Someone has said, “People who come together just to be together do not comprise Christian community.” Heretics can do that. Gangs do that. Social clubs do that. In the church we gather around creeds that are still very relevant. We gather around “the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3). We live the life of another Kingdom. We gather around “ancient words tried and true.” We gather under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We gather around a mission. The church cannot maintain itself without sound biblical and theological teaching. It must structure itself in such a way that its core is central and not peripheral to what we call fellowship.
“If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:6-7 (NRSV)
