals believe that
each individual has
a need for spiritual
rebirth and
personal commitment to
Jesus Christ as
savior, through faith in
his atoning death on the cross (commonly,
although not necessarily, through a specific
conversion experience).
·
They
emphasize strict
orthodoxy
(following
of established rules or traditions)
on cardinal doctrines, morals, and especially on
the authority of the Bible.
·
Many
Evangelicals follow a traditional,
interpretation of the Bible and insist on its
inerrancy (freedom
from error in history as well as in faith and
morals).
The term Evangelicalism
has been
a source of
controversy,
and the precise relationship or distinction
between Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism has
been disputed.
Fundamentalism, conservative movement
among Protestants in the United States, which
began in the late 19th century.
-
It
emphasized as absolutely basic to
Christianity
the following
beliefs:
the infallibility of the Bible, the
virgin birth and the divinity of
Jesus Christ, the sacrifice of Christ
on the cross as atonement for the sins
of all people, the physical resurrection
and second coming of Christ, and the
bodily resurrection of believers.
-
Liberal Protestants often oppose the use of
Evangelical to refer only to the strict
traditionalists.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006
3.
The
Charismatic.
char·is·mat·ic
|
1.
|
having charisma:
possessing great powers
of charm or influence
|
|
2.
|
seeking direct spiritual
experiences:
describes Christian groups or worship
characterized by
a quest for inspired and ecstatic
experiences such as healing, prophecy,
and speaking in tongues
|
Charismatic
Movement
(Greek
charismata,”spiritual
gifts”), international,
interdenominational Christian revivalistic
movement, also referred to as
Neo-Pentecostalism.
·
The
individuals who make up the movement
believe that they have been “filled” or
“baptized” with the Holy Spirit
through the
laying on of hands.
·
The
signs of this baptism include such
spiritual gifts as
speaking in tongues,
or glossolalia, prophecy, healing,
interpretation of tongues, and discernment of
spirits
(see 1 Corinthians 12:8-10).
The
Pentecostal churches
had their origin in a similar movement in
the early 20th century,
as small groups of believers withdrew from
Protestant denominations in order to
pray, study the Bible, and practice their gifts.
See also Holiness Churches.
Holiness
Churches,
are fundamentalist Protestant
bodies that
developed from
Methodism and hold as
their distinguishing feature the doctrine that
holiness, or
sanctification of the individual,
occurs by a second act of grace that follows
justification and is supplementary to it.
·
The
experience of holiness is also referred to as
the second blessing.
·
The National Holiness Movement
came into
being shortly after the American Civil War.
·
Originally a protest movement
within Methodism, it
opposed the Methodist falling away from the
emphasis on sanctification that John Wesley, the
founder of Methodism, had developed.
·
He had
stressed original sin and justification by faith
and added that the individual may be assured of
forgiveness by
a direct experience
of the spirit, called sanctification,
which he regarded as the step leading to
Christian perfection.
·
Although the
main body of the Holiness movement holds that
sanctification is a second work of grace,
some groups of the Pentecostal movement, an
outgrowth of the Holiness churches, maintain
that sanctification is essentially the
dedication of the believer that begins with
regeneration.
·
Moreover,
sanctification must
be evidenced by the occurrence of
certain spiritual phenomena, such as
glossolalia,
or
speaking in tongues.
·
The major
representatives of the Holiness movement
(excluding Pentecostal denominations) are the
Church of the Nazarene and the Church of God
(Anderson, Indiana).
·
The latter
originated about 1880
as a movement within existing churches to
promote Christian unity.
·
The founders were interested in
relieving the church at large of what they
believed was
over-ecclesiasticism
and restrictive organization
and in
reaffirming
the New Testament as the true standard of faith
and life.
·
In addition
to the holiness principle,
they believe in,
among other doctrines, the
divine inspiration of
the Scriptures, forgiveness of sin through the
death of Christ and the repentance of the sinner,
a nonmillennial concept of the return of Christ,
and external reward or punishment as a result of
the final judgment.
·
In the late
1990s the Church of God had 234,000 members in
the United States and the Church of the Nazarene
reported 627,000 members.
·
There are about 25 other Holiness
denominations, among them the rapidly growing
Christian and Missionary Alliance with 346,000
U.S. members in the late 1990s.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006.
The Full
Gospel Business Men's Fellowship
began among Pentecostalists
in
1951.
·
Its members
introduced laity from other denominations to
their practices,
·
The
charismatic movement
as such is usually
considered to have
begun in 1960,
with a group of Episcopalians in Van
Nuys, California.
·
Distinct
charismatic networks and organizations soon
arose within the Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist,
Presbyterian, and other Protestant
denominations.
·
A small
element exists within Eastern Orthodoxy.
The most
striking recent development is
the Roman Catholic
charismatic renewal,
which
originated in 1967
on university campuses in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania; South Bend, Indiana; and East
Lansing, Michigan.
