Does doctrine matter in poor churches?

A few years ago, I (Mike) was sitting over coffee with an old college friend of mine and listening to him explain how his perspective on ministry had changed since we were students. He now led student ministries on several local college campuses and explained his decision not to be as «cross-centric» (his word) as we were fifteen years ago:

«"You know, Mike, we don't think we should be too... doctrinal. The cross is important, of course. But we don't want to get bogged down in sixteenth-century arguments about redemption. After all, Jesus used many different images to describe His salvation, like the mustard seed growing. We want to spread the Kingdom of God, proclaiming the Good News to the poor and freedom to the prisoners. There's a lot of work to be done, so we can't get bogged down in theology.".

Let's leave aside the question of whether the apostle Paul would agree with my friend's priorities (he told the Corinthians that he wanted to know nothing among them except... the spread of the Kingdom of God as a mustard seed? No, wait, something is wrong here - "for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" - 1 Cor. 2:2).

But what about his broader point? It makes some sense.

Imagine that you are on a ship sailing to a distant city to warn the inhabitants of an approaching danger. If you do not arrive in time, everyone will die. No doubt you want your ship to sail as quickly as possible. You get rid of any unnecessary cargo that might slow you down. You do not waste time cleaning the deck or polishing the brass. The urgency of the task requires that you work efficiently and without unnecessary burdens.

People like my friend argue that the urgency of Christian mission demands that we trim our theological sails and shed the heavy burden of doctrinal precision. Such a burden only breeds strife and discord among people who should be working together. If the people are suffering, the poor are oppressed, and the captives are imprisoned, why write books, hold conferences, and argue about the meaning of a few words?

And there is some sense in this. The church would be in a better place if Christians spent less time arguing online about infralapsarianism and more time talking to their neighbors about Jesus. But that doesn’t mean that churches that seek to reach the poor and needy should abandon conviction and talk about theology.

Doctrine is not cargo on a ship. It is the hull and the mast.

The church's doctrine determines the nature and quality of its witness. Its theology shapes its goals and the means of achieving them.

So the question is: Does the discipleship that the church should be doing require knowing and teaching doctrines? Can we achieve these two goals simply by demonstrating the love of Christ and working to restore our society through acts of service? That seems unlikely.

Instead, we see in the New Testament that theology is essential to every aspect of the life of the church. Let's consider two of them: salvation and sanctification.

Salvation requires doctrine

Critics of the necessity of doctrine sometimes mockingly remark that God probably won’t open people’s heads at the last day to see if they have the right doctrines in their heads. That’s probably true. But He will ask them something like, «Did you trust Me? The real and true Me, not a made-up version of Me?» In other words, God is very interested in whether we trust certain truths, because to God, doctrinal truth is personal truth.

To experience the salvation of Christ, a person must believe the real truths about the real God. Unless a person turns to God with all their heart and trusts in Him, such a person cannot be saved (Rom. 10:13–17). Doctrine is necessary for salvation!

That is why, as the apostles went out and made disciples, they did not shy away from preaching doctrinal messages. Let’s look at all the doctrinal topics they and others covered for the unbelieving crowds in the book of Acts:

• The Holy Spirit (2:14–21)
• The Sovereign Providence of God (2:23; 17:26)
• The Resurrection of Christ (2:24–32; 3:15)
• The Crucifixion of Christ (8:32–35; 13:28–29)
• How the Old Testament points to Jesus (3:22–24; 7:2–53; 28:23)
• The Reality of the Coming Judgment (10:42; 17:31; 24:25)
• The uniqueness of Christ (4:12; 19:26)
• God, the Creator (14:15–17; 17:24)
• The self-sufficiency of God (17:24–25)
• The Kingdom of God (19:8; 28:23)

The apostles understood that in order for unbelievers to come to repentance and faith in Christ, they must understand certain truths about God and His salvation through Christ.

In fact, when Jesus appears to the disheartened and disappointed Paul in a dream, He tells him: «Be of good cheer, [Paul]! For as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome!» (Acts 23:11). Jesus summarizes Paul’s entire evangelizing mission, both among Jews and Gentiles, as a testimony of facts about Him. That is exactly what Paul did: he traveled from city to city, sharing the facts about who Jesus is and what He has done.

It is difficult to reconcile this view of the church’s evangelistic mission with the claim that our witness should be primarily focused on acts of love and mercy toward those in need. The point is that the world could watch Christians hand out soup or paint over graffiti for a thousand years and they would never come to the conclusion that Jesus died for their sins and rose again. We must open our mouths and proclaim the content of the Gospel to the world, or no one will be saved.

Sanctification Requires Doctrine

Some may be tempted to believe that a person only needs basic doctrine to become a Christian, but most «doctrines» are not necessary to grow as a Christian. Instead, we should simply focus on living like Jesus in our society.

