Ecclesiola in Ecclesia: Little Churches Within the Church
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones's critical examination of attempts to reform the church from within
Originally preached Dec. 26, 1965
Sermon Description
Throughout church history, faithful believers have faced a recurring pastoral dilemma: what should be done when the visible church contains many who show little evidence of genuine Christian life? From Martin Luther to John Wesley, numerous reformers attempted to address this problem by forming "little churches within the church"—select gatherings of committed believers who met for deeper fellowship, prayer, and instruction while remaining part of the larger institutional church. In this Westminster Puritan Conference address, Dr. Lloyd-Jones provides a masterful historical survey of these "ecclesiola in ecclesia" movements, examining their motivations, methods, and ultimate outcomes across four centuries.
Yet Dr. Lloyd-Jones does far more than recount history. He presses toward the fundamental question these movements raise for every evangelical pastor and church today: Should we start with the situation as we find it and attempt to reform it, or should we start with the New Testament pattern and apply it regardless of cost? Through careful analysis of Scripture and the lessons of history, Dr. Lloyd-Jones demonstrates why these "second best" solutions inevitably failed and challenges his hearers to confront the foundational issues of church membership, true conversion, and biblical ecclesiology. This is not merely an academic exercise but an important message calling the church back to New Testament principles in an age of mixed denominations and ecumenical compromise.
Sermon Breakdown
- Dr. Lloyd-Jones defines "ecclesiola in ecclesia" as little churches within the larger church—voluntary gatherings of true believers who were dissatisfied not with doctrine but with the spiritual condition and piety of the wider church, meeting for instruction, fellowship, and mutual edification while remaining within the institutional structure.
- The movement traces from monasticism through the pre-Reformation Waldensians, with Martin Luther being the first major reformer to seriously advocate for these inner nuclei in 1526, though he never implemented the plan due to political circumstances and his own ambivalence about finding enough genuine Christians to form such groups.
- Subsequent attempts include Franz Lambert's work with Philip of Hesse, Martin Bucer's efforts in Strasbourg emphasizing ecclesiastical discipline, and the pietist movement under Philip Jacob Spener and August Hermann Francke in 17th century Germany, each seeking to create inner circles of spiritual vitality within state churches grown cold.
- In England, the pattern appeared through Dr. Anthony Horneck's societies from 1678, Samuel Walker at Truro, Henry Venn at Huddersfield, and notably in the Methodist movement, though Wesley's societies ultimately became sectarian rather than remaining true to the ecclesiola principle.
- Dr. Lloyd-Jones argues these experiments universally failed for predictable reasons: they created resentment among the majority, contained inherent sectarian tendencies, generated spiritual pride among the select few, bred tensions over leadership and churchmanship, and collapsed when evangelical ministers departed.
- The Scriptural texts commonly cited to justify ecclesioli—such as Matthew 18:20, Romans 15:14, and Hebrews 10:24-25—actually provide no warrant for this practice, as they address the whole church rather than separating believers into an inner core and outer membership.
- Dr. Lloyd-Jones contends the very necessity of forming ecclesioli reveals something fundamentally wrong with one's doctrine of the church, for if the visible church properly consists of regenerate believers under discipline, such expedients become unnecessary.
- The critical question emerges: can people whom Luther called "heathen" yet be considered church members? If not, who should be admitted to church membership, and what is the nature of the church itself—questions the Reformers failed to fully resolve.
- History demonstrates that movements starting with accommodation to existing conditions rather than biblical principles inevitably compromise: "If you start with that, you will soon be having to think of starting an ecclesiola in the ecclesia because of this dead weight or dead wood."
- The urgent contemporary application concerns whether evangelicals should remain in doctrinally compromised denominations as an inner ecclesiola, which Dr. Lloyd-Jones firmly rejects since the Reformation disputes were about practice while current divisions involve fundamental doctrinal denials of cardinal Christian truths, making the historical precedent inapplicable to modern ecumenical questions.
Sermon Q&A
Questions and Answers
What exactly does "ecclesiola in ecclesia" mean and how did these movements function in practice?
The Latin phrase means "little churches within the church." These were voluntary gatherings of believers who met weekly (usually) within the larger church structure for deeper spiritual instruction, prayer, mutual encouragement, and strict accountability. Members kept attendance records, imposed fines for absence, and submitted to ministerial oversight. The content varied—some focused on reviewing sermons, others on sharing experiences or doctrinal discussion—but all aimed to create a spiritually vital core that might leaven the whole church. Crucially, participants did not leave the institutional church but remained as an inner nucleus.
Why did Martin Luther advocate for these inner churches but never actually implement them?
Luther was driven to consider ecclesioli by profound depression over the spiritual state of the Lutheran churches in the mid-1520s. He saw nominal Christianity, lack of discipline, and no evidence of genuine spiritual life. However, he abandoned the plan for two reasons: first, he couldn't identify enough truly converted people to form the nuclei; second, the Imperial Diet of Speyer in 1526 appeared to offer political opportunity for broader reform, making the "second best" option seem unnecessary. His inconsistency here reveals what Dr. Lloyd-Jones sees as Luther's failure to think through his doctrine of the church thoroughly.
Can these historical attempts at inner renewal movements be justified from Scripture?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones emphatically argues they cannot. The texts commonly cited—such as "where two or three are gathered," "admonish one another," or "exhort one another"—address all believers in the church, not a select group. The New Testament clearly recognizes different levels of spiritual maturity ("strong" and "weak" brethren) but never endorses separating the committed from the nominal into distinct meeting structures. Rather, Scripture envisions the whole gathered church sharing together in all spiritual privileges and responsibilities. The very idea contradicts biblical ecclesiology.
What lessons from these failed experiments are relevant for evangelical pastors today?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones identifies several: First, attempting to reform by starting with the existing situation rather than biblical principles inevitably leads to compromise. Second, the inability to implement ecclesioli without them either dying out or becoming separate churches suggests something fundamentally flawed in the approach. Third, and most importantly, the necessity of such expedients reveals defective doctrine about conversion, church membership, and the nature of the church itself. Pastors must face the hard questions: Who is a Christian? Who should be admitted to membership? What is the church? These cannot be avoided by organizational adjustments.
How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones address the argument that separating from mixed churches means losing opportunity to influence those who remain?
He dismisses this as "sheer lack of faith in the power of the Holy Spirit." The argument assumes we must stay among unbelievers to convert them, but this reflects unbelief in God's ability to save apart from our human strategies. Dr. Lloyd-Jones points out that the fastest-growing religious bodies often have the highest standards, and that remaining in spiritually compromised churches tends to lower the spiritual temperature of believers rather than raising others up. The doctrine of the remnant and trust in the Holy Spirit's power should govern decisions about church affiliation, not pragmatic calculations about maintaining influence.
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust's collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.