I've been a long-time lurker in this community, and more recently, I've become burdened in prayer over a thorny problem that I believe warrants honest discussion: the question of patriarchal accountability.
Truth be told, I've always had a heart for the stranger. My desire is that all of God's people in Christ would be able to find a community to worship, serve in, and call their own—whether that's Reformed Anabaptists (yes, they exist in some small number) or polygynist practitioners and converts in Western society (as missiological exceptions already exist in Eastern contexts, even among intensely conservative microdenominations that have originated in the West).
The Drift
Folks who find themselves outside of the camp become a law unto themselves.
Because polygyny is societally unpalatable for various reasons, many people tire of receiving the left foot of fellowship and go off on their own to pursue what they believe to be appropriate. However, without the connective tissue of abiding inside of a body of believers, we drift. As these well-meaning people become a law unto themselves, their interpretation of Holy Scripture begins to matter as much (if not more) than the primary source material: Scripture itself, to include the demands it places upon disciples (between believers and disciples I make no distinction).
A Proposal
This is one reason I've been tinkering with the idea of a patriarchal online church.
To be clear, while I'm almost certainly not the right person to be formally participating in such a concept, and am in no way advocating to personally assist with such an idea, I'm still turning the idea over in my mind as something that seems to be sorely needed. I spotted a similar gap in a community of vagabond evangelists and tried to dedicate some cycles to thinking through how to improve things for them as well.
Now, while the legitimacy of a virtual ekklesia might be debated, in underserved communities I believe the real need outweighs any hypothetical nuance. Of course, it's easier to opt-in to opportunities to fellowship without any real accountability (as each head of household is essentially functioning as a law unto themselves), but it affords fewer iron-sharpening opportunities for the men and less protection for the women and children who find themselves in patriarchal households that may not be being managed properly. It also denies the entire household any benefits of exercising gifts and charity within the context of a larger community.
This is disheartening for many reasons, not the least of which would be that it is written that the world will know we are His disciples by our love for one another. If even unholy secular humanists exercise concern for other human beings that co-exist with them on their homesteads, what does our testimony of anti-social behavior really say about us if we aren't seeking to love our neighbor and especially those of the household of faith in a public way? What does it profit? "Do not even publicans do the same?" I digress..
With regard to a patriarchal online church, such a church could have a blended eldership representing both [Messianic] Jewish and Gentile perspectives, and exist for the purpose of mutual edification, wise counsel, and yes (gasp) accountability. They could stand in the gaps to clarify doctrines, resolve disputes and disciple patriarchs. With a composite group of qualified elders, the spirit of Romans 11 could also be fulfilled in a way that virtually every church today can't: there seem to be virtually no modern day mixtures of wild and natural branches where Messianic Jews and Gentiles worship together (pun intended).
Prophetic Reasons
There are even prophetic reasons (for those of you so inclined) to strongly consider such a proposal:
How is it that we find ourselves in a community where many folks esteem Hebrew Roots and yet take lightly that which by inspiration was specifically written to the Hebrews? Or how is it that there are entire ministries being founded today based on a prophecy referencing polygyny, and yet these same contrarian champions may forsake the assembling of ourselves together?
I do not write this with a critical spirit, but rather to provoke you to love and good works. Please pray about this and consider it carefully.
The Separation Paradox
There also seem to be two different things at play here. The folks who stand apart from the church criticize it as diseased. Yet Paul's counsel was never for the faithful, orthodox members of the Corinthian church to depart from it, to flee. Contrariwise, there was no Scriptural precedent for existing faithfully outside of an institution and not congregating amongst yourselves. Even the Essenes had communities and caves.
So to say "I won't be a part of that unfaithful body" and yet "I won't congregate with any body" seems akin to a type of spiritual auto-immune disorder.
How is it that we have eyes which say to hands they have no need of them? Or how long can an ear, a finger or even a tooth survive apart from the body? If we have been given gifts to edify the body and yet exist apart from the body, do we not steal from the Giver of such good gifts?
Shall those who are not content to be diseased therefore be content to be disordered?
I think these are good things to think on also.
The Churchianity Tension
I understand this community's hostility towards and suspicion of "Churchianity." But at the end of the day, conservatively at least a third of the New Testament is written to churches. If Paul were alive today, many folks on these forums would've never received a letter. It is impossible to obey those who have the rule over you as a patriarchal man when you won't submit to the authority or oversight of another human being. This notion that we can be part of the body and yet live in a way that is happily divorced from it is without any scriptural precedent whatsoever.
A Broader Pattern
For what it's worth, I've observed the same phenomenon in other camps as well. Folks who are intensely evangelistic and regularly go out on the streets to preach are often ostracized from church communities, viewed with suspicion, and find themselves living as pilgrims and pietistic gypsies, traveling from one congregation to another. As time goes on, many of these people accumulate all kinds of curious doctrines, become plagued with repeated divorces, and other things that would disqualify them from just about everything except church discipline.
No doubt many of them mean well, and even began well. But we must pray and ask the Lord for grace to persevere unto the end, and to be numbered among the sheep of His pasture on the Last Day.
Opening the Conversation
I'm open to thoughts, pushback, constructive dialogue, etc. I don't know if something like this has been proposed in the past, but to my mind there would be many benefits, as we all have been given gifts by the Holy Spirit to minister one to another as part of the mystical Body of Christ.
