The Church

“If you love me, you will love the church.”

These words come from a 2003 song by Derek Webb and were intended to be a clear reminder that it is impossible to profess to be a Christian and yet have disdain for the Church, the worldwide fellowship of those who have been justified and who have been sanctified, as well as the saints who have gone before.

Yet we live in a time where it is becoming more and more fashionable to disrespect the Church and instead take on the attitude that we can best worship God individually, potentially even forsaking the Body of Christ altogether. In the culture in general, the Church is not seen in the same positive light as it once was; and even among professing Christians, views on the church often tend to be negative. It’s true that some of the disdain is warranted, as in this day and age there are plenty of “churches” out there that are really little more than feel-good social clubs, motivational seminars, or safe-houses for the “perfect”. These places which teach a false gospel or no gospel at all do certainly leave a black stain on the reputation of the true Church of which they only pretend to be a part.

As a reaction to this, many end up distancing themselves from the historical tenets of the faith, instead seeking to go their own way and formulate a new brand from the ground up. The assumption seems to be that “the establishment” gave way to these errors, so it needs to be replaced with something new, pure, and “authentic”. These days, in some churches we don’t hear the words “church”, “sermon”, “sacraments”, etc. but instead hear of things such as “the conversation” instead.  To some extent using new terminology isn’t really a problem, but I have a concern that these groups are going to tread dangerously close to “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” and forsaking Biblical truth for the sake of “giving Jesus new PR”. It seems that rather than doing what the Reformers did – holding to the truth while weeding out error – it has become popular instead to “reinvent the wheel”, so to speak.

Yet before it reaches a point where it seems like I’m trying to knock the emergents, please note that isn’t really the case. I think we have some things we could stand to learn from them; and even in some of the other areas, to some extent I find it hard to blame them. There are some people who have never encountered a seriously dangerous “church” environment and have instead had the blessing of knowing only solid, sound, healthy Biblical teaching and fellowship from the youngest age they can remember. But many of us have at one time or another been in a position of being fed unsound doctrine, or worse, being subject to spiritual abuse in the name of Christ – which happens more often than I think anyone wants to admit (perhaps especially in fundamentalist and Pentecostal circles).

When we realize this is happening, our instincts may be to cut and flee (and in all likelihood, rightly so). But then as the healing process begins, we often want to isolate ourselves from anything resembling what we were once part of. And my fear is that many who reach this point will reject truth altogether. I’ve seen it happen multiple times, so I know it is a very real danger.

Others, however, while not rejecting core truths such as the deity of Christ, still end up developing a deep bitterness toward anything that resembles organized Christianity.  All organized branches of Christianity, apparently regardless of position and behavior, get lumped together as “bad” and then chastised for alleged faults. In this situation, it becomes exceedingly popular to denigrate the Church as a whole, and then coin new terms in order to still be identified as a “Christ-worshiper” but not a member of “the Church” or a “Christian”.  (Here is one article that digs a little deeper into this tendency.)

So finally… this is probably the core of my concern about the emergents; that while they correctly identify many problems, they overreact in their responses to those problems.

But at this point I haven’t really addressed what a healthy response might be. If you’re in a spiritually-abusive church situation, where the Gospel is being distorted – or if you are in a place where the Gospel isn’t even ever preached at all – then you would do well to move on and find healing, while being careful to identify, and then not forsake, the core tenets of the faith.  But what if you are still struggling while being in a grace-filled fellowship that is faithfully preaching the Word and presenting the sacraments? What if, at least to you, something still seems to be lacking?

I have to choose my words carefully going into this next section due to my role as a church employee. Please note that these are my own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the church. That said, if you read this next paragraph and it doesn’t sound right to you, I’d encourage you to give me a call or talk to me Sunday! Anyway, what I have to say is this:  from time to time, I come in contact with individuals who are either dissatisfied with what various groups in the church are doing (or more accurately, “not doing”). Often the case ends up being that said individuals or families finally make the decision to move on and fellowship in another church body that does provide the activity or service they are looking for. But I’m not convinced that approach is right, and here’s why.

What is a church? I think all too often we see it as a corporate body, much like a business, directed by a few and basically reflecting the views and values of a few. Though that’s not entirely inaccurate – and for good reason – all too often we forget that a ‘church’ isn’t the building nor the entity, but rather is the fellowship of Christians coming together as one body with one thing in common – worship of God. But as a group (the whole) comprised of individuals and families (the parts), it means that we’re all in it together. When it comes to the body of Christ being the hands and feet of Christ and going out into the community, for example, it doesn’t have to be an organized event. You want to do outreach in the surrounding neighborhoods? Go do outreach in the surrounding neighborhoods. You want more of an emphasis on sharing the Gospel? When was the last time you shared the Gospel with someone? You want more friendliness when you walk in the door? How many people did you go out of your way to be friendly to when they walked in? You want others to accept you into their circles? When was the last time you reached out to other people outside your circle? To put it succinctly… if you want change in your world, be the change in your world. What I mean by this is it’s not always appropriate to expect things such as these to be top-down goals of leadership. The corporate body in general may not all at once share your same passion, but in many cases all it takes is one. You can be that one. There are many elements such as these that will only become thriving ministries if someone steps in and fills the role; and by filling that role, all of a sudden – as part of the church – you have suddenly added to the ministries of the church.

To borrow (and twist) a quote from the late President John F. Kennedy: “Ask not what your church can do for you; ask what you can do for your church.” (And then go from there… ask what you can do for your neighbors, for your coworkers, for your city, for the kingdom!) Another angle on it is this: when everyone in a group waits for another person to take the first step forward, all stand still.

Now, don’t read into this what I am not saying. This is not by any means to be interpreted as being something negative against strong, session-led, Presbyterian governance. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I am convinced in my position that the Presbyterian form of church government is key to a healthy church, as it safeguards against both personality-based cultishness as well as direction-less democracy. If you are seeking to head up an organized ministry within the church, I in no uncertain terms strongly encourage you to contact your shepherding TE. But similarly, when it comes to things like caring for the unchurched, being friendly to one another, avoiding cliquishness, being a witness to those you come in contact with… don’t wait for someone else to take the first step and then fault the church when no one else does. Maybe it is you who are in the right place at the right time, “for such a time as this.”

I’ll close by asking this simple question. Think about it, ponder its meaning, and evaluate your response to it:  ”Do you love the bride of Christ?” Christ loves it, whore though it all too often is – but nonetheless, He loves it and gave Himself up for it. “Do you love the bride of Christ?”