Do you know who Beth Moore is?

For millions of Christian women, Beth’s name is synonymous with inspired teaching, belly-laugh-inducing humor, and Bible study workbooks as rewarding as they are demanding. For me, Beth is a personal saint. She played an outsize role in launching my life-giving addiction to Bible study, and she has provided (unbeknownst to her!) refreshment and redirection at various critical turning points in my Christian walk.

Beth has ministered for decades now, teaching women in settings that range from huge, sold-out stadiums to small rooms in homes where a few neighbors gather around the T.V. or computer screen. Her influence has been far-ranging and powerful; her “brand” has been among the most profitable for Lifeway Publishers. And throughout her ministry career, Beth has identified herself as a churchwoman – a member of the Body both in the sense of the universal church and also in the sense of membership in a specific denomination (Southern Baptist) and a specific congregation (for years, First Baptist of Houston; more recently, wherever her son-in-law has been Senior Pastor).

Brief Review

Holding onto this information about Beth Moore, celebrated evangelist and committed churchwoman, let’s review / synopsize recent discussions of church and church membership:

1. The church is the Body of Christ (not buildings); 
2. Members of the church constitute the working limbs of the Body of Christ under Christ, the head; 
3. Church connection is like bodily connection – we rely on one another for full function, and any disease or wound in one affects all the others; 
4. The church is God’s idea – Jesus called the disciple Peter “the rock” and specified that the church founded on that rock would prevail even against the gates of Hell (Matthew 16:18).
5. When the Church steps out from under the headship of Jesus, the inevitable result will be gruesome: a headless Body can only signify violent death.
6. When the Church repents and humbly submits to Christ’s headship, then the Church (like Peter, like every individual believer) is forgiven and restored to full freedom, function, and joy.

Beth Moore announced this past week that she was severing her connection with the Southern Baptist denomination. Citing irreconcilable differences related to (lack of) care for victims of sexual abuse and (lack of) protections against further incidences of abuse – as well as what Beth saw as unrepentant and unbiblical attitudes toward white supremacy, “Christian nationalism”, and the Trump presidency – Beth’s departure will doubtless force the denomination to continue to wrestle with these issues.

But in the context of our ongoing discussion of “church”, I’d like to explore Beth’s departure from the Southern Baptist fold from that angle. Her example clarifies the questions that arise when a church member renounces church membership and prompts us to have the next part of the conversation about church – defining “schism” and exploring why it happens? 

Schism has two primary – and related – definitions:

1. a split or division between strongly opposed sections or parties, caused by differences in opinion or belief.
2. the formal separation of a Church into two Churches or the secession of a group owing to doctrinal and other differences.

Obviously, Beth’s departure from the Southern Baptist Convention differs from both definitions because she is an individual rather than a group. But as a person of outsize influence, her individual departure is already inspiring multiple others – individuals and congregations – to follow her example and separate from the SBC. So, while Beth is not a formal schismatic, leading an organized ecclesial re-formation, her personal actions are creating what will probably become at least one if not several large schisms.

Notice the key words in the definitions above: split, division, strongly opposed, differences in opinion or belief, formal separation, secession, doctrinal differences. Schism connotes separateness; schism commands the renunciation of membership in one Body in order to claim membership in a different Body.

Obvious questions for us

Let’s ask the obvious questions that arise at this point, given our study of the Body.

First, what does a schismatic renunciation mean, in spiritual terms? We’ve made the case that a church without Christ as the head is a decapitated Body… is a church whose members leave therefore a “dismembered Body”, with similarly fatal consequences? 

Second, when is it the right thing for a member / members to disconnect from a church? How do we sort through scriptural teachings about unity in the Body of Christ vs. scriptural teachings about individual accountability to follow only biblically true leaders?

Third, how is Beth’s situation as an individual who severs membership with a church (not as an influencer who is prompting larger scale schism) similar to situations in which groups of individuals “split” churches or denominations? In other words, how is schism the same as severing individual membership, and how is it different?

And finally, as we turn our eyes from Beth Moore and the Southern Baptist Convention to ourselves and our own church homes / families, are there take-aways and applications for us?

What it means to “sever membership”

Let’s consider scripture’s response to the first question. The Bible depicts the church as Christ’s Body under Christ’s headship, as we have seen. The Bible also depicts the church as Christ’s Bride (2 Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 5:22 – 23, Revelations 19 & 21). Both of these metaphors are rich in connotations of connection and unity. A body self-evidently requires integrated wholeness for health; scripture’s earliest description of a married couple is that they become “one flesh.” 

