Lone Ranger Christian

I don't know of any class of Christians so routinely and unanimously villified as the "Lone Ranger Christian (LRC)." Not that it's difficult; you won't find an anti-defamation league or denomination of lone rangers to unite our voices in our own defense. Pretty much, the LRCs are sniped at from safely within groups of happily bonded believers - until that happy bond is broken.

An assembly of believers is a precious thing. Within its walls all the fellowship of the Godhead is exchanged between saints. Unfortunately, that is not all that is exchanged between saints. There is also the mountain of doctrine and politics.

I know saints in Australia, the Isle of Man, Scotland, Hungary, Romania and the US who are going it alone these days. My Australian brother calls the church, The Mob (as in unruly crowd, not organized crime.) He believes that any attempt to organize said mob is wrong. I don't know whether he's right, but if you knew him you would have to respect his opinion. His life demands it. These brothers have as different personalities as could be. They have different core doctrines. They have different degrees of tolerance for disagreement. They have nothing in common but the obvious.

And they all decided that the church was really not meant to be lived as an exercise in conformity.

I stand somewhere in the middle.

I attend church services three times a week, and I love the saints in that church. (My church?) I had been alone as a Christian for 7 years when I stepped foot into that building, and Christian love was a good thing to feel again. I wept to be there for the first three weeks, and it has been a pure blessing to me ever since.

But....

I'll probably never sign a piece of paper declaring that I am a member of any church. (Not that there's much risk that they'd have me. I don't think anyone has written a doctrinal declaration that would not reject me as a heretic after the third admonition.) I'll never sign anything that goes much beyond the Nicene Creed. Anything more than that is a declaration that I break fellowship with fellow believers, and I cannot go there.

If anyone ever writes a statement of faith that says things like, "We don't reject _____ nor ______," then maybe my resolve will be at risk. But denominations don't work like that, now do they? Denominations denominate. And that's a rub for me and my scattered brothers.

We respect the need for the church, all of us. We have to work hard to "assemble ourselves together" as Heb 10:25 demands, but we do it. All the LRCs I know find some way to assemble themselves meaningfully with brothers and sisters, even though sometimes those brothers and sisters would only barely fellowship with each other. It's worth the extra work not to be looked at askance when we assemble ourselves with "them."

The strawman of the Lone Ranger Christian is someone who is arrogant and impossible to please. He is looking for the perfect church, and thinks he is the fount of all wisdom as to what that might be. When people don't listen to him, he picks up his jacks and runs away, thereby making himself vulnerable to heresy, pornography, drugs, and bad hairstyles.

I've never known an LRC who was happy with his choice. They are just less happy with their options.

My church has made a place for me, and has not asked me to change. This is solely due to the influence of their pastor. He is a Godsend. He has allowed me to serve where I can, and remained silent toward me where I cannot. It's perfect. There are days I would like to be able to serve more in that little body, but I will never pass their membership muster honestly, and I seriously doubt I'd sign the piece of paper anyway. So I fellowship, and do what I can, and pray for the day that Christianity quits dividing over doctrine.

Until then, I respect the mission of the organized church. I respect the people who give their time, tithes and energy to it. And I hope they'll accept us for who we are, conscientious objectors from the kinds of peace they wage.