Acts 2: 44 - 47 NKJV
For those who know me, you know that I'm not a big fan of the catholic church. In fact, I'm really not a huge fan of large organized churches as a whole. I've been in my share of large congregations, and I know that it is easy to become lost in the shuffle of such a large group of people. I also am well aware that in such large congregations, there is ample room for a house of worship to become more like a political office than a gathering place to worship the Lord. Knowing this, I was surprised this week when Wayne Jacobsen engaged in a discussion on his weekly podcast of just how it is that we can save a failing catholic church. I found this discussion interesting because it seems lately that Wayne has been migrating away from the large institutional church idea. However, here he was talking about how it was that the institutional church could be brought back from the threshold. One of his main ideas was to do away with the priesthood and give up control of the church to the people it serves. yeah, that was one of his solutions. So, what we're going to do to save the catholic church is to get rid of the order of priests and replace them with...pastors? How is this going to save the church? I believe that Wayne and others like him have missed the boat on just why the church has seen decreasing numbers in their congregations. I believe that one of the big reasons that christians are abandoning the traditional church is one of relationship. People are weary of marching into a building each week into a well orchestrated performace. There is simply nothing organic, new or ground breaking the traditional church service. I could walk into any congregation this sunday and pretty much predict the events that would occur while I was there. I also know the teaching of the institutional church, which does nothing to foster the knowledge of coming to know and grow in Christ. In fact, most of the truth of Jesus which I know in my heart today is not taught in the modern church. This doesn't sound like a leadership issue to me. No, this sounds more like a broken system.
“So no, I’m not too big on religion...and not very fond of politics or economics either...And why should I be? They are the man-created trinity of terrors that ravages the earth and deceives those I care about. What mental turmoil and anxiety does any human face that is not related to one of those three?”
― William P. Young, The Shack
Tell me, how is a change in leadership going to help a dying system where most people feel choked off and lost? It's not. At best, a shakeup of leadership in the church is simply a band aid placed over a gaping wound. We will do away with the order of the priests, but who will we replace them with? See, in our minds, the church needs a heirarchy of leadership. We definately need a head pastor. We also need associate pastors for those times when the head pastor is feeling overwhelmed. Oh, and we'll definately need some sort of support staff to bring all of this together right? There you have it, we've now replaced the prisets of the catholic church with the pastors and staff of the churches we know. Now, tell me what possitive changes you made. Tell me how these changes are going to inspire the numerous congregations yearning for relationship amidst the sea of the institutional church. What I've experienced for myself is being in a large congregation while being told all about Jesus. Sure, I heard the traditional stories and sermons with the institutoional message, but what I rarely heard was how I could experience a relationship with my Savior. In fact, most christians I talk to today think that a relationship with Jesus is only something we will experience after his second coming. I get it. This is the message we have been taught for thousands of years. The apostle Paul was one who knew the heirarchy of church leadership all too well. It was Paul who persecuted the followers of the early church of Christ Jesus. It was also Paul who tells us that we can and do share a relationship with Jesus through His Spirit who dwells in us {Galations 2:20}. What about this early church? Well, there were no large temples or congregations, priests or pastors. No, these followers of Jesus gathered privately in each others homes to learn of the teachings of Christ. You can't get any more organic than that, right? Now, we may have our potluck lunches or church family camping trips, but nothing we do will ever come close to the relationship of the early church. No change in church leadership will ever produce this. What will produce a church of relationship with Christ is a gathering of believers who come together without all of the trappings of the institutional church dog and pony show. And the Lord will add to that church daily those who are saved.
~Scott~
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