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Friends United
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March/April 2010
Gospel Order and Accountability
By Johan Maurer
… He has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:9-10)
If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them. (Matthew 18:15-20)
Do you uphold the standards of Friends? Are you careful in appointing officers and Sunday school teachers, in calling pastors and special speakers, in sending out missionaries and recording ministers, to see that they are in harmony with the principles of Friends as stated in the Faith and Practice? (Northwest Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice, Query 8)
There was once a Friends meeting which had a prominent professional man as one of its informal leaders. He was nearly at retirement age, so he’d been a weighty Friend in that meeting for many years.
There was just one problem: he had a sharp tongue. He was notorious for his stage whispers during monthly meeting. Two groups in particular were targets for his wit: newcomers and women in leadership. For example, a newcomer asked a question during meeting for business — something we always hope will happen. They’re truly interested! Stage whisper, “He doesn’t know that by now?” Another time they were talking about the job description for one of the pastoral interns. Stage whisper, “I suppose she expects to be paid for that.”
When people complained, they were told one of two things: The complainers were too sensitive — in other words, the victims were the problem — or that this Friend was an important and weighty member of the community, and furthermore his wife was a kind person whose feelings must not be hurt. So, if someone complained, it was implied, the offender would become the victim! For a long time, nobody seemed to point out that the victim and offender roles were being reversed, or that it might actually be a kindness to point out to this member that he was hurting people, and give him a chance to show that this was not his intention. However, eventually someone pressed the issue, and it came to the elders.
For some in this Friends’ meeting, that was the moment when Gospel order stopped being an ideal, a nice Quaker cliché, and became an operational reality. As a well-known phrase in Quakerese, “Gospel order” can be a brick in the linguistic wall that we Friends, just like any other group with a long history, can set up that unintentionally ends up keeping others at a distance. But the actual concept is of crucial importance in understanding the spirituality of Friends in community.
George Fox, whose preaching and writing and community organizing back in the 1600s got our movement started, put Gospel order firmly in the context of the power and name of Christ. In 1656, he wrote,
I charge you in the Presence of the Living God, dwell in his Power, that with his Power ye may be carried along to minister to all the Spirits Imprisoned by the Deceit. ... So, in the Power of the Lord Jesus Christ preach the Everlasting Gospel, that by his Power the Sick may be healed, the Leprous cleansed, the Dead raised, the Blind Eyes opened, and the Devils cast out. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ go on, that that of God in all Consciences may witness, that ye are sent of God, and are of God; and so according to that speak, to bring up all into the Head Christ, and into the Life, which gave forth the Scriptures; for there’s the Unity, and out of it is the Confusion.
The simplest definition of Gospel order is that our lives as disciples and as a Church reflects the presence of the Lord in our midst. In other words, our decisions and actions reflect our trust in this reality, and that this trusting obedience brings us into unity, and this unity results in confrontations with the author of confusion, and results in powerful ministry that in turn results in healing and liberation.
This is a lovely picture, but those of you who’ve grown up in the church know that the church is primarily populated by human beings, who have an infinite variety of ways of falling out of unity with each other. Not only don’t I behave in ways that you want me to, not only do you behave in ways I don’t want you to, but the ways we complain about each other’s behavior usually adds to the problem and takes away from the church’s unity. Matthew’s Gospel, in the section of Chapter 18 we’ve already heard, sets out how we’re supposed to deal with differences among us and with reports that we hear about each other. There’s nothing sentimental or abstract. Nothing should be alleged to third parties until the complainer has dealt directly with the offender. If that fails, then return with two or three others, privately, as George Fox emphasized in his commentaries on Matthew 18. For example, listen to the lovely commentary he wrote in 1669:
If there happen any difference between Friend and Friend, let them speak to one another; and, if they will not hear, let them take two or three of the meeting they belong to, that they may end it, if they can. And if they cannot end it, then it may be laid before the Monthly Meeting. And if it cannot be ended there, then it may be brought to the Quarterly Meeting, and there let it be put to half a dozen Friends, that they may end it, that they may keep their meetings quiet.
Or, they that are at difference, may choose three Friends, and Friends may choose three more to them, and let them stand to their judgment: for there are few, that love quietness and peace, who will have their names brought to a Monthly or Quarterly Meeting, to have their names sounded over the country, that they are in strife; but will rather endeavor to end it among themselves or at their own meeting, before that they come to the Monthly Meeting.
. . .
