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At this point, my theological understanding of Jesus’ church is the only thing motivating me to stay connected to the institutional church, which, in the last decade, has done very little to endear me to it and a LOT to disappoint/break my heart. Even this week. /1
But Christians aren’t supposed to be religious consumers, & the body of Christ (the church) isn’t a product to consume. Honstly, as a consumer, I can find far better “products” to satisfy my desire for connection & even spiritual fulfillment than the institutional church. /2
But I agree w/Eugene Peterson: “What other church is there besides institutional? There’s nobody who doesn’t have problems with the church, because there’s sin in the church. But there’s no other place to be a Christian except the church…” (cont’d) /3
“(cont’d)... Frederick von Hugel said the institution of the church is like the bark on the tree. There’s no life in the bark. It’s dead wood. But it protects the life of the tree within. And the tree grows and grows and grows and grows. If you take the bark off,...” /4
“...it’s prone to disease, dehydration, death. So, yes, the church is dead but it protects something alive. And when you try to have a church without bark, it doesn’t last long. It disappears, gets sick, and it’s prone to all kinds of disease, heresy, and narcissism.” /5
“In my writing, I hope to recover a sense of the reality of congregation—what it is. It’s a gift of the Holy Spirit. Why are we always idealizing what the Holy Spirit doesn’t idealize? There’s no idealization of the church in the Bible—none.”
- Eugene Peterson /6
- Eugene Peterson /6
I also reject the casual dismissiveness behind the statement, “There is no perfect church” when I attempt to shed light on serious problems in the church: injustice, manipulation, lying, misogyny, abuse of power, etc. /8
Just as my commitment to the institutional church leads me to reject religious consumerism, it also leads me to reject complacency when I see God’s people in collusion with wickedness. /9
