The focus of the next two decades in the U.K. Church won’t be so much “cross-denominational” as it will be (genuinely and permanently) “non-denominational”
What do I mean?
LISTEN TO THIS from Tom Wright on Paul/Barnabas and the early Church:
“For Paul, the word (pistis) meant all of that but also much more. For him, this ‘believing allegiance’ was neither simply a ‘religious’ stance nor a ‘political’ one. It was altogether larger, in a way that our language, like Paul’s, has difficulty in expressing clearly. For him, this ‘pistis’, (this heartfelt trust and allegiance to the God revealed in Jesus), was the vital marker, the thing that showed whether someone was really part of this new community or not. That was already the position that Barnabas was taking. He saw a single community living a common life. Saying that he recognised this as the result of divine grace is not simply the kind of pious fantasy some might imagine, since in the ancient Near East the idea of a single community across the traditional boundaries of culture, gender, and ethnic and social groupings was unheard of. Unthinkable, in fact. But there it was. A new kind of ‘family’ had come into existence. It’s focus of identity was Jesus; it’s manner of life was shaped by Jesus; it’s characteristic mark was believing allegiance to Jesus…”
>>Believe Jesus, be allied with Him and what He says, or be swept away like driftwood into apostasy. Those will be the only denominations<<
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