Here is a moving and inspiring article about a growing sister church here in Durham, led by my friend Dr. Andy Davis. You can see the full article here on the 9Marks website.
In 1998, FBC Durham was a church in need of reform. It was the oldest congregation in Durham, founded in 1845, and it took pride in being the “First Baptist Church.” In the 1950s to 1970s, it was also the place where everyone who wanted to be anyone in Durham would have attended. By the time I came, those days were over. Yet the memory lingered.
Some godly men had preceded me as pastor and done solid biblical work, laying a good foundation for me in many ways. Best of all, they had left a motivated remnant of godly men and women who were eager to see FBC become a healthy and fruitful church. But these pastors who preceded me had also suffered significant persecution from the same cabal that awaited me. Behind the scenes, these pastors had been threatened, bullied, manipulated, and basically forced out of their ministries.
He goes on to talk about a meeting he had with his deacons to deal with an issue regarding gender roles in the church and how this meeting opened his eyes to the division within. Some deacons clearly wanted to submit to the teachings of the Bible while others would not.
I remember the horrible looks on the face of the most powerful leader of the deacons. At one point, I was teaching them that God has prescribed in Scripture how the church should conduct its life together, and along the way I referred to the moment when God struck Uzzah dead for his irreverent act of touching the ark. At that moment, this deacon recoiled in his chair, appalled. He gestured down at the open Bible on the table before him and said, “I could never believe in a God like that!”
The moment crystallized the need for reform at FBC. This man could not believe in the God clearly revealed in the pages of the Bible. What god could he believe in, then? One of his own imagination?
Dr. Davis talks about simply preaching the Bible each week despite the uproar from a number of divisive members. He describes how the church came to a breaking point. The church was hemorrhaging, but reformation finally came as people gladly received the word.
Here are some lessons that 1st Baptist Durham learned through their reformation. I only list a few here.
Never Forget that Christ Alone Owns the Church.
The church belongs to Jesus Christ, for he alone shed his blood for it (Acts 20:28). No one has a greater stake in the church; no one has a higher claim to its allegiance. No church member or pastor can buy and control the church, for Christ has paid the immeasurably high price of his blood, and he has infinitely outbid the next highest bidder.
Rely on the Word Alone.
If you want to see a church reformed, put all your eggs in this one basket, the faithful teaching and preaching of the Word of God. In a sermon in 1522, Martin Luther made a famous statement about the reformation in Germany:
“I simply taught, preached, wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And then, while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my Philip and my Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that never a prince or emperor did such damage to it. I did nothing. The Word did it all.”
Saturate the Church in Prayer.
The reformation of a local church can never be anything less than fully turning to God—loving him, trusting in him, seeking him, obeying him. This is what we seek, a purely God-centered answer to church reform. And it is pure folly for a pastor to think that that doesn’t begin with him!
Avoid Pride Toward Opponents; Reject Gossip and Slander.
When it comes to church reform, it is vital that we stay humble. One reason for this is that God has promised to bless the humble and fight against the proud: “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’” (1 Pet. 5:5).