And all such as behold their brother or sister in a transgression, do not go in a rough, light, or upbraiding spirit, to reprove or admonish him or her, but in the power of the Lord, and spirit of the Lamb, and in the wisdom and love of the truth, which suffers thereby, to admonish such an offender. So may the soul of such a brother or sister be seasonably and effectually reached unto and overcome, and they may have cause to bless the name of the Lord on their behalf, and so a blessing may be rewarded into the bosom of that faithful and tender brother or sister that so admonished them.
Matthew’s Gospel and George Fox’s commentaries presuppose that these offenses occur among people who have roughly equivalent amounts of power, or the offenses involve a person’s public behavior that threatens the reputation of the church. When one person has power and control over another, the victim may not be at all in a position to confront the abuser privately. In the church, that’s what the elders are for — to provide the safety and healing that’s essential to keeping trust and obedience real. For anyone who has been betrayed, trust remains a nice abstraction until you — the church community — do what it takes to provide that healing and create that safety. That’s why the elders of that meeting with the sharp-tongued member could no longer dodge the issue. They appointed a pair of people who spoke with him, and he was also required to give up his church responsibilities for a season.
I love how Fox talks about the spirit in which we deal with offenders — “in the power of the Lord, and spirit of the Lamb, and in the wisdom and love of the truth.” That instruction to act “in the power of God” reflects how Gospel order constantly links back to the cosmic context, God’s purpose of unity in heaven and on earth. Just as the offender threatens that unity, a half-baked or politicized remedy may also threaten it.
Early Friends understood their structure, their organizational chart, as reflecting the unity desired by God. The church is simply the people who’ve put their lives in God’s hands, who’ve experienced God’s forgiveness and now live together to keep themselves and each other in that Godly unity, with Jesus himself as the only head of the church. Let’s do a reality check — is there any other reason to meet together as we do every Sunday morning, meet monthly for business, give our money, serve on committees and educate our children? In pursuing this simple vision of the church, early Friends didn’t set up a hierarchy or priestly caste — all leadership is functional and accountable, based on spiritual gifts of the leaders and the needs of the group. So, for example, Fox says,
And now, that Monthly and Quarterly Meetings of two or three out of every particular meeting of true and faithful Friends are set up, and kept in the most convenient place in the middle of your county, you may know in your meetings of the wants and necessities of all Friends, whether in bonds, or out, widows or fatherless, or aged people, their necessities being looked into, and everyone feeling one another’s condition; this keeps in tenderness and love, as a family; and nothing being lacking among you, then all is well, every want and necessity being supplied. And by this, one meeting may be serviceable to another in outward things, for that is the least love; and by this you may come into the practice of the pure religion, which is to relieve the widows, strangers, fatherless, and helpless. … Now concerning them that do go to the Quarterly Meeting, they must be substantial Friends, that can give a testimony of your sufferings, and how things are among you in every particular meeting. (Epistle 264)
Here the call is not for people of power, but of knowledge, perspective and tenderness, to represent the local circle of disciples to the wider circles of regional and yearly meetings and beyond, so that our unity can be based not on forms or churchy happy-talk but on a true picture of the progress and needs of the church. And always, as Fox says, “… let the authority of your men and women’s meetings be in the power of God; for every heir of the power has right to that authority, and in it keep the King of kings and Lord of lords’ peace in his church. … And the least member in the church has an office, and is serviceable; and every member has need one of another.”
Now we can see why Fox saw Matthew 18:15-20 as one continuous teaching. It’s not that verses 15 through 17, the part about responding to offenses, are rules for discipline, and 18 through 20 about the earthly-heavenly linkage when two or three are gathered, is abstract piety. The body that ministers in accountability is the body that meets together with the authority that comes from the power of God. With that authority, everyone who listens to Jesus’ teachings can permit or forbid or make requests to God for the good of the church. We can call and support pastors, knowing that they help us stay accessible and on course as a church. We hold them accountable for a truthful witness to our beliefs and practices and for their part in extending the hospitality of the church. They hold us accountable for living in accordance with what we claim to believe!
So Gospel order means we live as disciples and as a church with Jesus at the center, in a unity of faith and practice, in a unity of heaven and earth. It turns from theory to practice, not just when we look for accountability in conflict, but also in the very ways we organize ourselves, relate to civil authority, choose our leaders and deploy our missionaries. Certainly, we know we’re bound to stumble sometimes. But when we do, our Christ-centered Quaker community of ministers can be spiritually prepared to administer a Gospel-order vision of accountability: suffering with us, creating safety, rebuilding trust and restoring unity.
Johan Maurer served as FUM general secretary and Quaker Life editor from 1993–2000. He is currently serving in Elektrostal, Russia, with his wife, Judy. Visit them online at www.maurers.org.