What Is the Role of Tradition in Church Unity?

I grew up in a background that had little or no regard for Christian Tradition so it seems more than a little odd that the name of my mission, ACT 3, stands for Advancing the Christian Tradition in the Third Millennium. More than one person has asked, “Why on earth do you want to advance tradition?” Their assumption is that tradition is unhealthy, even opposed to the Bible. It was when I began to understand that “tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living” (Jaroslav Pelikan) that I saw how important tradition really was for a living, healthy Christian faith.

Jesus did not oppose tradition. He opposed “vain human tradition.” The two are not the same. I believe the confusion created by the typical American reaction against Christian Tradition is not only unhealthy but it promotes a kind of faith that will be inherently disconnected from the renewal that we desperately need in the church in 2010. This is why I devoted so much to this subject in my book: Your Church Is Too Small. If you haven’t read the book yet I hope you will go to the book site and click the purchase link.