George H. Warnock — Ecclesiology
b4 — The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall
True Church as Fellowship vs. Institutional Church
Warnock describes his own small house congregation as a prototype of the true church — a fellowship — as opposed to the institutional church:
“We generally refer to ourselves as a ‘fellowship,’ for we are just a handful of people that the Lord seems to have joined together for some meaningful purpose.”
“We are not particularly trying to ‘build’ anything, for we have learned that Christ is building His Church, and except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.”
Warnock distinguishes true fellowship from church attendance: “Fellowship, therefore, can accomplish the purposes of God in the believer’s life in a manner that no amount of sermon-tasting and church-going can do; for in fellowship there is a sharing of the Ways of the Lord one with another, thus enriching us with a deeper understanding of Truth.”
True fellowship requires mutual participation: “if there is to be true ‘fellowship,’ then there must be a mutual concern, a mutual sharing one with the other, and a mutual receiving one from the other.”
Warnock explicitly opposes activism without divine direction: “we discourage talking, if God is not talking… and we discourage ‘doing,’ if God is not doing.”
Source: George H. Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop1.html.
Critique of the Church-Growth Mentality
Warnock formulates a sharp critique of church-growth thinking as incompatible with God’s ways:
“The prevailing thought in the Church is: God is doing big things. So we must think big… talk big… preach big… get into the action… see great things accomplished for God. The only problem, of course, is that usually those who are planning to do big things do not understand that the greater the work that God will perform, the weaker… and the smaller… and the more humble will be the instruments that God will use.”
“While religious people were building synagogues throughout the land, and sending missionaries far and wide to make proselytes among the Gentiles, God was preparing a ‘Body’ in which He would reveal Himself.”
On church fund-raising: “Another billion dollars in the coffers of the Church will not accomplish what God wants accomplished in the earth.”
Interpretation: Warnock applies the hyssop principle (the weak as God’s instrument) to church structure: God consistently works through small, vulnerable communities, not through institutional power.
Source: George H. Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop1b.html.
Church as One Bread and One Body of Christ
Warnock identifies the Church with the imagery of the five loaves and two fish from John 6:
“The Church of Christ is depicted as ‘one bread’ as well as ‘one body.‘”
“a true Body (represented in the two fishes — ‘two’ being the number of a corporate relationship); and a true ministry (represented in the five loaves); yet not two distinct entities as they exist today in the Church, but ONE in His hands, broken and mingled together, is God’s total answer to human need.”
On the process of church formation: “in the formation of the Bread of God there is a process: and after the harvesting of the grain; after the grinding in the mills of God’s dealings; after the anointing with the fresh oil of His Spirit, and the mingling together of the fine flour with the fresh oil… and after the baking of the bread in the ovens of God’s fiery trials… then and then only does the ‘dough’ become ‘bread to the eater.‘”
Interpretation: Warnock understands the body of Christ not structurally-institutionally but organically-pastorally: the congregation is formed by divine action (breaking, mingling, baking), not by human building.
Source: George H. Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop1b.html (ref. John 6:5).
People of the Way — Early Christian Church Identity
Warnock discusses the early church’s self-designation as “the People of the Way”:
“The people of the New Testament Church in their early beginnings used to refer to themselves as the people of the Way.”
“Saul persecuted ‘this Way,’ and after his conversion he testifies that he worshipped God after the ‘Way’ that men called heresy.”
The congregation as pilgrim people: Warnock connects this to Abraham who lived as a foreigner in his own land — he “confessed that he was but a ‘pilgrim and a stranger’”, looking for “a City which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God” (Heb. 11:10).
The church as pilgrim community: “God’s people are a people of the WAY. They are going somewhere… not after they die, but NOW.”
Source: George H. Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop1.html (ref. Heb. 11:10; Gal. 3:13-29).
The Glorious Church — Holiness as Goal
Warnock maintains a high ecclesiological standard: the Church will be without spot in this life, not only after death:
“God will have a ‘glorious Church’… not in the ‘hereafter’ but ‘here.’ In order to excuse themselves… the doctrine of separation and holiness and the purifying of the heart is simply laid aside as something not really to be attained to in full measure in this life.”
“it will be without ‘spot,’ without ‘wrinkle,’ without ‘blemish’… without ‘any such thing.’ And it will be by ‘the washing of water by the Word.‘”
Warnock critiques the tendency to defer holiness to the afterlife: “God will have a ‘glorious Church’: and it will be without ‘spot,’ without ‘wrinkle’… And it will be by ‘the washing of water by the Word.‘”
Source: George H. Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2.html.
Priestly Character of the Congregation
Warnock describes congregation members as “king-priests” with a mutual intercessory function:
“We need to pray one for another in their problems. We need to take one another’s burdens and bear them, as king-priests, into the Holiest of All… interceding on their behalf.”
On mutual confession of sins: God wants priests not to “expose the erring one in all his nakedness to the unsanctified gaze of a lot of carnal people.” Dealing with sin takes place “in a clean place” — outside the camp.
Warnock defines fellowship in 1 John 1:7 terminology: “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, WE HAVE FELLOWSHIP one with another.”
The goal of the congregation: “Gathering together unto Him, and pursuing with one accord the Vision of God: That we might worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, that we might be a people ‘to the praise of His glory,’ that we might be conformed to the image of His Son, that we might become the Bread of God in His Hands.”
Source: George H. Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2b.html.
Church and Universal Calling — Mission
Warnock emphasizes the universal scope of the church based on Rev. 5:9 and Rom. 3:22-23:
“For Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy Blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” (Rev. 5:9)
“Peoples from the far north and the far south… from the far east and the far west.”
“THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:22-23)
Warnock connects this to the promise to Abraham: “The ‘seed’ and the promise of blessing that he had received from God… a germ of something that God desired to unfold” — ultimately a people from all nations, for “that Seed is Christ” (Gal. 3:29).
On the church and national boundaries: “As Christians let us stop wasting our efforts trying to rebuild the walls of partition that God tore down at the awful expense of the Cross.”
Source: George H. Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop1.html (ref. Rev. 5:9; Rom. 3:22-23; Gal. 3:29).