WalMart versus Target brand Church.
There's has been a great deal of conversation in the institutional church concerning it's continued decline for the past five decades. The institution is concerned and making efforts to "save itself".
The efforts of the past 30 years has often only recycled others from the institution and done little to
"attract" the masses of two generations. It seems that there are fewer and fewer folks from the institution to recycle. It's feels like trading WalMart shoppers for target shoppers.
I wonder about the word "attract". There is a boat load of folks from the institution who feel entitled to having their ego-based sense stirred by certain institutional elements.
Some blame the culture.
Some blame the institution.
I am curious. If you don't want much to do with the institution, will you please share your experience?
Thanks!
2 Comments:
Yo brother... welcome back. Too big a subject to cover adequately in this space, but a few thoughts.
I don't think the church, "the body of Christ" was ever meant to be an institution. Institutions beget bureaucracy and the number one priority of any bureaucracy is self preservation. So the main thing gets lost amidst the all the minutiae. Churches and "Church people" choose to follow or condemn certain things while ignoring others, creating an institution that is antithetical to what I think Christ intended and seemingly arbitrary and hypocritical to the outside world. There is so much talk about sin and so little talk about the new commandment that Jesus gave us in John 13:34-35. We remind ourselves that the Ten Commandments are not the Ten Suggestions but often seem to not make the same connecton to the new commandment. So we "love the sinner, but hate the sin". We quote the beautiful scripture about love from 1 Corinthians 13 at nearly every wedding, but neglect to apply it to our daily lives. I have had many, many wonderful experiences within the institution of the church, but in every case it was due to people and relationships. What I get from Matthew 25:35 is that how we choose to love one another is what matters most. The value of the institution is the extent to which it enables and encourages those love-based relationships. Unfortunately I have often found that the institution tends to perpetuate the status quo with exclusionary practices.
Rick good to hear from you man. The story of the parable of the talents seems to whirl around the hard drive in my head. We've taken a gift Jesus has given us an buried it, " in " the church. How much of what we call faith is lived out only "in" the church. The majority of time, resources, goes into an hour or two Sunday morning.I think if we had planted more faithfully in the world around us daily...we would reap more.When little is invested, little is returned. I know this sounds overly simplified Rick, but in my mind it is simple.
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