The Reformation of the 1500s was a watershed of gargantuan proportions, reshaping the religious and geo-political landscape of Europe and indeed the world to this day, nonetheless, it was only the beginning—reformation is still in process and coming to maturity.
The historic Reformation recovered the doctrine of salvation (soteriology) through Justification by Faith, but didn’t fully recover the doctrine of the church (ecclesiology), despite the advances of the Radical Reformation through the Anabaptists; this remains for this generation and those to come.
In the light of Scripture, issues of authority and leadership, and especially sectarianism and division, remain unresolved. This is also the case in the so-called ‘New Apostolic Reformation’ promoted by particular ministries, through which the historic problems are being perpetuated.
This calls for a more fundamental reformation at a moral and spiritual level across the whole church, in addition to the functional and structural. For Christ’s Body to be made whole, the idolatry of ‘franchise’ growth (i.e. denominations) that has been institutionalised, and thereby legitimised, must be exorcised!
