Re: Churches
Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 4:34 am
I've chimed in on other threads in the past so I won't beat the dead horse here so much.
For what it's worth though, as someone who spent 20 years in institutional, congregations serving as an assistant pastor of a Church of about 150, a pastor of a small struggling redevelopment church of about 50 (at it's height), a district worker in a district of about 90 churches, an elder in several churches, a board chairman in a church of about 400 that went throught a split, a church administrator in a church of about 1,600 and currently attending but not a formal member of a growing mega-church in our area (I make no bones about the fact that I attend to support my wife and family who don't share my views on what I'm about to say) and someone who has done a Biblical Lit degree and Seminary Work and formal ordination in an evangelical denomination, I think that the system is broken and most christians and local congregations don't operate in anything like the organic manner that the early Church modeled or on the manner that Jesus and the apostles taught within Scripture. Further, I'm convinced that the traditions and hierarchical functions of what is called "church" in our culture in the western has for the most part replaced the organic functioning of Christ as the head and the Holy Spirit as the indwelling power of God.
I don't say that genuine church can't exist and function in these forms. For the most part however, what I observe is weak, anemic and generally seeking to use human psychology, human forms of organizational dynamics (I have done Master's work in this area so I'm not just spouting an uninformed opinion in that regard) and frankly most organizational churches that I've observed, been a part of and yes, even led (so I'm pointing the finger at me and my roles too) if you moved the Holy Spirit out of them entirely, wouldn't skip a beat and would continue to function for the most part as if nothing had happened.
I'm convinced that for me in any measure that the true nature of the church is organic and that the answer is to examine everything from the most basic elements of what we take for granted within our churches (hierarchy, the role of the senior pastor today which is a role that has no biblical support and model etc.) and be willing to go where that examination takes us and most importantly to return Christ to the actual, rather than just the symbolic head of the Church.
Other than that, I think everything is just great ......
For what it's worth though, as someone who spent 20 years in institutional, congregations serving as an assistant pastor of a Church of about 150, a pastor of a small struggling redevelopment church of about 50 (at it's height), a district worker in a district of about 90 churches, an elder in several churches, a board chairman in a church of about 400 that went throught a split, a church administrator in a church of about 1,600 and currently attending but not a formal member of a growing mega-church in our area (I make no bones about the fact that I attend to support my wife and family who don't share my views on what I'm about to say) and someone who has done a Biblical Lit degree and Seminary Work and formal ordination in an evangelical denomination, I think that the system is broken and most christians and local congregations don't operate in anything like the organic manner that the early Church modeled or on the manner that Jesus and the apostles taught within Scripture. Further, I'm convinced that the traditions and hierarchical functions of what is called "church" in our culture in the western has for the most part replaced the organic functioning of Christ as the head and the Holy Spirit as the indwelling power of God.
I don't say that genuine church can't exist and function in these forms. For the most part however, what I observe is weak, anemic and generally seeking to use human psychology, human forms of organizational dynamics (I have done Master's work in this area so I'm not just spouting an uninformed opinion in that regard) and frankly most organizational churches that I've observed, been a part of and yes, even led (so I'm pointing the finger at me and my roles too) if you moved the Holy Spirit out of them entirely, wouldn't skip a beat and would continue to function for the most part as if nothing had happened.
I'm convinced that for me in any measure that the true nature of the church is organic and that the answer is to examine everything from the most basic elements of what we take for granted within our churches (hierarchy, the role of the senior pastor today which is a role that has no biblical support and model etc.) and be willing to go where that examination takes us and most importantly to return Christ to the actual, rather than just the symbolic head of the Church.
Other than that, I think everything is just great ......