One Body
This weekend we will be holding another annual all-Church of God picnic in the Bay Area. About 125 people from various groups have signed up to attend. There are various views of this activity with some thinking it is a great opportunity for intergroup mingling, while others are more wary. What is an all-church picnic and why are we holding it?
The Church of God is not an organization. There has to be organization and structure, but the Church is a spiritual organism – as we have emphasized many times. The spiritual nature comes from the fact that one is placed into the body upon baptism.
“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body …” (1 Corinthians 12:13).
This means that conversion is a vital factor. The interdependence of each part of the body makes it organic in nature.
“Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually” (1 Corinthians 12:27).
Each part is to contribute to the whole. A single body bound together by one Spirit, mirroring the unity of the Elohim family. This fact is made clear by the Apostle Paul when he equates marriage to the Church (Ephesians 5:22-33). An organization with rules and regulations largely bound by state and federal requirements cannot meet these qualities.
After the leader of the single church entity died in 1986, wolves entered the flock and scattered God’s people into all kinds of directions as members were forced to navigate uncertain waters. Christ warned of this kind of scattering before He was crucified.
“Then Jesus said to them, ‘All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written, I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered’” (Mark 14:27).
God’s Church is to be one single spiritual group of people, walking together in unity, spirit and purpose.
“For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12).
Many members desire more fellowship with like-minded people from other groups and enjoy any opportunity to be able to socialize together. A picnic is an opportunity to do just that. It is a non-threatening environment free of organizational dictates.
The purpose of the picnic is to attempt to lower the boundaries which organizations tend to set and provide an open environment for fellowship of the body of Christ. It is not going to solve the divisions which exist, but it is a small step in that direction.
Brian Orchard
