LIfe in the church
02/06/13 05:31
I have lived my life inside of the institutional church. I was 25 when I became an ordained minister, but I had been deeply immersed in the church long before I assumed a leadership role. I was baptized as an infant. My parents took me to church camp before I can remember. We always went to church and my parents participated in committees. Our family was quite involved in the church beyond the local congregation. One year, when my father was moderator of our Conference, we visited all of the churches in the Conference. We drove and flew around the state of Montana worshiping in churches of all sizes and shapes.
I say that simply because I am an “insider.” I don’t’ know what the church looks like from the outside, because my life has been in the midst of the institution. There have, however, been many congregations. I transferred my membership from the congregation in which I was confirmed to another congregation when I went to college. While we did not transfer membership, we participated in a couple of different congregations during our seminary years. Since graduation, we have served four congregations. For seven years we served two congregations at the same time.
Even an insider, however, can feel the dramatic shifts in the institution. One term that has been used, with some accuracy, is decline. Although the individual congregations we have served experienced growth during the time that we served them, the overall membership of the United Church of Christ has declined rather precipitously during my active career. Budgets have been cut and staff reduced in the church’s Conference and National settings. There are fewer congregations and fewer members. This decline is not confined to the United Church of Christ. It is true of all denominations, though there are regions of the world where rapid growth, not decline is the present reality.
Another way to describe the changes is a drift away from institutional structures. The rise of non-denominational churches during the last quarter of the 20th century produced some very large congregations who operate without many connections with other congregations. They conduct their own mission. They design their own educational programs. They set their own standards for authorization of ministry. But even the non-denominational churches are experiencing overall decline in the United States in this century. As I have often told my congregation and mentioned frequently in this blog, the polls indicate that the fastest growing religion in America today is “no religious preference.” Among those who profess to have no preference are people who describe themselves as “spiritual, but not religious.”
Some of the “spiritual, but not religious” folk are essentially anti-institution. They believe that faith is a private matter and they point to abuses and betrayals of institutions. They choose not to participate in the institutional church, but will sometimes come to the church for certain events and functions. We often assist with funerals and walk through grief with persons who had been distant from the institutional church until they experienced the loss of a loved one. It is true that Jesus doesn’t specifically speak of the institutional church anywhere in the Bible. But he does form a group of disciples and advises them against operating alone. The experiences of the resurrected Christ were primarily experiences of groups of people. In our world, Christ takes form in a group of people. You can’t be the body of Christ all by yourself. The communal aspect of religion is directly related to our faith.
I confess that there some of the trappings of the institutional church can occasionally drive me up the wall. My life has a few too many meetings. Petty bureaucrats do not inspire me. The church has its own form of politics for which I’ve never developed a refined taste. I am much more of a hands-on worker than an administrative organizer. And there are far too many arguments and disagreements about things that simply don’t matter for my taste.
The bottom line, however, is that I belong. I am a member. I am not going to head off in my own direction all by myself. I am, after all, an insider.
There are plenty of people of faith within the institution who inspire me. There are moments of worship that are genuine. There are ministries that are meaningful that cannot be undertaken without cooperation The institutional church has a lot to contribute and a role in modern society. Ours is not the last generation of the Christian church.
One of the movements that I enjoy watching is often called the “emerging church.” The emerging church crosses a lot of traditional boundaries in a quest for genuine practices of faith. Participants in the movement proclaim that it resists labels. It is not catholic or protestant but rather both at the same time. It does not preach a single theology, but rather encourages dialogue and discussion. Worship is not structured around formal or traditional liturgies, but rather is an organic, emerging expression of faith in God.
I’m not sure it is even accurate to use the term “congregation” to describe gatherings of emerging churches, but it does seem that the groups start with little of the structures of the institutional church but move towards institutionalization. Meeting times have to be set in order for people to gather. House churches grow to the point where they need larger buildings. A shared building means that there need to be systems of join decision-making. Before long, some of these emerging congregations begin to look a lot like institutional churches. Still they bring freshness to the church that is welcome. The commitment to community and missional living is often deeper than found in some parts of the institutional church. Emerging churches tend to be a bit quicker to adopt the use of new technologies and have much to teach us about setting priorities and reaching out to those who are estranged from the institutional church.
The words to Kenneth Cober’s hymn come to mind this morning as I think of the church that I love:
Renew your church, its ministries restore,
both to serve and adore.
