Catholicity, or universality, is an attribute of Christ’s church that reflects the nature of God. God is “from everlasting to everlasting” (Ps. 90:2). God is geographically inescapable (Ps. 139:7–8). His gospel saves all who repent and believe across all time and space. Hence, his kingdom, by its very nature, is universal. The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (AD 381) famously defines the church not just as one, holy, and apostolic, but also as catholic. This catholicity is gospel-endorsing. It is Protestant. It is virtuous.
Such virtuous catholicity is evidenced today as local churches maintain good relationships with one another. As I have written previously, gospel-preaching churches must recognise that they are on the same team.[1] Partnering with other local churches often aids gospel proclamation and doctrinal fortification.
Catholicity is also beautifully expressed within individual local churches when its members welcome, befriend, and disciple people from different backgrounds, when our songs display breadth across history and culture, and when we hold the appropriate theological convictions loosely.
CATHOLICITY: A VEHICLE FOR COMPROMISE
Nevertheless, for all the good of catholicity, an over-realized catholicity is potentially poisonous. I caution us all to beware of the following
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