But it turns out that the writers of Scripture do not share this view. Again and again the Bible links the right actions, behavior, and attitudes of God's people with correct doctrine.

Here are some examples:

• The Ten Commandments. This is the foundation of everything—a great list of how to live. But what comes before these instructions for a godly life? Theology: «I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage» (Ex. 20:2). Why should the Israelites not have other gods? Because the Lord had delivered them from slavery.
• Love your enemies. This is a commandment that moves our hearts to be transformed! But notice that Jesus bases such active love on theology: «But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust» (Matt. 5:44–45). Why should we love our enemies? Because God, our Father, is a God who loves enemies!
• Be holy. Christians are to be holy. Why? Again, the apostle refers us to the doctrine: «As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts of your ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, so be holy yourselves in all your conduct» (1 Pet. 1:14–15). We do not yield to the passions that once governed us, because of God’s holiness.
• Paul’s Epistles. Finally, the structure of Paul’s letters is based on truth. Paul wants his recipients to present their bodies as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1), put on the new man (Eph. 4:24), and walk in Christ Jesus (Col. 2:6). But these appeals come only after lengthy explanations of doctrinal truths. The apostle teaches the church about justification and glorification, the typology and representation of Adam (Rom. 5:12–17; 8:30), election and predestination (Eph. 1:4–6), the depravity of man (Eph. 2:1–3), and the person of Christ (Col. 1:15–20).

Christian obedience, including sacrificial service to the needy, must be based on and motivated by the character and work of God. Drop the anchor and you may stay in the same place for a while, but soon the wind and waves will carry you away. Such sacrificial work will soon cease.

The more we know about God, the more it motivates us to obey and serve. How many people have repeated a prayer in church or at an evangelistic event but never followed through because they were not taught the real, doctrinal «meat» of the faith? How many Christians have gotten stuck in patterns of selfishness, laziness, and sin because they were not challenged to reflect on the character of God and His meaning for their lives?

But wait...

One objection I hear from time to time is that poor churches tend to have less access to quality education, which means that people in these churches don’t have the tools they need to learn doctrine. If people don’t live in an environment where reading and learning are the norm, or if illiteracy is widespread, then teaching them complex theological concepts is impossible. If you try to do that, you’ll miss the mark and lose their interest.

And, frankly, arguments like “we don’t need theology” sound condescending and condescending. Yes, the poor are poor, but that doesn’t mean they can’t think. They are just as capable of knowing the character and ways of God as anyone else. Paul wasn’t writing his letters to seminary professors. His readers were not typically wealthy, privileged, or well-educated. And the Israelites who came out of Egypt didn’t have degrees in theology, but God didn’t hesitate to tell them many complex and profound truths about Himself.

Poor people can understand deep truths. I have seen this to be true in the church I serve in the States, and I have seen it in the context of the Mesa Church in Edinburgh.

Consider Gordon. He is in his early forties. He did not graduate from high school and had never read a book in his life before his conversion. He had no experience with church or Christianity. He was literate, but only to the point where he could read a newspaper. When Gordon first came to the Mesa Church, he said that the schooling was too difficult for him. I will let him explain it in his own words:

«Before I was saved, I couldn’t understand what the Bible said. Now it’s like a voice calling me and drawing me to it. I think it’s the Holy Spirit. I started to think about the deep questions of life like I never did before. I just want to read all the time. Even though I was lost in the complex theological words, I was determined to learn them. I wanted to love God more. I wanted to know Him more. What helped was having good people around me who explained things without being condescending. In school, if something was too complicated, I would just give up. Now, even though some things are difficult to learn, I’ve learned to be patient with myself and to study hard.».

Before Gordon came to faith in Christ, he was unable to work full-time, was addicted to hard drugs, and lived a chaotic life. He says he couldn't sit still for more than two minutes. Now he sits through a forty-minute sermon without any problems and enjoys studying the Bible at every opportunity.

We should not underestimate people because they are not educated or have not read many books. Of course, you will need to adapt your teaching methods if you are working with people who are completely illiterate or have intellectual disabilities. But all good teachers adjust their material to the level of their listeners. In our experience, we have not yet encountered a single doctrinal topic that was too difficult for needy people to understand. If you teach the doctrines clearly and well, relying on the Holy Spirit, God’s people will want to learn them and grow through them.

Conclusion

Does devotion to teaching and belief in doctrine hinder the spread of the gospel in difficult places? Not likely. In fact, our commission to make disciples and teach them to obey the commandments of the Lord Jesus cannot be fulfilled without such devotion. It is not enough to simply demonstrate the love of Jesus for people in need. It is not enough to work to restore and repair social structures. We must proclaim the truth of the gospel, or we will bring glory only to ourselves, leaving people in their sins and guilt.

Editor’s Note: This article is an abridged excerpt from Mike and Meze’s new book, Church in Hard Places (© 2016). Used with permission from Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.