Within this unity, humility and mutual submission are prescribed for disciples / church members by both Christ and Paul, in explicit terms:

¹² After (Jesus) had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? ¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 

(John 13:12 – 15)

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, ² make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. ⁵ Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…

(Philippians 2:1 – 5)

Jesus tells his followers that outsiders will know they are Christians by the love that they show for one another (John 13:35), and John goes further in his first epistle, declaring that anyone who hates another believer cannot be a true disciple. (1 John 2:11)

Based on these and many other scriptural accounts, we see that the interdependence and mutual affection of church members is the fabric of the church – the skin that covers the Body! Therefore, the image of church members leaving as a violent dismembering process does mirror the image of church without Christ as the head as a decapitated body. This is serious, structurally vital stuff. Just as every finger on your hand matters, every member of Christ’s Body matters; the loss of finger or church member is an occasion of pain and greatly diminished health and function.

But… inherent in that logic is the assumption that the church which the church member is leaving is truly the church – Christ’s Body, operating under Christ’s headship. If the church is a church in name only – not operating under the headship of Christ — then a member leaving that church is really only leaving an organization, not severing him / herself from a Body. Cancelling a gym membership or changing from one orthodontist to another – those kinds of changes more closely resemble a member who leaves a church that is not Christ’s Body. (In fact, leaving a “non-church” can be an imperative! Recall last week’s writing, about the church operating under human headship and committing atrocities… Leaving a Nazi-loyal or racially segregated congregation reflects the heart and headship of Christ far more accurately than remaining in place!)

Separation = Amputation, for Salvation?

Which leads us smack-dab to the right answer to our second question: when is it the right thing for a member to disconnect from a church? Friends, when a church ceases to be obedient to the headship of Christ, and refuses calls to repentance and reform, then it is absolutely the right thing to sever membership ties. 

In that respect, Beth’s departure from the SBC is the latest in a long line, beginning all the way back in ancient times with the first heresies, of schism as a means of holy house-keeping. Whenever worldliness corrupts the witness of Christ’s Body, spiritual consequences ensue – and schism serves as a spiritual scalpel, cutting away diseased flesh from healthy flesh – looking away from human headship, back to Christ. In 1517, Martin Luther unwittingly launched the entire Protestant branch of the Christian faith when he called for the Roman Catholic Church to repent of perversions of justice and holiness that he witnessed while on pilgrimage to Rome. That famous schism created the model for others, from John Calvin and John Knox to John Wesley and Roger Williams. These saints were launched into evangelistic / church-birthing vocations by their own protests against status quo corruptions. 

A frequent win / win result of schism: the Body being left behind calls itself to account, enacts repentance, and finds new life and function under Christ’s headship. The Catholic Reformation, which followed Martin Luther’s Protestant schism, is one famous example of this dynamic.

The right way to leave

Beth’s personal witness – her long faithfulness and repeated attempts to call for holiness prior to her departure from her former church – follows the format Jesus outlines in the gospel of Matthew (18:15 – 20) for resolving conflicts between church members. It also resembles the trajectories of the Christian luminaries in the paragraph above. Leaving a church can never be a flippant decision, even when it is absolutely the right thing to do.

In all these respects, individual members’ departures from churches resemble situations of schism (when a part of the Body of Christ divides within / from itself). The necessity of serious discernment, the matter of Christ’s headship, the biblical protocols for attempting repentance – all of these characteristics are common to both situations. 

Schism differs from individual membership matters in scope, scale, and detail: not just personal perceptions of headship, but also organizational principles and doctrinal claims come into play. Property rights, denominational missions and agencies, and human leadership (qualifications, accountability, etc.) must all be reconstituted when schism occurs. Even a brief glance at the organization of the Lutheran Church versus the Roman Catholic Church will illustrate the far-ranging and enduring distinctions that schism brings about!

What this means for all church people

So, to our last question, what are the potential take-aways and applications for us? 

I think, first of all, we should re-commit ourselves to seeking Christ’s headship and holiness as individuals. Christ’s Body can only be as vibrant as its members… and Christ makes available to us “everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3) As each of us, individually, grow and flourish, our church homes will inevitably grow and flourish, too. What a witness to this weary world!

I also think we should guard our hearts against the temptation of “playing church.” The cultural accommodation which Beth called out in the Southern Baptist Convention takes many, many different forms – and no church is immune to the temptation to incorporate just enough worldliness to be comfy. God forbid that in our efforts to blend in / be “relevant” / keep a superficial peace with everyone and everything we forfeit the headship of Christ and render our Body an un-church! God forbid.

Clearly, we need to pray for our churches. We need to pray not only that God would bless and prosper them but also that God would keep them pure and devoted to the Bridegroom:

“Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶ in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷ so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish.” 

(Galatians 5:25 – 27) 

It’s too easy, in our day, to giggle away such images as hopelessly naïve and unrealistic. We must insist – in our own heart, as well as out loud – that Christ means what he says, and that Christ’s church can be pristine and powerful, even in the midst of this broken and corrupt culture.

Finally, I think we should cover both Beth and the Southern Baptist Convention in prayer. May God use their separation to bring reform and vitality to Christ’s Body. May God use their separation to give new meaning and merit to church unity. And may God comfort and refresh Beth as she leans into the next chapter of her ministry to His glory!