Being a night owl I frequent all-night establishments like the local Denny’s where I often take my laptop and work on an article or a sermon series between midnight and sunrise.
A few weeks ago when I arrived around midnight I noticed a group of ten or so in animated conversation, obviously enjoying being out with each other.
What made them distinctive from the others in the restaurant was all the women had long hair, dresses past their knee, no necklaces, no visual cosmetics. The men were all clean shaven, business casual and even the little boys had hair off ears and collars.
When I went over to their table to say hi, sure enough it turned out they had come from a revival at one of the local UPCI churches and were just hanging around fellowshipping and lost track of time.
Turns out one of the ladies remembered me from years ago. I was Bible Quiz coach for an older sibling and shortly thereafter moved to Louisiana to help with a church. But we still had a great conversation about the dozens of family members and friends of mine which still attend the UPC church in Apopka. And there were others in her party which it turns out were friends of old friends.
The point being, it is unlikely this conversation would have happened had they not been attending a church which still held to those distinctives.
When I was growing up we just called them “standards.” Regardless of the appellation the purpose is branding. Not too dissimilar in concept to what corporations and products do. Whether you like McDonalds are not, when you see the golden arches you know what to expect inside. When you see the symbol for coca-cola you expect the beverage to be of a certain quality and content solely based on its outward appearance. The case is the same with Apostolic Distinctives.
But the things we Apostolics once instantly recognized as the standards, distinctives, and branding are rapidly fading away, and while I don’t idolize them to the point of placing equal to salvation I don’t think anyone is missing them much more than I. Being in a strange city and seeing a group who appeared to be fellow Apostolics was always such a joy.
Much of what is happening within the UPCI right now is a grieving of the loss of and desire for the return of those distinctives and that feeling of recognition.
Personally I have always lauded those brave pastors who choose to define and maintain the standards which I grew up under.
And yet when I search the scripture I find only ONE distinctive attributed as a quote to Jesus Christ. This is the branding, the distinction, the standard, the attribute which HE decreed HIS disciples would be known by. “By THIS shall all men know you are my disciples, YOUR LOVE ONE TO ANOTHER.”
Many seem to believe that the UPC started as grassroots collection of like minded ministers and saints who spontaneously joined together. They seemingly do not understand its history. Two organizations, the Pentecostal Church Incorporated and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ, decided they had so much in common that they should merge and work together to propagate the doctrine that
Act 2:38 is the only correct response to the gospel.
They also recognized
John 13:35 as the true Apostolic Distinctive and expressed it thus “We shall endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit until we all come into the unity of the faith, at the same time admonishing all brethren that they shall not contend for their different views to the disunity of the body.” This came to be known as the Unity clause, the foundational underpinning of the UPC.
With all the assaults against it, and clamors for additional and subtraction to the bylaws and manuals, it still stands as the cornerstone foundation of the UPCI.
But both the Unity clause and its one true foundational Apostolic distinctive of Love One to Another seem sadly missing from BOTH sides of the discussions, dialogues, and declarations lately.
And of all the Apostolic Distinctives fading away, it’s the one whose passing I most lament.
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