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Fredericksburg Christian Fellowship
Articles of Association
for
Fredericksburg Christian Fellowship
Fredericksburg, Texas
Church Leadership
Elders:Bob Welch
Pac Hamblen
Tom Proch
Deacons:Luke BeckerBill Draving
Cody CarnettMike Jumes
Prestone Cone
Article I ...... Type, Name, and Place of Association p 3
Article II ...... Statement of Purpose and Goals p 3
Article III...... Doctrinal Statement and Position Papersp 4
Article IV...... Sacraments p 5
Article V...... Church Governmentp 12
Article VI...... Membershipp 15
Article VII...... Church Officersp 19
Article VIII...... Business Transactions/Usage Restrictions p 20
Article IX...... Voluntary Dissolutionp 21
Attachment 1…………….1689London Baptist Confession of Faithp 22
Attachment 2…………….Statement on Biblical Inerrancy p 54
Attachment 3…………….The Essential Doctrines of the Faith p 57
Attachment 4…………….Divorce and Remarriage p 59
Attachment 5………….…Biblical Manhood and Womanhood p 75
Attachment 6………….…Convictions of Personal Conscience p 77
Attachment 7……………Modest Dress for Christian Women p 82
Attachment 8……………Congregational Music p 85
ARTICLE I
Type, Name, and Place of Association: The association is a Christian church named, "Fredericksburg Christian Fellowship" which began meeting in Fredericksburg, Texas on June 15, 2003, under the pastoral leadership of Bob Welch and Bill Busshaus.
ARTICLE II
Statement of Purpose: Stated in its simplest fashion, our purpose is to glorify God; to give living testimony of the reality of God in Christ Jesus. The church is the body of which Christ Himself is the Head. We, as a local expression of that body, desire to be a physical, visible demonstration of the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Statement of goals: In light of the fact that only Christ Himself, as Head, can fulfill the above purpose, we seek Him, as members of His body, to direct us toward the following goals.
1. To fully acknowledge and come under the sole authority of Christ, the Head. Ephesians 1:22-23, Colossians 1:18, Colossians 2:18-19
2. To seek in all aspects of our individual and corporate life to be pleasing to Him, even as Christ always does that which is pleasing to the Father. John 8:29, II Corinthians 5:9
3. To experience the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit by yielding our wills in obedience to the Holy Scriptures in all matters of faith and practice. John 17:17, II Timothy 3:16-17
4. To seek to the edification of the Body of Christ by instruction in sound doctrine, and through the equipping and oversight provided by biblically qualified leaders. Ephesians 4:11-12, Titus 1:9, I Peter 4:10
5. To pray the Lord of the harvest to send us into His harvest to preach the gospel, and make disciples. Matthew 9:37-38, Matthew 28:18-20
6. To maintain a simple, reverent worship based in spiritual truth
which does not conform to the image of this world, but rather to the image of Christ. John 4:24, Matthew 15:9, Romans 12:1-2, Philippians 3:3
7. To demonstrate to all men, especially to the body of Christ, that same selfless love that we have received in Christ.
Galatians 6:10, Romans 13:8-10, I John 4:7-11
ARTICLE III
Fredericksburg Christian Fellowship
Doctrinal Statements
and
Position Papers
ARTICLE IV SACRAMENTS
We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ instituted two church ordinances, or sacraments. These are: The Lord’s Supper; and Baptism. It is a sad fact of history that much blood has been shed amongst Christians over these two issues. The following pages lay out what we believe and why we believe it. It is our earnest prayer that the Lord allow us to handle the scriptures accurately with regards to these ordinances.
THE LORD’S SUPPER
PART ONE: THE VARIOUS TERMS USED
THE AGAPE:
Jude 1:12 These men are those who are hidden reefs in your love feasts (agape) when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted.
Most likely taken from the form of the Passover meal coupled with the communion service. A large meal where the needs of the poor were also met.
BREAKING OF BREAD:
Matt. 14:19 And ordering the multitudes to recline on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave to the multitudes.
Luke 24:29-30, 35 And they urged Him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over." And He went in to stay with them. 30 And it came about that when He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them . . . 35 And they began to relate their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.
Acts 2:42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Acts 2:46 And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,
Acts 20:7 And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to depart the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.
Acts 27:34-36 "Therefore I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your preservation; for not a hair from the head of any of you shall perish." 35 And having said this, he took bread and gave thanks (eucharisteo) to God in the presence of all; and he broke it and began to eat. 36 And all of them were encouraged, and they themselves also took food.
