Movements & Institutions, Part 1
[Ed. Note: this post was intended to be a sidebar comment at The Last Sheep, but I couldn’t cram all my thoughts into 3 sentences. Here’s part one of the expanded version laid out as a dialogue between two friends over a couple of beers].
“I don’t think church should be limited to a building. It’s not a four walled institution.”
“You know, I agree. God’s people are his church, living stones built into a spiritual house, (1 Pe. 2:5), not a building made of human hands.”
“In that case, maybe we should worship in homes. After all, that’s what they did in Acts.”
“Well, Acts isn’t laid out as a blueprint or model. It’s more like a narrative description of what happened and less like a divine command. Paul isn’t saying, “The church shalt worship in homes.”
“Yeah, but why do I even need a church to worship in the first place?
“Well, I think we should start with the opposite question: Why wouldn’t you want to worship at a church? As Christians, members of a corporate body, we come to hear and celebrate what God is doing together, as a group. The desire to worship on your own or in a smaller group apart from the larger whole sounds like an ‘island mentality.’ We don’t go into separate rooms to take the Lord’s Supper, we receive it together at the same table. So also we shouldn’t divide into groups to worship God either. ‘Island syndrome’ at the core, is selfish.”
“Okay, I agree with that. Worship is a community event. We do it together. But you’re still not answering my question. Why a church? Why a building?”
“You’re right. We could worship anywhere we wanted. After all, Jesus says that where ever two or more or gathered, he promises to be there, too. But I think there’s a better reason for worshipping together, in a church, than because “we’ve always done it that way.”
“And what would that be?”
“Because that’s where God promises to show up. In his Word. And in his Sacraments.”
“Yeah, but I can read his Word wherever I go.”
“Right. Me, too. Isn’t that a blessing? But at church, where we agree to come together, is the only place we can have it spoken to us. You can worship at the beach, or in your house. But where else can you have someone else forgive your sins, and say ‘Christ died for you.’ Where else can you receive his sacrament? This happens at church, where these things come to us. There is great value in having his Word spoken to us, from the outside. Just like you can try to convince yourself that your crappy day will get better, but ultimately it’s not as comforting as someone else sitting next to you and hearing them say, “you know what, there’s hope in a better day that it coming to you. There’s someone who loves you and is going to change all this someday.’”
“Why do we need to have a pastor forgive us? I can forgive your sins right now.”
“You’re right, that’s one of the privileges of being a part of the royal priesthood. We can forgive each other’s sins. But what about the sins we commit against God? Although our sin breaks down our relationships with people here on earth, ultimately all sin is sin against God. We need hear someone forgive us on God’s behalf. That’s why we have pastors. We, as members of this corporate body called the church, recognize that God has appointed and given us these men to speak to us on his behalf. So although there is some comfort that our horizontal relationships can be restored by forgiving each other, there is no comfort like the assurance that God has forgiven our sins and loves us. After all, there are going to be people here on Earth who won’t forgive our sins at all. But if we are repentant, God promises to forgive us. There is great comfort in that.”
“I just don’t think that the church should be an institution.”
“What would you suggest instead?”
“I think the church should be a movement.”
“Describe what that looks like...”
"Well..."
“I don’t think church should be limited to a building. It’s not a four walled institution.”
“You know, I agree. God’s people are his church, living stones built into a spiritual house, (1 Pe. 2:5), not a building made of human hands.”
“In that case, maybe we should worship in homes. After all, that’s what they did in Acts.”
“Well, Acts isn’t laid out as a blueprint or model. It’s more like a narrative description of what happened and less like a divine command. Paul isn’t saying, “The church shalt worship in homes.”
“Yeah, but why do I even need a church to worship in the first place?
“Well, I think we should start with the opposite question: Why wouldn’t you want to worship at a church? As Christians, members of a corporate body, we come to hear and celebrate what God is doing together, as a group. The desire to worship on your own or in a smaller group apart from the larger whole sounds like an ‘island mentality.’ We don’t go into separate rooms to take the Lord’s Supper, we receive it together at the same table. So also we shouldn’t divide into groups to worship God either. ‘Island syndrome’ at the core, is selfish.”
“Okay, I agree with that. Worship is a community event. We do it together. But you’re still not answering my question. Why a church? Why a building?”
“You’re right. We could worship anywhere we wanted. After all, Jesus says that where ever two or more or gathered, he promises to be there, too. But I think there’s a better reason for worshipping together, in a church, than because “we’ve always done it that way.”
“And what would that be?”
“Because that’s where God promises to show up. In his Word. And in his Sacraments.”
“Yeah, but I can read his Word wherever I go.”
“Right. Me, too. Isn’t that a blessing? But at church, where we agree to come together, is the only place we can have it spoken to us. You can worship at the beach, or in your house. But where else can you have someone else forgive your sins, and say ‘Christ died for you.’ Where else can you receive his sacrament? This happens at church, where these things come to us. There is great value in having his Word spoken to us, from the outside. Just like you can try to convince yourself that your crappy day will get better, but ultimately it’s not as comforting as someone else sitting next to you and hearing them say, “you know what, there’s hope in a better day that it coming to you. There’s someone who loves you and is going to change all this someday.’”
“Why do we need to have a pastor forgive us? I can forgive your sins right now.”
“You’re right, that’s one of the privileges of being a part of the royal priesthood. We can forgive each other’s sins. But what about the sins we commit against God? Although our sin breaks down our relationships with people here on earth, ultimately all sin is sin against God. We need hear someone forgive us on God’s behalf. That’s why we have pastors. We, as members of this corporate body called the church, recognize that God has appointed and given us these men to speak to us on his behalf. So although there is some comfort that our horizontal relationships can be restored by forgiving each other, there is no comfort like the assurance that God has forgiven our sins and loves us. After all, there are going to be people here on Earth who won’t forgive our sins at all. But if we are repentant, God promises to forgive us. There is great comfort in that.”
“I just don’t think that the church should be an institution.”
“What would you suggest instead?”
“I think the church should be a movement.”
“Describe what that looks like...”
"Well..."
posted by nate at 11:48 AM
13 comments
