2022-58 SYNODALITEIT IN HET LEVEN VAN DE KERK Alle stemmen gelden. De uitdaging van het congregationalisme. 35 1 Mennoniet John Roth, directeur van de ‘Mennonite Historical Library’ in Goshen, Indiana, USA, omschrijft het als een streven ‘to recognize the Spirit of Christ in the gifts of other Christian churches and learn to receive those gifts as a source of renewal.’ John D. Roth, ‘“Without Spot or Wrinkle’: The Tendency towards Separation in the Mennonite Tradition … and a Vision for a ‘Rhizomic’ Church,” in Come Out from among Them, and Be Ye Separated, Saith the Lord. Separationism and the Believers’ Church Tradition, ed. William H. Brackney with Evan L. Colford (Eugene: Pickwick, 2019), 80. Zie ook Peter J. Leithart, The End of Protestantism. Pursuing Unity in a Fragmented Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2016), 167-169. 2 Hendro Munsterman, “Leren van synodaliteit van andere kerken”, Nederlands Dagblad, 2 november 2021. 3 “The Savoy Declaration” in Williston Walker, The Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2005, eerste uitgave 1893), 404. 4 Volgens Nuttall door ‘Particular Baptist’ William Kiffin in 1641: ‘Christ hath given this Power to his Church, not to a Hierarchy, neither to a National Presbytery, but to a company of Saints in a Congregationall way’. G.F. Nuttall, Visible Saints. The Congregational Way 1640-1660 (Weston Rhyn: Quinta Press, 2001, eerste uitgave 1957), 8. 5 Voor John Owen (1616–1683), volgens Nuttall ‘termed with justice the leading figure among Congregational divines’ (Nuttall, Visible Saints, 39) was de plaatselijke kerk de enige vorm van kerk-zijn: ‘There is no other sort of visible church organized but a particular church or congregation, where all the members thereof do ordinarily meet together in one place’ (John Owen, The True Nature of a Gospel Church, The Works of John Owen Vol. 16 [Carlisle: Paternoster, 1991], 3). Op grond hiervan beweerde hij zelfs dat afscheiding van de kerk van Engeland geen schisma kon zijn, want ‘it is no crime to depart from nothing’ (John Owen, Of Schism, The Works of John Owen Vol. 13 [Carlisle: Paternoster, 1991], 191). 6 John Smyth, “Principles and inferences concerning The visible Church” (1607) in W.T. Whitley (ed.), The Works of John Smyth Vol. 1 (Paris, Arkansas: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 2009, eerste uitgave 1915), 252. Elders schrijft hij: ‘We say the Church or two or three faithful people separated from the world and joined together in a true covenant, have both Christ, the covenant, and promises, and the ministerial power of Christ given to them, and that they are the body that receive from Christ’s hand out of heaven, or rather from Christ their head this ministerial power’ (“Paralleles, Censures, Observations” [1609] in W.T. Whitley [ed.], The Works of John Smyth Vol. 2 (Paris, Arkansas: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 2009, eerste uitgave 1915), 403. 7 Miroslav Volf, After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 2. 8 “Constitution of the Baptist Union of Scotland”, http://www.scottishbaptist.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/ConstNew.pdf, geraadpleegd 8-7-15. 9 Tony Peck, “’The Word of God in the Life of the Church’: A Traveller’s Guide – Background, Broader Perspectives and Challenges”, Journal of European Baptist Studies 15.3 (2015), 38. Inmiddels is de derde dialoogronde gestart in 2017, die loopt tot 2021. Thema daarvan is “Forms of Common Witness” (https://www.baptistworld.org/dialogues/, geraadpleegd d.d. 14-3-22). 10 “Baptists and Catholics Together: The Word of God in the Life of the Church”, American Baptist Quarterly 31.1 (2012).
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