Churches can be like these farms. A “fence church” sets up a fence, all sorts of rules for being accepted or rejected. You are in or you are out. It might be quite judgmental: if you are in, you are a good church person, if you are out, you must be a bad person. If you are “in”, you are automatically better than someone who is “out”. A “fence church” has figured out a socially acceptable standard by which to exclude certain kinds of people.
A “well church” recognizes that the good news is so precious, so refreshing, that, like a well, it will keep those who thirst for it from straying far from it. This is truly a Christ-centered model. Rather than seeing people as Christian or non-Christian, as “in” or “out”, a “well church” sees people as being on their journey toward Christ; some know it, but some don’t yet know it and need a little encouragement to get on board with this same journey.
A “fence church” sets people up to be judges they are not called to be; to judge who are in and who are out, who are “sheep” and who are “goats”. And often these criteria are man-made and artificial and convenient for those who are “in”. And often others, who are not church members, are left feeling that they are viewed as not “good enough” to go to church there.
Just as in the Australian farm, all animals may drink at the well, whether they belong to the farm or not. In a “well church” all are welcome to drink of the good news, whether they are on a membership list or not, and it is recognized that we are all imperfect, with flaws and failings, all struggling just to try to be a decent person. Since there is no “in” or “out”, we have less basis to judge one another.
To tear down fences, we have broken down barriers membership usually builds up. At Community Life Church, people who are interested in being involved with our church family can take part in business meetings whether they are members or not. We made a direct effort to set things up to be able to do our business that way.
Those who drink at the good news well, and relish that well of Jesus, discover that there is always something they can do to become more like Jesus, to show more of Christ’s radical lifestyle (love, generosity, healing, hospitality, forgiveness, mercy, peace, and more). And as their lives live these traits, others see the difference and look for that well too.
At Community Life Church, we want to be a “well church”. What would you like to be?
One wonders whether equal welcome might be afforded to those who believe Scripture demands an inside and an outside. It is true that we all sin, even in private thoughts, what is watched, read, said or done in private and which God surely sees and may well incur His displeasure. While the church may teach generally and encourage all to guard their private minds and lives, nevertheless, the church cannot oversee, control, or directly address what it cannot possibly know. Still, what it done in private, if left unchecked, over time may eventually spill over into open public acts. In that case, the church cannot turn the blind eye and pretend that it does not exist. For example, in the case of relationships expressly prohibited in the Scripture,(there are more than one), Paul severely rebuked the Church of Corinth for ignoring fornication in their midst, 1 Cor 5. He seemed almost more upset over the church's failure to act than the individual's sin. Why so? Perhaps that their inaction sends a message for there to be more of the same from others who may be emboldened by their false display of "love and tolerance? Paul explicitly requires the church to judge and remove those on the inside in such cases, not those on the outside. So there has to be a clear line defining who is where. The article on wells and fences may be well intended, but it is a clear denial of the New Testament teaching about the church. Also in the matter of "What's strong, not what is wrong." This may send the wrong message. When Samson, due to his Nazirite vow, fought the Philistines, no one could resist his strength. He played with Delilah, teasing her that his strength would fail with new ropes and the like. Each time, they came to take him, he snapped them like thin threads. Finally, he told her his heart, laid his head in her lap and a man cut his hair, directly violating the Nazirite vow. Delilah cried to him once again that the Philistines were upon him. Samson "awoke from his sleep and said, 'I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free,' but he did not know that the LORD had departed from him." Judges 16:20 They blinded him and made him a prisoner. Where was the "strong" now that wrong had come in? In Joshua, the walls of Jericho fell when God was held in proper regard among them - an impossible victory. Shortly after, at the small battle at Ai, which should have been a piece of cake, they suffered a humiliating defeat. What happened to their "strong?" Achan had taken things that were forbidden and their "strong" was defeated because of wrong. The apparent message of "What's strong not what's wrong" seems little short of false doctrine, directly contradicting the word of God.
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