To my brothers and sisters, kept by the Holy Spirit and delivered from the evil one, grace and peace to you.
Recently, I shared with you about “the conservatism of the Gospel” and encouraged you to consider the values you long to conserve in this church. I requested you create a blueprint for a conservative church, considering our statement of faith; teaching from the pulpit; vision and journey of this church; and distinctive doctrines of our denomination.
I thank the Lord that several brothers have sent me their carefully considered lists of conservative values. Today, I want to share my list with you. However, before I proceed, I’d like to share two things.
First, last week at the airport customs, “border security” stopped me from leaving the country. They took me to the police station, and in that hour and a half, I sang nearly ten psalms. Except I realized I couldn’t remember all the lyrics to several of them. Panic gripped my heart because I still recalled Psalm 119: “I have stored up your word in my heart.” I realized how ill-prepared I was. If someone ever imprisoned me without a Bible or hymnal, how could beautiful words flow from my heart, and how could God’s grace through praise nourish me? So, I have resolved that before the winter sets in, I will memorize at least 100 psalms and hymns of Scripture. This experience also made me keenly aware that all conservative Christian culture is built on trust in, worship of, familiarity with, and love for the Word of God. No matter what kind of conservative church we envision, if in our daily lives the Word of God is scarce, vague, and uncertain, then we are not conservative Christians, but modern ones.
Second, this week, my colleagues and I finished editing two small hymnals. One is the Hymns of the Cross, a selection of 123 hymns from the history of the universal church and the Chinese house church. These hymns focus on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, no matter what kind of conservative church we envision, if its culture is not intensely focused on the cross of Christ, then we are not conserving anything worthwhile. In Galatians 6:14, Paul declares that he only boasts in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; through it and it alone, he has been crucified to the world and the world to him.
This slim hymnal is not only for next Friday evening’s “Praise Revival” and “Theology of the Cross: National Day Retreat” but also for regular use in church and at home. The cross is the cornerstone of all conservative church culture. Through the cross, conservatism and modernity are overturned, while the new birth and old self are
overturned and affirmed anew. Who would crucify this beautiful world if not for the cross? Who would be crucified by this world’s overwhelming powers and principalities?
The other hymnal is a selection of 265 short hymns based on Scripture. This single-volume edition, long in the planning, was originally intended for the School to promote family worship. Through last week’s experience at the police station, the Lord urged me to complete this task as soon as possible. I could therefore encourage everyone to strive to know and sing these precious verses, believers, families, and small groups alike. For to be conservative means to conserve the Word of the Lord; or rather, to be conserved by the Word of the Lord.
Finally, before outlining the values of a conservative church, I would like to propose two principles to help us distinguish between what I previously called “cultural conservatism” and “Gospel conservatism.”
The main principle is to differentiate the “Gospel” from its application. Any church culture, once formed, is in danger of becoming an enemy of the Gospel. For example, the Gospel did, to a large extent, shape modern Western civilization. But for many missionaries who came to China (especially those who came in the late 19th and early 20th centuries), they largely equated the “Gospel” with “Western civilization.” This led them to become missionaries of both the Gospel and Western civilization. There is a similar misconception among American evangelicals today. Many equate the Gospel with the Western free-market system. They imagine their own conservatism and adherence to a certain culture as conservatism towards the Gospel itself.
There is also this tendency within reformed churches. For example, we prefer traditional hymns because, on the whole, they have been sifted and tested by time. Their infusion with the Gospel and the Word of God surpasses that of modern hymns. Strictly speaking, we love traditional hymns because we love the Bible; we love the Gospel, not because our musical palate, style, and so-called taste (this is a tricky thing; once you mention taste, people will staunchly defend their own) have been sculpted and fixed in a certain cultural form. Once, I was in a rural church and heard them sing Scripture verses in a very traditional Chinese tune, probably a folk style from Henan or Shandong. According to my “taste,” I did not love the tune, but I loved the Word of God, and I loved those who loved the Word of God. So the Lord moved me, and in that experience, my musical taste was deeply broken. It thrilled me to hear the Word of God being sung, and I released my attachment to cultural forms.
My point is that distinguishing between the “Gospel” and the “application of the Gospel” is the primary skill of conservatism. Otherwise, we will fall into cultural conservatism, focusing our eyes, passions, and prejudices too much on those external, relative, transient, and eternally worthless forms, and become cultural legalists.
