Rev. George Byron Koch (Coke) is my friend. In fact, he is my very good friend. As my lead blog post for this week I am publishing a document that George recently sent to me to get my feedback. I now share it with you to get your feedback and to show you how two missional-ecumenists think about the church in these challenging and exciting times.
Fr. George Koch has been the pastor of Resurrection Church, West Chicago (IL), since June of 1994. George received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics in 1968 from Elmhurst College. While in college he was active in the Civil Rights Movement, wrote a newspaper column, hosted a series of local radio programs and led a band called “The Establishment.” After a time in the recording and film industry George founded a venture-funded national software company which led, in 1990, to him becoming senior vice-president for the Oracle Corporation. But George was restless for radical service to God through the mission of the church as a called and trained minister of the gospel. He left the corporate world and earned a Master of Divinity from Church Divinity School of the Pacific in 1992. (He received a Doctor of Ministry from King’s Seminary in 2003.)
George came to West Chicago in 1994 to serve a small congregation that had been devastated by conflict and schism. In his first decade of ministry in the Chicago area I only knew about George but never really knew him. We both had an impression of the other that was wrong. Then, in God’s time and mercy, a Bible teacher at the Wheaton Academy who had read a book of mine on revival visited me in our home, encouraged her pastor to spend time with me. Thus George and I met at a nearby Starbucks. When this finally happened we instantly became true friends. Now we are dear friends. Last month George became a member of the ACT3 Board of Directors. You can learn a lot more about George at his biographical site.
Saturday Morning Church: A Modest Proposal
A post-denominational group of people who love Jesus and want to be like Him, and who meet to celebrate the freedom from death and freedom for life that Jesus gave us, and to learn together how to love as He loved.
We are post-denominational because Jesus wants us all to be one, and over the centuries we Christians have divided up again and again because we disagreed. We don’t want to do this anymore.
When we worship together
We meet on Saturday morning. We know some churches argue that it is the Sabbath and that it therefore should be the day Christians worship. But that isn’t why we do it. We think anytime set aside to worship God is a good time. We picked Saturday. (We might pick other days, too.)
This also allows us to plant churches in the countless schools, churches and other buildings that are normally empty on Saturday morning. We can begin a Saturday Morning Church most anywhere (even our own home churches), and move it most anywhere. This also leaves Sunday mornings open for our members to read a book, visit a friend, sleep in or even attend another church.
But at least as important as when, are these:
What we do together
When Jesus uses the word “love,” He means to care—with heart and action—for the well-being of others. Love is to be demonstrated through giving aid, encouragement and comfort. We are to treat others the way we want to be treated.
Here is who He told us to love in this way:
- God
- Neighbors
- Enemies
- Ourselves We want to be and do what Jesus asked of us, learning together to love as He loved. That’s our theology.Who we acceptWe accept and honor individuals who follow Jesus and who strive to love as He loved. That doesn’t mean we agree with all of the doctrines other people hold dear, but we consider anyone who follows Jesus to be part of the family of God. This includes those who don’t consider us to be a part of it.
- Since we are post-denominational, we consider churches that belong to denominations to be a part of the Body of Christ. We consider non-denominational churches to be a part of the Body of Christ. We consider the Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant churches to be a part of the Body of Christ. Everyone who is a part of any Body of Christ is already a welcome part of this Body of Christ. We welcome even those who might not welcome us.
How we are organized
Our worship and ministry are simply organized. Our members are all priests. Our pastors are individuals of mature faith who help guide us. We share the Communion meal with all followers of Jesus. We baptize followers as a sign of their being committed to Christ and members of His body.
How we view Scripture
We consider the Bible to be God’s intentional self-revelation and wise counsel for us.
What we aren’t and are
We are not liberals or conservatives, revisionists, literalists, fundamentalists, pantheists, dispensationalists, universalists, cessasionists, secessionists, successionists, or any of a thousand other -ists. We are followers of Jesus.
With thanksgiving
We begin this journey appreciative of the insights of numerous radical believers, from Peter and Paul to Francis, Clare, Blaise, Martin, Catherine, Agnes and a thousand more.
Invitation to Conversation
The above is what I would call “blue-sky” thinking about church and worship. It is intentionally coloring outside the margins of how church is normally conceived today (though it has strong parallels in the earliest church). Parts are intentionally radical, parts intentionally not detailed. Consider it an invitation to creative conversation, and expect it to evolve as others join in the coloring. Responses welcome to pastor@resurrection.org. Feel free to share this with others.
George Byron Koch, August 2006
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Two questions. 1) what is the difference between post-denominational, and non-denominational? 2) How are they different from unitarian universalist?
I agree that we need to move beyond the restrictions or boundaries currently imposed by denominational churches – these have failed us as I believe they are mainly political. Simply Jesus. He is all we ever needed and He needs to be returned to the very center, the very core of ministries. Thank you for posting this. I find it encouraging.
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George’s story could have been mine . . . to a T. I have been living this way since 2005. I do not regret, for a moment, abandoning the limiting constructs I was locked in because I knew no better. This is the life that Jesus promised we could have. My friend Michael Rose says it this way: “We have made a whole industry out of making “love others as I have loved you,” complicated.”
