letters to surfers

When you call a church a franchise, are you suggesting we move from one to another when we choose?

by Robert Brow (www.brow.on.ca)

In the New Testament there is only one church in each city, and here in Kingston the church meets in hundreds of places, under different names, or in homes. That is why I don't think it is helpful to talk about the Anglican Church, or the Roman Catholic Church. Denominations are like franchises because they help each kind of church expression (Greek Orthodox, Anglican, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Mennonite, etc.) to flourish. That means that within the one church in Kingston people have a choice of what kind of church expression they want to enjoy (fundamentalist or mainline, dignified or informal, classical music or noisy rock with a song leader, "smells and bells" ritual or very simple). And in practice ordinary members (defined as those who exercise a gift of the pirit in a church, as in 1 Corinthians 12:12-26) move very easily from one congregation to another across denominational lines without ever leaving the one church in Kingston. Mollie and I have a right to buy food wherever we choose, but just now we don't use Loblaws because we get better, cheaper, and much closer service at Food Basics.