The second principle is to focus on the distinction between “church” and “world,” rather than on denominational differences within the church. reformed church conservatism opposes the world, not Baptists or any other denominations. A properly conservative view of the church is one that, for the sake of the Gospel mission, manifests our identity as belonging to Christ in this fallen world. It should not be manifesting our unique identity in theology and church culture within the church. Within the church, we certainly have our own unique identity. For example, as Presbyterians, we hold that infant baptism is precious and important. But this does not constitute the core of our conservative view of the church. This distinction lies not in the world, but in our disagreements with fellow godly brothers. Direct the church’s conservatism outward, not inward towards our brothers. Essentially, the church’s conservatism represents the initial level in the spiritual battle against the world. It should not be about insisting on the correctness of a certain theology and church tradition within the church.
At level one, we must be warriors. At level two, we must be gentlemen. Whoever knows how to distinguish between these two levels is what C.S. Lewis called a Christian knight, courageous and gentle. My point is that we will certainly have our own theological and ecclesiastical stances on the second level. However, it should not define us. Our insistence on the first level should be the most prominent label on us.
Now, I can briefly list these values of a conservative church. They have a Bible-based, cross-focused, Gospel-centric, emphasizing church-world distinction. I will only list them without elaborating; I hope to have opportunities to share with you in more detail why I believe these values are consistent with the four characteristics and principles of Gospel conservatism mentioned above.
1. Conviction in, conservation of, and love for the inerrancy of Scripture. The Bible is God’s power, the foundation, and standard of knowledge.
2. The belief in God’s justice and love governing everything in the world.
3. The belief that Christ’s blood sufficiently atones for all sins. We believe that the grace of redemption comes absolutely from God Himself and only through the cross of Christ.
4. The belief in the total depravity of human nature. We believe that the world and its cultures are in a state of enmity with God and are constantly and ultimately moving towards destruction.
5. The belief in the last days and the final judgment. We believe that believers have the responsibility and privilege to renew culture with the Gospel. Only the Lord Jesus’ second coming can bring about the renewal of the entire universe—a supernatural upheaval.
6. Belief in the necessity of Christian education. We believe the covenant community has the responsibility and privilege using the Bible as foundation, with the Gospel at its core. They are to educate people about God, themselves, and the world.
7. Belief that everyone has a responsibility to trust in Christ and repent to God. We believe every believer has the responsibility and privilege to witness to Christ and spread the Gospel through their life’s work and existence.
8. Belief that eternal life is higher than this life, and that the freedom of the soul is higher than the needs of the flesh.
9. Belief that the church is the center of God’s will and the history of the world. We believe that community is greater than the individual, responsibility is higher than rights, and submission to authority is higher than personal insistence.
10. Belief that suffering and persecution are the way of the believer in following Christ in this life. We believe that the mark of the cross is the way for believers to manifest and witness to the power of Christ’s resurrection in this life. That forgiveness and endurance are our duty to love God and our neighbor.
11. Belief that the Bible prescribes the way we worship God. We believe that the church has the responsibility and privilege to conduct solemn, reverent, and vibrant public worship.
12. Belief that the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week, should be set apart from
13. the world. On that day, let us cease all work and entertainment, devoting ourselves to rest and the worship of God.
14. Belief in the one-man, one-woman, lifelong covenant of marriage. We oppose fornication and all extramarital sexual relations and are convinced that believers should not be unequally yoked with unbelievers in marriage.
15. Belief that men and women have equal status and dignity in life, but that, based on God’s creation and redemption, men and women have different roles and functions. We believe God has chosen brothers to be the spiritual leaders of the human community, both in marriage and in the church.
16. Belief that all sexual relations outside of marriage are fornication and are hated by God. We believe everyone has a responsibility to maintain premarital purity and marital fidelity.
Ultimately, the two greatest crises in the universal church today are the crisis of the Gospel – what kind of Lord do we believe in? – and the crisis of the way – what kind of path do we take? Our answer to the first question is, “Christ is Lord, grace reigns.” Our answer to the second: “Take up your cross and revive the Gospel.” The conservative church values listed above are a concrete manifestation of our belief in the Gospel and
our adherence to the way. The conservative church values are Christ’s gift, promise, mission, and task in the world.
What kind of Gospel determines what kind of way we go. Our chosen path shapes our culture. I hope the core values of the Gospel will shape the culture of this church above all. I hope you will learn to distinguish these core values from other derivative values, from second- or third-order doctrinal positions, and from external forms of church culture. So that all our lives, actions, and existence may be focused on Christ Jesus and the Gospel of His crucifixion.
Your servant, who desires to “be at peace with one another, and strive to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” with you,
Wang Yi, September 23, 2017