·
In
1969
the U.S.
bishops' conference issued a cautiously
favorable statement regarding the renewal, and
in
1975
Pope Paul VI gave an appreciative speech at a
special audience for 10,000 charismatics
attending a Rome conference.
·
Leon Joseph
Cardinal Suenens of Belgium, a progressive at
the Second Vatican Council, became the
movement's sponsor within the Roman hierarchy,
but many important leaders were laypeople.
As has
Pentecostalism,
the charismatic
movement
has produced a myriad of groups, independent
preachers and healers, and a few near-cultic
offshoots.
·
Most
charismatics, however, are
orthodox in doctrine,
and
emphasize activity
within
their own denominations.
·
They are
ecstatic
(or
completely dominated
by intense emotion)
in worship, although generally more subdued than
Pentecostalists,
·
They align themselves with other
Evangelicals in their emphasis on evangelism and
personal faith in Christ.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006.
CONVERGENCE
Each of
these expressions of the Church of Jesus Christ
have been carefully nurtured by God and greatly
used to establish and expand His work on earth.
-
Modern
day visionaries, however, have discerned the
times and are declaring that the right
time has arrived for God’s church to be one.
“Father,
that they maybe one even as we are one,”
was the prayer of our Lord.
-
Ecclesiastes 4:12
tells us that,
“ a cord of the
three strands is not easily broken.”
When the three
strands of God’s Church are braided together
there will be a new strength and unity in
the church as hasn’t been seen since
the apostolic age.
What
the Convergence Movement is Not.
The Convergence
Movement is not the Ecumenical
Movement.
·
The
Ecumenical Movement has been a constructive and
instrumental part in preparing the scene
for the Convergence Movement.
·
It was at
first, and will continue to be, necessary for
the various factions and denominations of God’s
church to dialog and commence tearing down the
walls of division. God has blessed this
effort.
·
The
Convergence Movement, however, has identified
the three living streams of the Church and
invites God to bring them together as one
complete
life-giving river.
“There
is a river whose streams make glad the city of
God, the Place where the Most High dwells”
(Psalm
46:4).
·
These three streams each in their
own way have defined the map of Christianity
through the ages and
will merge like a flood into the future to
bring reconciliation
and
unleash God’s
powerful purpose for
His Church.
·
For the
present time, Convergence Churches will be
powerful symbols and agents of rapprochement (or
renewal of friendly relations between nations
that were previously hostile)
and the impending
unity of God’s people
in the
midst of a growing darkness and alienation in
the world.
What a
Convergence Church Will Look Like.
A Convergence Church will
blend the three dynamics
of liturgy and sacrament, evangelical
focus and charismatic power in their
worship, congregational life and outreach.
Evangelical
The
Convergence Church
has a
high view of Holy
Scripture, that it
contains all things necessary for salvation and
godly living.
·
It is
committed to the
faithful reading, studying, teaching,
and
preaching
from the
Scriptures; as well as believing that the Holy
Scriptures are a wellspring for spiritual
maturity.
·
It believes
in the importance of
a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ,
a
holy life,
and a
commitment to evangelism
and missions.
Charismatic
The
Convergence Church
is open to
the work of the Holy
Spirit and believes
that God’s people have always been a spiritually
gifted people.
·
From the
Apostles to the modern Church, Christians have
been
endowed with a power
beyond themselves; a power from the Holy Spirit
Himself.
·
The
Convergence Church not only allows, but
anticipates the
Spirit’s presence
and
working through this gifting
in both worship and in daily acts of service.
Liturgical
and Sacraments
The
Convergence Church
practices the
living historic forms
of the liturgies of
the Church:
·
The
sacraments
of
Holy Eucharist
(the Lord’s Supper) and
Baptism.
·
It draws on
the traditions and wisdom of the Historic Church
and is unashamedly
part of the one Holy
Catholic (“Universal”
not Roman Catholic) and
Apostolic Church.
·
At the center
of its worship is the sacrament of Holy
Eucharist (the Lord’s Supper) in which it
believes that grace is imparted by the real
presence of Christ.
Scriptural
References For The Concept Of The Convergence
Movement
Psalms
133:1-3 (KJV)
1
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity!
2
It is like the precious ointment
upon the head, that ran down upon the beard,
even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts
of his garments;
3
As the dew of Hermon, and
as the dew that descended upon the mountains of
Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing,
even life for evermore.
Ezekiel
37:15-17 (KJV)
15
The word of the LORD came
again unto me, saying,
16
Moreover, thou son of man, take
thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah,
and for the children of Israel his companions:
then take another stick, and write upon it, For
Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the
house of Israel his companions:
17
And join them
one to another into one stick; and they shall
become one in thine hand.
John 17:17-23
(KJV)
17
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is
truth.
18 As thou hast sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the
world.
19 And for their sakes I sanctify
myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth.
20 Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me
through their word;
21
That they
all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that
the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me
I have given them; that they may be one, even as
we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one; and that the
world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast
loved them, as thou hast loved me.
