To go forward, we go back

“We go back to the New Testament, therefore, not as antiquarians and not as mere historians, but in the hope of finding hints of vitality of which our time is relatively unaware. We ought not, for example, to speak of recovering the lost provinces, if this means an attempt to return to the pattern of an earlier day, partly because this is an effort which never succeeds. We should speak, instead, of occupying the lost provinces in new and creative ways and of making spiritual strides which no previous generation has known or even imagined. Commitment is never real unless it leads to mission, and the mission of Christians is always one which points forward. If we are to go forward we must rid our minds of accepted ideas of what a true Church is, or ought to be, much as the research scientists of great industries, when they seek to make radical improvements, find it necessary to free their minds of current conceptions of what manufactured products ought to be like.”—Company of the Committed, page 26

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Contrary to what some may believe about me, I am not a restorationist; I don't believe we can "get back to the New Testament." I agree with the sentiment expressed above; I believe that we have lost some/most of the vitality that the Church had in the New Testament. I also believe that a good part of that vitality was from meeting in smaller groups and meeting frequently—both in homes and elsewhere. Of course, the major vitality always must come from the power of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of each person!
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