I Cor. 10:16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
The problem with trying to draw any normative practice from this term is that it was used both of the communion service and eating a meal together. Some have tried to use Acts 2:42 for weekly communion, but Rome has used 2:46 for daily communion! Secondly, the context of 2:46 seems to have “breaking bread” to mean “taking their meals together”. Others have made an attempt at using 20:7 to establish weekly communion, other interpreters have used it to support seasonal communion as the context is the first Sunday after the feast of unleavened bread.
LORD’S SUPPER:
Only found in I Corinthians 11:20 “Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord'sSupper.” The Greek word is deipnon meaning banquet or supper. Same as in 11:25 “In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."
EUCHARIST: From the Greek eu= good and charis=grace; recognizing the good grace of God. Historically derived from the giving of thanks before the distribution of the bread and wine. Adopted into the English
Matt. 15:36 and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples in turn, to the multitudes.
Luke 22:17 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, "Take this and share it among yourselves;
COMMUNION: From Greek = koinonia, to share or have fellowship
I Cor. 10:16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
CONCLUSION TO PART ONE: All the terms are good, with the possible exception of “the agape” as it never meant the bread and the cup, but the feast enjoined to them. The breaking of bread emphasizes only the single element. Eucharist is good if understood merely as the “thanksgiving”. Communion from I Cor.10:16 or Lord’s Supper from 11:20 seem best inasmuch as they carry less man-made baggage.
PART TWO: ITS MEANING
A BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Pretty much every idea about communion can be traced to either the Catholic view of transubstantiation developed in the 1200s by Aquinas, or one of three ideas that came out of the Reformation. Those three ideas came from Martin Luther, Huldrich Zwingli, and John Calvin.
Here is Martin Luther’s idea. The bread really is the Body of Christ. It is the Body of Christ because the Bible says it is the Body of Christ.But it is a mystery.Any attempt to use the philosophy of Aristotle (as Aquinas attempted to do) to explain God’s mysterious sacrament is misguided.
Zwingli was actually the first to establish a non-roman (thus reformed) view of communion. He contended strongly against Luther at the Marburg Colloquy which actually cost him his life. Zwingli said that when Jesus took the bread in his hand and said “this is my body,” he was speaking symbolically based on John 6, “the flesh profits nothing”. What he was really saying was, “This bread represents my body—remember me when you eat the bread together.” (The actual presence was at the heart of the Marburg Colloquy)
Calvin, trying to find a middle ground between Luther and Zwingli, said that when you swallow the bread you are indeed swallowing bread. But he emphasized the actual communion with the ever-living Christ by the Holy Spirit. In His Consensus Tigurinus (1549) he writes, Article 6. “The spiritual communion which we have with the Son of God takes place when he, dwelling in us by his Spirit, makes all who believe capable of all the blessings which reside in him.” And Article 17. “The Sacraments Do Not Confer Grace”
SACRAMENT, ORDINANCE, OR MEMORIAL?(Its meaning depends somewhat on this)
In the early 3rd century, Tertullian, the first Latin theologian, translated the Greek word musterion ("mystery") by the Latin sacramentum, which in pre-Christian use denoted a pledge of future performance, as in oath of loyalty taken by soldiers to their commander; emphasis fell on the thing that was given in pledge. In the Christian case, the word sacrament came to focus attention on the water of baptism and on the bread and wine .
In addition, the term sacrament began to mean a method by which the grace of God was infused. It was limited to distribution by an ordained clergy. Thus, grace was dispensed at the hands of clergymen not God. The gross errors of Rome display how afar one can go when things are changed from their Biblical simplicity. Soon Rome viewed it as a daily sacrifice; “the unbloody recrucifixion of Christ”.The Lord’s supper and communion are never called sacraments in the Bible not even mysteries.
If, on the other hand, by sacrament, we mean an outward sign of grace already received, or a channel by which God gives grace to those exercising the obedience of faith, then it too is not a bad word. But we much prefer using Biblical terms whenever possible.
Ordinance is found throughout The OT and is used generally in the NT: Rom. 13:2 Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God. Heb. 9:1 Now even the first covenant had regulations (same word as Rom.1:32) of divine worship.
Websters:Something ordained by a deity as a prescribed practice or ceremony.
