Jumpstarter 8 of 10

Direct Answer Bercot implies God’s priority is faithful kingdom living—obedience to Jesus’ teachings “through the grace of God”—more than perfect alignment with later distinctive doctrinal systems. This collides with any measure of “true Christianity” that mainly depends on one group’s unique doctrines and ordinances rather than the shared core of the Apostles’ Creed and kingdom obedience.

Support from Transcript:

• He says the “kingdom gospel… continued to be preached… for centuries” and “didn’t change until the time of Constantine” when the church joined the state and “had to change the gospel to make that possible.”
• After Constantine, the institutional church “pretty much dropped the kingdom gospel or… obscured it,” yet “there were always Christians who continued to live it out and to preach it.”
• He names examples inside/outside: “inside the institutional church, like Francis of Assisi,” and outside in groups like “the Lollards and the Waldensians.”
• He stresses “no theological uniformity” except “the rather simple Apostles’ Creed,” plus living Jesus’ kingdom teachings by grace.
• He rejects the denominational version of the pilgrim church: if your marks are “theological doctrines and church ordinances” of your brand, “you’re not going to find any pilgrim church.”