As any regular attender knows, church is a messy business. God meant well, we admit, but painful divisions and disappointing imperfections seem to jam the gears at every turn. Perhaps church is not really so necessary after all, we think. Perhaps God made a mistake. Yet in spite of all her shortcomings, God has an important plan for his Bride. Such is the message of Todd Neuschwander’s new book, The Mystery and Glory of the Church.
Readers familiar with the Informer will recognize Neuschwander as the current Chairman of the FCM. He also serves as Moderator of the Biblical Mennonite Alliance, evangelist for Gospel Echoes prison ministry, and pastor of his home church in Indiana. Though now a prominent leader in conservative Mennonite circles, Neuschwander describes his own circuitous journey with church – from idealism, to disillusionment, to realistic appreciation. He suggests that we should resist temptation to idolize the church or abandon it, but instead see it as “heavenly perfection expressed imperfectly through broken people who challenge us to grow to maturity.”
Just as God, though all-sufficient, created a woman to be Adam’s companion; so to, Neuschwander says, God has established the church as the agency of his spiritual blessings. The heart of book centers on the first chapter, “The Mystery of the Church,” which refers to Paul’s words in Ephesians 3. The church is God’s display before the world, and even before the angels and demons “the mystery that the gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives.”
The subsequent chapters all deal with how that heavenly truth plays out in earthly reality. So many aspects of church – from baptism, to local membership, to sanctification – parallel what God has already done in heaven. It is “in the context of relationships” that the “fruit of the Spirit is developed.” The local church is full of real life, real people, real relationships – and that takes work. “There is the glory of the church, because Jesus fills the church, but then there’s the fact that someone needs to mop the floor after fellowship dinner.”
Neuschwander applies scripture and early church history to lay some guidelines for healthy churches. Healthy churches “don’t sweep problems under the carpet,” they emphasize “preaching that exposes the Word,” they pray, they fellowship. Healthy churches use their God-given authority to advance the kingdom, administer the ordinances, analyze the issues, and account for its members. A healthy church body exists to “represent Christ who lives in this body.”
It’s always nice to see a well-reasoned, well-written book from within the conservative Anabaptist movement. This book is a short read and a good reminder “that we experience the presence of Christ in the context of the body that we cannot experience merely as individuals.”