It is not limited to Baptism or the Lord’s supper, but inasmuch as both are ordered by the Lord Jesus they are indeed ordinances, but of a ceremonial nature.
As we will see when we get to the texts themselves, “Do this in remembrance of me” is clearly the purpose given by Christ Himself and confirmed by apostolic authority. Secondly this coincides best with the historical foreshadowing:
Ex. 12:14 Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.
Luke 22:19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."
I Cor.11 23-25 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 11:24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 11:25 In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."
CONCLUSION TO PART TWO: The Lord’s supper —similar to the Passover— is best understood as an ordinance given for the purpose of remembering the sacrificial and substitutionary death of Christ, the Lamb of God, our Passover. The bread represents His body which was broken for us. The cup represents the blood—His life— which was given for us. When we partake we remember His death and confess our vital union (communion) with Him as a result of His work.
PART THREE:FREQUENCY
AUGUSTINE sums up the matter thus: "Some receive the Body and Blood of the Lord every day; others on certain days; in some places there is no day on which the Sacrifice is not offered; in others on Saturday and Sunday only; in others on Sunday alone.
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: In the Middle Ages, Communion was less frequent than at any other period of the Church's history. The Fourth Lateran Council compelled the faithful, under pain of excommunication, to receive at least once a year. The Poor Clares, by rule, communicated six times a year; the Dominicanesses, fifteen times; the Third Order of St. Dominic, four times. Even saints received rarely: St. Louis six times a year, St. Elizabeth only three times. The Council of Trent (1645-1663) "Let not the faithful deem it enough to receive the Body of the Lord once a year only; but let them judge that Communion ought to be more frequent; but whether it be more expedient that it should be monthly, weekly, or daily, can be decided by no fixed universal rule"
PHILIP SCHAFF: HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH (concerning Zwingli in Zurich) The first celebration of the communion after the Reformed usage was held in the Holy Week of April, 1525, in the Great Minster. The communicants were seated around long tables, which took the place of the altar, the men on the right, the women on the left. They then received in a kneeling posture the sacred emblems in wooden plates and wooden cups. The whole service was a commemoration of Christ’s atoning death and a spiritual communion with him, according to the theory of Zwingli.The communion service was to be held four times in the year,—at Easter, Whitsunday, autumn, and Christmas. It was preceded by preparatory devotions, and made a season of special solemnity. (Luther never questioned frequency at Marburg)
CALVIN:Ecclesiastical Ordinances (1541) Article 6. The Lord’s Supper is to be administered every month in one of the Churches, and at Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas. The elements must be distributed reverently by the ministers and deacons. None is to be admitted before having been instructed in the catechism and made a profession of his faith.
The Register of the Company of Pastors of Geneva in the Time of Calvin. (1546) Since the supper was instituted by our Lord for a frequent use, and since also it was so observed in the ancient Church until the devil overturned everything, setting up the mass in its place, to celebrate it so seldom is a fault requiring correction. For the present, however, we have decided and ordered that it should be administered four times a year, namely, at Christmas, Easter, Whitsun, and on the first Sunday of September in the autumn.
On 20 November 1561 a new version of the Ecclesiastical Ordinances was adopted. The only amendment made was that the Lord’s Supper would no longer be administered on Christmas, but on the Sunday closest to that day. The celebration on Easter, Pentecost, and the first Sunday of September would be maintained.
John Knox first book of discipline 1560 (9th head, concerning the policy of the church) Four times in the year we think sufficient to the administration of the Lord's Table, which we desire to be distinct, that the superstition of times may be avoided so far as may be . . . We think therefore most expedient, that the first Sunday of March be appointed for one ; the first Sunday of June for another; the first Sunday of September for the third; and the first Sunday of December for the fourth. We do not deny but that any several church, for reasonable causes, may change the time, and may minister ofter; but we study to suppress superstition.
National Synod of (held in 1618 and 1619) and accepted as a concord of ecclesiastic community by the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands: Third Head - Of the Doctrine, Sacraments, and Other Ceremonies
Article 63 The Lordly Supper shall be administered once every two months, wherever possible, and it will be edifying that it take place at Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas where the circumstances of the Church permit.
CONCLUSION TO PART THREE: Two thoughts; 1) Church History has showed great diversity with reference to frequency of communion displaying that 2) Christian leaders have not seen a Scriptural absolute. In light of this we have chosen to remember our Lord’s death ‘seasonally’. By this we mean that we will choose certain times during the year when we believe the remembrance will be appropriate and significant.