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Institutionalised Christianity vs. the Church
By Asiri | February 14, 2009
I believe that Institutional churches are important, and will remain important. However, I also realise that it is quite a challenge to be relevant so that they do not become a thing of the past. In order to accomplish this, many of those churches must adapt and not conform to the changing culture around us.
Is the church you attend mostly concerned about the “absolute” truth or a “relative” truth? In other words, do they read the Bible for exactly what it says or a “watered-down” interpretation of what someone thinks it says. I have encountered some churches which seem to have “permited” through their acceptance, behaviour and actions that would have been frowned upon or even chasticed by the early church. I have also noticed that perspectives of some Christians today are determined not by the Biblical statement but by different philosophies and worldviews conveyed to them via the local church leadership, including doing what feels correct or comfortable in a given situation or based on a geographical location. The argument that absolute truth is not popular and thereby is not very “user-friendly” is often used by some leaders to validate their stand.
Here’s another one….and let us be brutally honest here. How often would you attend church and not feel like just another statistic? In April 2005 George Barna presented what he termed a ‘transition letter’. This was his declaration that he was embarking on a new direction in ministry. He had invested 25 years in research designed to bring effectiveness and health to the local churches of America. He was now abandoning this effort as previously transacted – Why? Let his words speak to this issue:
“My concern has always been whether or not our assistance really made any difference in people’s lives. The most discouraging study we ever conducted was one in which we attempted to identify churches in the U.S. that consistently and intelligently evaluate life transformation among the people to whom they minister. We found that very few churches – emphasis on very – measure anything beyond attendance, donations, square footage, number of programs and size of staff. None of that necessarily reflects life transformation.
Further, our on-going research continued to show that churches do not act strategically because of a paucity of leadership. My objective had always been to get good information into the hands of leaders so they would convert those insights into great strategic decisions about how to minister more obediently and effectively. Not having the leaders in place to utilize such information was an obstacle I had not foreseen.”
“Hold on a minute” I hear you say. “Doesn’t Hebrews 10:24-25 tell us that we are commanded to go to church?” Not really; that passage of scripture is talking about assembling together to exhort one another, not about congregating in a building called “church” every week and being addressed by a professional sermon giver where the closest one would come to fulfilling this scripture is during the pre-programmed 1 minute slot hilariously called “meet-and-greet”.
Perhaps the reason why this formula in the early days proved to be so effective at creating real Christians who were willing to die for their faith was due to the fact that their “meeting and greeting” was conducted outside of the controlled environement some would call “church” today. In contrast, today’s church seem to create many lukewarm, spiritually stagnant so called Christians who would only bother going to church if they could sit in comfort and be entertained by an elaborately orchestrated multimedia circus.
When I was pastoring and leading the church my wife and I started in Sri Lanka, my reasoning for the existance of the institutional church was mainly for these following reasons.
- Individuals getting together in a (church) group have a more effective way to serve their community.
- Equipping individuals for more effective ministry
- Protection from being led astray by false or misleading doctrines
Let us honestly evaluate if these points are being addressed positively in our lives. If the answer is a resounding “yes” let me tell you, you’re in the right place.
Topics: Church & Missions, Philosophy, Religion |