Basis of the Society Article 9  

Belief that there is a distinction between the various visible Churches of Christendom and the one mystical Church of God which consists of all who are born again of the Spirit of God.

This is being written at a time when once again what we believe and then how we behave is hugely important both for Christians and the world to whom we bring the wonderful news of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Article 9 delineates a significant distinction between the visible churches, (many around the world at least professing some form of Christian faith) and the invisible Church of Christ composed of those who have been born again. 

Regular attendance at any church, however sound in doctrine, is no guarantee of being welcomed into Christ’s presence at the last. Article 29 of the 39 Articles puts it: “The wicked and those who lack a living faith, although they physically and visibly ‘press with their teeth’ the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, nevertheless are in no way partakers of Christ”. Jesus acknowledged that there would be weeds amongst the wheat until the harvest time when the weeds would be burned and the wheat gathered into his barn (Matthew 13). The Church on earth is always ‘a mixed body’ (St Augustine). We may be fooled by others, or fool both ourselves and others, but the invisible Church is completely visible to God. 

The mission implications are evident. In the early days of BCMS, the Emperor of Ethiopia invited the Society to help ‘arouse the Ethiopian Christians’ of the Orthodox Church. We were to work among the visible churches to ‘stimulate this ancient church to carry out the task of evangelisation’: to work for reformation and revival of Christians and the consequent reaching of the nation. We still do. 

Finally, notice the term ‘Christendom’, referring to that portion of the world where Christianity prevails. For centuries we interpreted this as Europe and the Americas. Could we apply that label to Britain and Ireland today? Yes, the visible churches continue (mostly in decline), but are we all genuine partakers of Christ? So Crosslinks is concerned to stimulate our ancient churches to revival and evangelism through ventures like the Manchester and Sheffield plants. 

The geographic centre of Christendom, based on where Christians live, is currently somewhere between Timbuktu (in Muslim Mali) and Northern Nigeria, and is heading South at around19 km per year. This is bound to affect the way God’s mission is conducted. “It is the task of the elect (of God, wherever we are found) to make the invisible church visible.” RC Sproul. 

Crosslinks magazine July 2005 index