[Affirmations series: Introduction, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, and Conclusion.]
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~ Affirmations ~

5. Christ the Uncontested Head of the Church

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I affirm that, according to the eternal purpose, the Father has established the Lord Jesus Christ as the uncontested Head of the Church, which is His Body, His Bride.

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I affirm that in order for the Church to fulfill her high calling in relation to the eternal purpose, the practical Headship of Christ must be experienced, embodied, and expressed in and through the Body of Christ in its daily life and corporate gatherings.

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I affirm that in order for the Headship of Christ to be manifest in the corporate gatherings of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself must be given the central and supreme place within the gathering, and that all aspects of the assembly must be submitted to His practical Headship, so that all would ultimately be “of Him, and through Him, and to Him.”

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I affirm that the practical Headship of Christ is administered in the Church by the Holy Spirit who indwells, anoints, gifts, and empowers all members of the Body of Christ to serve and function under Christ’s Headship as they yield to His leading and serve according to His enablement.

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I affirm that the Headship of Christ is most fully embodied within the Church when local assemblies gather as healthy expressions of the Body of Christ, in which all members are encouraged and equipped to function responsibly and responsively to the Headship of Christ, through the Spirit, in unity, orderliness, and mutual submission.

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I affirm that the Headship of Christ is most naturally experienced within the Body when there is mutuality and plurality in the functioning of gifts, ministries, leadership, equipping, and oversight, and when no single person seeks to dominate or monopolize the exercise of these functions, but all seek to serve according to the principle of “two or three.”

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I affirm that the functional Headship of Christ is most freely expressed when all plans, preparations, and participation in an assembly are submitted to the Holy Spirit for His inspiration, formation, confirmation, facilitation, and orchestration within the gathering, so that Christ may readily express Himself, by the Spirit, through His many-membered Body.

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I affirm that the Headship of Christ incorporates and integrates into an assembly the complimentary and counter-balancing attributes of preparedness and spontaneity, orderliness and unpredictability, form and flexibility, constraint and liberty, submission and equality, leadership and servanthood, equipping and functioning, and that these attributes must consistently be held in dynamic spiritual balance.

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I affirm that some degree of form, structure, and/or order is needful and helpful for the harmonious functioning of the church under the Headship of Christ, but that these ought to be implemented only as they serve to facilitate Christ’s practical Headship, and must remain flexible to and changeable at the Spirit’s leading.

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I affirm that (a plurality of) servant/leadership is given to the church to serve, equip, and help facilitate the full functioning of the Body of Christ, under His immediate Headship, and that these must not lord over the church, but set an example as being the most sensitive to the Spirit, the greatest of servants, and the most zealous for the Headship of Christ being manifest within the whole church.

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I affirm that the Headship of Christ requires local assemblies to continuously walk in faith and perseverance concerning its manifest reality, and they must continuously resist the temptation to settle for that which is humanly and religiously more predictable, “safe”, “reliable”, “normal”, common, traditional, and/or expected.

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I affirm that the Church has, since its earliest days, adopted many substitutes for the Headship of Christ, so that His manifest presence and practical Headship in the midst of His people are commonly unknown and generally disallowed, but that in these last days, God is raising up an overcoming remnant who will once again restore the Lord Jesus to His rightful place as the uncontested Head of His Body, and seek to collectively embrace, embody and express His Headship in their daily lives and regular corporate gatherings.

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I affirm that only as the Church regularly lives, gathers and functions under the manifest Headship of Jesus Christ, can it fulfill and display forth the eternal purpose of God to all of creation, seen and unseen, according to her high calling in Christ.

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These truths I affirm!

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Continued…

Related:

The Headship of Christ In the Gathering of the Church

PRINCIPLES Book (Complete – PDF, mp3 and more)

JESUS NOW (“Taste Test”) – by Frank Viola (free PDF ebook)

The Church Gathering Simply in the Name of Christ and Under His Headship – A Historical Account by C.H. Mackintosh