Truth be told, I've always had a heart for the stranger. My desire is that all of God's people in Christ would be able to find a community to worship, serve in, and call their own—whether that's Reformed Anabaptists (yes, they exist in some small number) or polygynist practitioners and converts in Western society (as missiological exceptions already exist in Eastern contexts, even among intensely conservative microdenominations that have originated in the West).
The Drift
Folks who find themselves outside of the camp become a law unto themselves.
Because polygyny is societally unpalatable for various reasons, many people tire of receiving the left foot of fellowship and go off on their own to pursue what they believe to be appropriate. However, without the connective tissue of abiding inside of a body of believers, we drift. As these well-meaning people become a law unto themselves, their interpretation of Holy Scripture begins to matter as much (if not more) than the primary source material: Scripture itself, to include the demands it places upon disciples (between believers and disciples I make no distinction).
A Proposal
This is one reason I've been tinkering with the idea of a patriarchal online church.
To be clear, while I'm almost certainly not the right person to be formally participating in such a concept, and am in no way advocating to personally assist with such an idea, I'm still turning the idea over in my mind as something that seems to be sorely needed. I spotted a similar gap in a community of vagabond evangelists and tried to dedicate some cycles to thinking through how to improve things for them as well.
Now, while the legitimacy of a virtual ekklesia might be debated, in underserved communities I believe the real need outweighs any hypothetical nuance. Of course, it's easier to opt-in to opportunities to fellowship without any real accountability (as each head of household is essentially functioning as a law unto themselves), but it affords fewer iron-sharpening opportunities for the men and less protection for the women and children who find themselves in patriarchal households that may not be being managed properly. It also denies the entire household any benefits of exercising gifts and charity within the context of a larger community.
This is disheartening for many reasons, not the least of which would be that it is written that the world will know we are His disciples by our love for one another. If even unholy secular humanists exercise concern for other human beings that co-exist with them on their homesteads, what does our testimony of anti-social behavior really say about us if we aren't seeking to love our neighbor and especially those of the household of faith in a public way? What does it profit? "Do not even publicans do the same?" I digress..
With regard to a patriarchal online church, such a church could have a blended eldership representing both [Messianic] Jewish and Gentile perspectives, and exist for the purpose of mutual edification, wise counsel, and yes (gasp) accountability. They could stand in the gaps to clarify doctrines, resolve disputes and disciple patriarchs. With a composite group of qualified elders, the spirit of Romans 11 could also be fulfilled in a way that virtually every church today can't: there seem to be virtually no modern day mixtures of wild and natural branches where Messianic Jews and Gentiles worship together (pun intended).
Prophetic Reasons
There are even prophetic reasons (for those of you so inclined) to strongly consider such a proposal:
How is it that we find ourselves in a community where many folks esteem Hebrew Roots and yet take lightly that which by inspiration was specifically written to the Hebrews? Or how is it that there are entire ministries being founded today based on a prophecy referencing polygyny, and yet these same contrarian champions may forsake the assembling of ourselves together?
I do not write this with a critical spirit, but rather to provoke you to love and good works. Please pray about this and consider it carefully.
The Separation Paradox
There also seem to be two different things at play here. The folks who stand apart from the church criticize it as diseased. Yet Paul's counsel was never for the faithful, orthodox members of the Corinthian church to depart from it, to flee. Contrariwise, there was no Scriptural precedent for existing faithfully outside of an institution and not congregating amongst yourselves. Even the Essenes had communities and caves.
So to say "I won't be a part of that unfaithful body" and yet "I won't congregate with any body" seems akin to a type of spiritual auto-immune disorder.
How is it that we have eyes which say to hands they have no need of them? Or how long can an ear, a finger or even a tooth survive apart from the body? If we have been given gifts to edify the body and yet exist apart from the body, do we not steal from the Giver of such good gifts?
Shall those who are not content to be diseased therefore be content to be disordered?
I think these are good things to think on also.
The Churchianity Tension
I understand this community's hostility towards and suspicion of "Churchianity." But at the end of the day, conservatively at least a third of the New Testament is written to churches. If Paul were alive today, many folks on these forums would've never received a letter. It is impossible to obey those who have the rule over you as a patriarchal man when you won't submit to the authority or oversight of another human being. This notion that we can be part of the body and yet live in a way that is happily divorced from it is without any scriptural precedent whatsoever.
A Broader Pattern
For what it's worth, I've observed the same phenomenon in other camps as well. Folks who are intensely evangelistic and regularly go out on the streets to preach are often ostracized from church communities, viewed with suspicion, and find themselves living as pilgrims and pietistic gypsies, traveling from one congregation to another. As time goes on, many of these people accumulate all kinds of curious doctrines, become plagued with repeated divorces, and other things that would disqualify them from just about everything except church discipline.
No doubt many of them mean well, and even began well. But we must pray and ask the Lord for grace to persevere unto the end, and to be numbered among the sheep of His pasture on the Last Day.
Opening the Conversation
I'm open to thoughts, pushback, constructive dialogue, etc. I don't know if something like this has been proposed in the past, but to my mind there would be many benefits, as we all have been given gifts by the Holy Spirit to minister one to another as part of the mystical Body of Christ.
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