Make it again as salt throughout the land
and as light from a stand.
‘Mid somber shadows of the night
where greed and hatred spread their blight,
O send us forth with power endued.
Help us God, be renewed.
I say that simply because I am an “insider.” I don’t’ know what the church looks like from the outside, because my life has been in the midst of the institution. There have, however, been many congregations. I transferred my membership from the congregation in which I was confirmed to another congregation when I went to college. While we did not transfer membership, we participated in a couple of different congregations during our seminary years. Since graduation, we have served four congregations. For seven years we served two congregations at the same time.
Even an insider, however, can feel the dramatic shifts in the institution. One term that has been used, with some accuracy, is decline. Although the individual congregations we have served experienced growth during the time that we served them, the overall membership of the United Church of Christ has declined rather precipitously during my active career. Budgets have been cut and staff reduced in the church’s Conference and National settings. There are fewer congregations and fewer members. This decline is not confined to the United Church of Christ. It is true of all denominations, though there are regions of the world where rapid growth, not decline is the present reality.
Another way to describe the changes is a drift away from institutional structures. The rise of non-denominational churches during the last quarter of the 20th century produced some very large congregations who operate without many connections with other congregations. They conduct their own mission. They design their own educational programs. They set their own standards for authorization of ministry. But even the non-denominational churches are experiencing overall decline in the United States in this century. As I have often told my congregation and mentioned frequently in this blog, the polls indicate that the fastest growing religion in America today is “no religious preference.” Among those who profess to have no preference are people who describe themselves as “spiritual, but not religious.”
Some of the “spiritual, but not religious” folk are essentially anti-institution. They believe that faith is a private matter and they point to abuses and betrayals of institutions. They choose not to participate in the institutional church, but will sometimes come to the church for certain events and functions. We often assist with funerals and walk through grief with persons who had been distant from the institutional church until they experienced the loss of a loved one. It is true that Jesus doesn’t specifically speak of the institutional church anywhere in the Bible. But he does form a group of disciples and advises them against operating alone. The experiences of the resurrected Christ were primarily experiences of groups of people. In our world, Christ takes form in a group of people. You can’t be the body of Christ all by yourself. The communal aspect of religion is directly related to our faith.
I confess that there some of the trappings of the institutional church can occasionally drive me up the wall. My life has a few too many meetings. Petty bureaucrats do not inspire me. The church has its own form of politics for which I’ve never developed a refined taste. I am much more of a hands-on worker than an administrative organizer. And there are far too many arguments and disagreements about things that simply don’t matter for my taste.
The bottom line, however, is that I belong. I am a member. I am not going to head off in my own direction all by myself. I am, after all, an insider.
There are plenty of people of faith within the institution who inspire me. There are moments of worship that are genuine. There are ministries that are meaningful that cannot be undertaken without cooperation The institutional church has a lot to contribute and a role in modern society. Ours is not the last generation of the Christian church.
One of the movements that I enjoy watching is often called the “emerging church.” The emerging church crosses a lot of traditional boundaries in a quest for genuine practices of faith. Participants in the movement proclaim that it resists labels. It is not catholic or protestant but rather both at the same time. It does not preach a single theology, but rather encourages dialogue and discussion. Worship is not structured around formal or traditional liturgies, but rather is an organic, emerging expression of faith in God.
I’m not sure it is even accurate to use the term “congregation” to describe gatherings of emerging churches, but it does seem that the groups start with little of the structures of the institutional church but move towards institutionalization. Meeting times have to be set in order for people to gather. House churches grow to the point where they need larger buildings. A shared building means that there need to be systems of join decision-making. Before long, some of these emerging congregations begin to look a lot like institutional churches. Still they bring freshness to the church that is welcome. The commitment to community and missional living is often deeper than found in some parts of the institutional church. Emerging churches tend to be a bit quicker to adopt the use of new technologies and have much to teach us about setting priorities and reaching out to those who are estranged from the institutional church.
The words to Kenneth Cober’s hymn come to mind this morning as I think of the church that I love:
Renew your church, its ministries restore,
both to serve and adore.
Make it again as salt throughout the land
and as light from a stand.
‘Mid somber shadows of the night
where greed and hatred spread their blight,
O send us forth with power endued.
Help us God, be renewed.