Who We Are...
1KINGS 19:9-18
The Quiet Church is a ministry for the disillusioned, disenfranchised, & deconstructed. Those who long for the body, but feel like they don't fit in the modern expression.
Core Beliefs
Core Beliefs
I believe in Critical Narrative Inerrancy over Total Biblical Inerrancy. In practice, this means God’s intended message is perfectly and reliably captured and conveyed through the Scriptures, and that the canon of Scripture holds a primary position over all other peripheral texts with regard to the narrative of Creation, Christ, and Christian living.
I do not believe that every line of text is perfectly translated, every account is perfectly and accurately recorded, or that there are no additions or alterations to the text from its original form. However, I also do not believe that these errors or additions substantively change the overall critical narrative, and are equivalent to three people telling a story about a car running off the road.
One person says, “The car ran off the road,” another says, “A deer ran in front of the car and the car swerved off the road,” and the third says, “A car suddenly lost control and flipped six times into a ditch.” The critical narrative is that the car went off the road and wrecked; the other details do not have to be perfect to convey that point.
In summary: I believe all the crucial information for us to understand who God is, His intentions, and how we ought to respond as a result are perfectly captured and conveyed in what we call the canon of Scripture.
Scripture
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I believe “God” is the source from which all that exists derives its existence, and that He is fundamentally spiritual in nature, choosing to express Himself in creation as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
These expressions are not the same person appearing in different forms or roles, as described by modalism, but are real and eternal personal distinctions within the one divine life. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not disguises or sequential manifestations, but exist in genuine relationship with one another.
While distinct in personhood and relational identity, they share one divine being, one will, and one Spirit, moving in perfect unity without division or competition. Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit are therefore truly distinct, yet inseparable in essence and action.
To my mind, this unity-in-distinction is a divine mystery that Christianity has faithfully confessed but has not fully comprehended and may not fully be comprehendible in this life. What is clear, however, is that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit while expressions of a single mind, are somehow distinct in both personhood and operation.
God
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I believe humanity was created for the purpose of becoming God’s children; however, through deception and sin, we were taken into captivity by an adversary called Satan. To resolve this matter, God sent Jesus, His unique Son, into creation to pay the debt of sin and free humanity from the power of death, the kingdom of darkness, and the law. Through His death and resurrection, we are granted access to a relationship with God the Father, the ability to receive His Spirit, and the choice to become His children through being born again of the Spirit.
I believe Jesus was fully God in Spirit, but allowed Himself to experience the complete and total reality of being a human being, only without a sin nature. This includes experiencing temptation, the frustration of being something more than what you are able to express in this form, along with all of the challenges that attend humanity. After being fully put to the test through His death, He was raised on the third day and granted all authority in heaven and on earth, and now sits at the right hand of the Father, awaiting the time He will return and take possession of His kingdom.
I believe salvation is both the event of being born again (which guarantees our eternity) and the process by which we are freed (saved) from the power of death, the kingdom of darkness, and the law. I believe we initiate and maintain this process by trust (faith) alone, and not by any work, act, or ritual.
This is a very high-level understanding of a nuanced position that cannot be adequately expressed in this format. If you have specific questions about things like predestination, what it means to trust God, once saved always saved, etc., please contact me directly, and I will be happy to clarify my position on anything that I’ve come to a firm position on.
Salvation
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Church
I believe the “Church,” or Ecclesia, is best understood in this way: if you were to gather every believer from past, present, and future into a single location, you would have a full expression of the “body” of Christ, or “Church/Ecclesia.” The purpose of the Church in each epoch is to carry out Jesus’ intentions in that particular time by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Within the “Church,” Jesus has granted spiritual gifts and manifestations for the purpose of equipping the body and building it up in trust and love, so that each person reaches the standard of maturity set by the Messiah. That maturity is expressed in love, which reveals the character of God, and trust, which empowers us to carry out the will of God.
By priority, I believe those called to positions of governance in the Church should prioritize the health of the believers first and foremost, and that reaching unbelievers should be a priority of those who are called to it—but not at the expense of the health of those in the body. This includes diluting teaching and gatherings to be seeker-focused. I believe there is a place for this type of thing, but that place must come second, in the same way helping those outside my home must come second to the health and care of those inside my home.
When the body is healthy, I believe it looks and operates like a family, where everyone takes care of eachother both spiritually and practically. Within this family new believers are raised from infants in their faith to adults, and from there commissioned by the Spirit into the "good works set apart for them in Christ". Those works can include serving the body in what we typically call ministry or governmental equipping functions, or it can be through being strategically placed by the Spirit in the world.
In summary, the head of the body is Christ who organizes his body as he desires to accomplish the things which he desires. Our part is to gather, love, exhort, and build up the local family the Spirit places us in, until by the Spirit the gifts and callings of Jesus begin to emerge. Then our part is to recognize, align with, and support the work God is doing through our local and global family as we individually order our lives by the Spirit.
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