Horton Hears a Who
October 8, 2011
Instead of a Reading Reflection, I thought I would give a short conference reflection. The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals put on a conference in Bethesda, MD titled, What is the Church? Michael Horton, Greg Gilbert, and Robert Norris were the speakers. This subject seems simple, but what people are claiming church is these days can be pretty scary.
So, what is it? Is it the building we meet in on Sunday mornings? Or is church more about the people, no matter where they are or how they worship? Horton pointed out that Abel represented the first true church, offering God both the required thank offering and sacrificial offering. On the other hand, Cain was our first antichrist—the first persecutor of the church (he also jokingly called him the first protestant liberal who didn’t think he needed an atoning sacrifice). Horton defined the church as both a people and a place (and has written a great book on this titled People and Place). You cannot be one of those who claim to be a Christian who does not “do” church. He said, “To be united to Christ (the temple) is to be united to his body (the church).” Throughout his two talks, Horton emphasized that the church comes by promise. “It is a place where God is at work…we come to be served by God in Christ through the ministry of the sacraments.”
The whole conference was wonderful and I am being very brief (because I’m very tired!) But, I’ll add one thing that Norris said that goes with this small part I shared, “We cannot not love what Christ loves and God has purposed.” Amen to that.
**If you happen to be in the DC area, Christ Reformed Church is having a free conference throughout the next two weeks. Michael Horton kicks things off tomorrow morning (the 9th), for the service. The theme of the conference is Christianity & Politics. They will be having some good speakers, but I have to give a special whoop, whoop for David VanDrunen who will be there Thursday, 10/20, at 7:00 pm. RSVP and updates at Facebook/ChristReformedDC.
