Theological Musings

n May, 2006, I wrote a post called “The Danger of Arrogance“. It was a reminder to myself that passionate feelings about something can sometimes lead to arrogance. In that post, referring to the way I had spoken with someone during a lunch meeting, I wrote:

Here I was diagnosing all the ills of the institutional church, pronouncing the cure, and expecting everyone to just say, “Ohhh, but of course. You’re right!” And meanwhile, I ignored the voice of the Spirit of God prompting me to back off and humble myself.

Well, I still find it difficult to find the fine line between passion and arrogance. And I still find it difficult to know how to talk about some of the things I’m passionate about without it sounding like I am slamming anything different from my ideas.

Recently, a newfound blogging friend, Brandon (who has commented here a couple of times, and is married to Heather, who also comments here) wrote a post regarding the comments he has read on various blogs about “institutional church”. Brandon was wisely cautioning people not to criticize without offering solutions. He writes:

…I see…volumes of criticism (both constructive and otherwise) followed by no real solutions to the problems and weaknesses of the institutional church.

This concerns me, too, but not for the same reason as Brandon. I’m not as concerned about the other blogs out there as I am about my own blog. In fact, I asked Brandon in the comments section if mine was one of the blogs to which he referred. I asked that because I want so desperately to do something other than just criticize.

In a comment on a recent post, my dear friend Gordon Cloud gave me a gentle prod:

If I may put a bug in your ear, it would be nice sometime to hear you discuss how simple church is blessing you and enhancing your growth.

I understand what Gordon is saying. And I definitely would be remiss if I didn’t share some of the ways in which God has brought people into my life in a non-conventional church setting who have spurred me on to love and good deeds! If I didn’t share some of the things that have taken place in my life since stepping outside the institutional model, I would be telling only half the story.

But at the same time, I find myself just staring at the monitor, attempting to post in response to Gordon’s comment, and not knowing how to articulate all I want to say.

In an attempt to outline what I perceive to be alternative ways of accomplishing what Jesus intends for His church, I find myself with no other point of reference than the way things are conventionally done.

It’s what we know. It’s how most of us have grown up. I don’t know of anyone reading this blog who has been outside the institution for even 10 years. And for most of us, it’s either much more recent than that, or we’re still in the institution. More than a few of my most faithful commenters are not only still in the institution, but are leaders within that context! How that has ever happened, I have no clue!

So, whenever I find myself trying to describe what we pursue in a simple church setting, I find the constant frame of reference to be what we used to do in the conventional model. And quite honestly, because I’m sometimes responding to questions from people within the institution (such as my recent Q and A posts in response to Gordon), it seems impossible to respond in a way that doesn’t involve some form of comparison or critique.

How can I talk about multiple elder leadership without contrasting it with a senior pastor configuration? How can I talk about freedom for the Spirit to move within the body, allowing edification to come from and through anyone in the group without comparing it to passive spectators listening to one man preaching? How can I present passages such as Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 14 without showing how it compares to what we have been doing?

If there’s a way, I’m open to someone showing me that way. I guess I could just present my views and leave the comparisons up to the mind of the reader, but I don’t know how effective that is. Part of the reason I find this difficult is because I know how easy it is to justify whatever we’re doing by thinking that we’re being true to the principles of Scripture. I know I still struggle with that in my current context!

Brandon concluded his post with the sentence: “The institutional church needs help, but it’s not hopeless….” While I understand Brandon’s point, and I don’t really want to say that it’s “hopeless”, I also have attempted to present different ways of looking at that.

If the institutional church is still valid for some, I at least want to let others know that there are alternatives. Maybe some of what I write about doesn’t apply to people who are actually vocationally leading churches. But for the average Joe Layman sitting in the pew, I think there is a tendency to not even be aware that there is anything different they could experience.

I spent almost 35 years of my life “in church”, only about 6-8 cumulative years of that really involved in leadership. And I can tell you from that experience, that while I was sitting in the pews, mostly observing what the leaders were doing on the stage (since most of the experience in the pew is passive), I didn’t know there was anything else for me to do!

I never dreamed that there could be a more interactive, edifying, challenging way of meeting together. I never dreamed that I could be in a room with 5-10 or 15 other people and gain more insight into God’s word. I never dreamed that I could be sitting in a living room with others and worship deeply without having a professional band up in the front. Or that I could learn as much from the “ordinary housewife” sharing what God had been speaking to her as I could from the most gifted of preachers.

And when I did start to question why we were doing things the way we were, I never dreamed that there were others like me. I thought I was really going off the deep end. I figured I must be losing my mind completely. (Some of you probably think that actually is true about me! ) Until I discovered that there are thousands of people like me, living this out every week, every day.

I recently received an email from someone who had stumbled across this blog. I won’t reveal anything personal about this person, and I hope they don’t mind me quoting a slightly-edited portion of their email, but I share this only because this is a story I hear time and time again. And it is my story, too:

I have been amazed that God is moving in such a way [of leading people into simple church] all around the world…. What shocks me even more is that so many people have made this step already. I thought [I was] somehow unique…. It is encouraging to see that many have gone before me.

It is primarily for this reason that I write about simple church. I want people to know that they are not alone in questioning elements of the institutional church. And I want to provide a place to discuss some of those questions.

In doing that, I think I sometimes cross the line into arrogant criticism of the church. This is never my intent! Please believe that.

However, I am grateful for these times when I am forced to step back and, once again, re-evaluate how I express my thoughts. And I will continue to try to find that balance.

To any who have been offended by what I have written here, I am truly sorry. If there is anything I can do to right that wrong, please let me know. And may God receive all the glory for any positive that comes from this humble endeavor.

Until next time,

steve