(1) The difference is in the difference between “post” and “non.” Non never was a denominational model, or an anti-denominational model, which I think is worse yet. Post refers to what follows the continued collapse of denominational loyalty and definitions of church. Your second question makes no sense at all given the ancient-future “confessional” category employed here by by both George and me.
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Thanks for posting this, John. Interesting. I take a lunge in the murk and say, that it echoes in a way Wesley’s original reform thinking. But I don’t want to get in the details for I know who lurks there.
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I agree that “denominationalism” is an obstacle to the spread of the gospel of Christ, and does not reflect his intention for his body. By “denominationalism” I mean the view that “our church” is better, in some way, than other mistaken, or inferior, churches. And I think that attitude can be held by a “nondenominational” church as well. I am in sympathy with the desire to transcend denominationalism. However, the “Campbellite” movement of the 1800s, which stressed being “Christians only” without denominational trappings, has evolved into several “denominations” (though they don’t all call themselves that): Disciples of Christ, Churches of Christ, the “Christian” churches of the Midwest, etc. Will the “post-denominational” church just turn into another “denomination” like the Campbells’ “Christian church” restoration-unity movement? Maybe what we need is not “nondenominational” or “postdenominational” churches, but “transdenominational” churches that work in unified witness with other groups despite differences in heritage, theological nuance, governmental patterns, worship styles, etc.
Great questions!! Anything that leads to new sectarianism and schism is NOT to be welcomed.
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So there is some kind of confession of faith then?
Of course there is confession, catholic and ancient.
I love the heart of this but to piggy back off of Seth’s concerns part of it almost feels like the “No Creed but Jesus” creeds of the 60’s… I know where you’re coming from John but the post itself is a little too vague and maybe that is on purpose. You say “catholic and ancient” but the post does not refer to these (unless I missed them).
BTW, I hate I’m going to miss you in Charlotte this coming weekend! hope your forum goes well… blessings.
The church website is quite fascinating. http://www.resurrection.org It is apparently an Anglican Church (a fact that went unmentioned in the OP). However, it doesn’t seem to have a lot of information about what they believe or any confession. The site seems to have been around for some time (at least Jan 9 1998), but constantly has many sections that merely state “under construction”. In 2007 Rev. Koch gave the following sermon which was listed on the church website (in 2009) as a declairation of who they are. http://www.georgebyronkoch.info/SERMONS/AUDIO/709%20The%20Secret%20of%20Our%20Success%20The%20Worship%20in%20the%20Heart%20of%20the%20Prodigal%20Son%2011-Nov-2007.mp3
I agree with the post only because I understand where George is on the creeds and confessions; otherwise it is bit vague.
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I am not sure I see “vague” at all and I did include his bio in a link.
I am not being critical; I actually hold George in high esteem, would love to meet him, and regularly listen to his audio sermons. The way he gleans the best of the Emergent and Missional movement in a series he did in 2008 really helped balance my thinking. I am only saying that it is not possible to read the blog before us and find in-depth confessions or creeds. That was not the point, in my opinion.
If I am not mistaken, “Resurrection Church” is the second continuation of the former Episcopal “Church of the Resurrection” of West Chicago. In 1993, Church of the Resurrection dissociated from the Episcopal Diocese and eventually aligned with an Anglican body; today it is “Church of the Resurrection of Illinois” in Wheaton, and its Rector, Stewart Ruch, has just become a Bishop. However, at the time of the 1993 dissociation, some members remained with the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in the West Chicago building. Then, in 2007, that group ALSO left the Episcopal Church and became Resurrection Church in West Chicago. (It is all quite a story!) Today, the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago no longer lists a congregation in West Chicago. (For the record, I was a communicant of the first group that left, the one in Wheaton, from 1993 till 2004 when I left the Chicago area.)
I am enjoying the rich conversation on the post. I would like to contribute to the conversation as well from the perspective of someone who did not grow up in the church or a denomination. Followers of Jesus are already one. I believe “Denominationalism” is the outworking of human pride resulting from men who try to create the unity of the faith and the unity of the knowledge of the Son of God in their own wisdom and power. Our Father is not content that his people call him Father, but refuse to love (not merely tolerate!) their brothers and sisters. “This son of yours…” was the cry of the elder brother who got upset over the generous forgiveness shown his younger brother. “This brother of yours…” was the reply of the father who longed for his family to live in his love (see Luke 15). May our God and Father help us, His people, to remove every barrier that hinders His love and show the world that we are truly one people in Jesus – the Messiah of Israel and Lord of the world – that the world might believe Jesus was sent by the Father for us (not that “we” represent Him more accurately than “them”). The apostolic call to unity and the faithful preaching of the Gospel along with a response that loves God and loves others is all that is needed to protect us from error. Ministries that serve the people of God and the needs of the world must be institutionalized in order to function. The church, by nature of what it is, cannot be institutionalized. Divisions and factions among the people of God betray the very essence of the church and its Head, and those who create or maintain them will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galations 5). Sobering thoughts for prideful men. May God lead all of us who follow Jesus toward an expression of our life together in every community that compels the world to believe that God loves us and sent His Son for us.