I have to quote the rest of his comment too, because it's a lot more realistically optimistic than my initial thinking was:
One source of hope for me is the growing movement to be, what I would call, just church. Perhaps this is God's answer to the negative positions of much of the institutional church. Perhaps God is setting us up to be the one church, universal, separate from the institutional church. It is indeed the institutional church that is losing members. Maybe the "religious right" will be the last ones standing in the institutional church while the one church, universal, non-institutional grows like crazy.That reminds me of something my pal Mark Winstead said on his blog: As a brand, the name "Christian" is tainted. Mark goes on to make a strong case for dumping the name completely. After all, from a Biblical perspective it's a lot less common than simply "disciple," "follower," or even "friend." "Believer" is another one I hear used a lot.
When I teach, I make an effort not to use religious words like "apostle," "disciple," and even "church." They carry too much baggage. Instead I try to refer to "missionaries," "followers," and "congregations." It's semantics, but I find it helps keep me focused on the real meaning behind these concepts instead of what thousands of years of tradition have turned them into.
I wonder along with Mark: What if the followers of Christ who aren't that interested in maintaining the institution of the church stopped calling ourselves Christians? What would that look like? I'm not to the point where I'm willing to deny being a "Christian," but I'm desperate for a way to differentiate between myself and those who've usurped the name.
4 comments:
Hi Michael. I ran across your blog, and I guess you could say I find this subject fascinating. I looked up the word institution on Wikipedia and dictionary.com, and based on what I learned about institutions in my sociology class, I would say the church is an institution. I really don't see how it couldn't be, especially considering that even marriage is an institution. By my thinking, saying the church is not an institution is one step away from atheism, since atheistic thinking is commonly characterized by a full rejection of the church and many other sacred social institutions, like marriage. Thanks for hearing me out! -- Matt
Hi, Matt. First of all, thank you SO much for your reasonable, polite reply. All of us here at Dead to My Flesh love discussion and don't at all mind being challenged, but too often it's phrased in a confrontational way. Thanks again.
I think - no, I know - you're right about the technical definition of an institution and that the church fits it. I don't want to speak for my dad (who first brought the word into this discussion), but I was using it - perhaps improperly - as shorthand for the Establishment. That is, the existing power structure or the dominant group.
It's not organization of believers that I'm opposed to. God created the church and it's an immeasurably enormous blessing when we go about its work like he intended. What I'm against is turning that group of believers into a source of authority that dictates and enforces its own values to the rest of society. Or even tries to.
Yes, believers need to be examples to the world, but through our actions and attitudes; not through our political power and legistlation.
I hope that clears up my position a bit. Thanks again!
Yes, it is all very complicated when you start thinking about politics. I'm not sure what degree Christians should move to legislate morality. For me, there are just some things I will never vote in favor of if I had to vote on them: gay marriage or civil unions, abortion and embryonic stem cell research, especially the last two since I believe they involve human life. Thanks for the discussion! -- Matt
Thank you!
I'm with you in not being sure where the line is in legislating morality. I certainly think we should let the Spirit influence our vote-casting. That's just democracy. It's when we get into lobbying and other forms of political activism that I get really uncomfortable.
I'm not opposed to sharing a Spirit-led perspective with people, but that involves conversations and lots of love and patience. What I can't stand - and don't find any Biblical support for - is the shouting, finger-pointing, and name-calling that too often accompanies "Christian" politics.
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