Some disconnected (and possibly incoherent) thoughts about church

The longer that I serve in ministry, the more concerned I become about the lack of understanding among Christians about the nature of the church. It appears to me that there has been a decades-long failure to grapple in a meaningful way with the purpose behind the existence of the church. We (Christians) are for the most part content to not be completely aware of what the nature and mission of the church actually is - in a broad sense (the "Church" on an institutional level, such as the United Methodist Church, or the Roman Catholic Church, for example) or in a local, much smaller sense (what is the purpose of my particular church?). There are, of course, no simple answers to the questions "what is the nature of the church?" or "what is the mission of the church?" This is why these questions must be grappled with in a meaningful way.

The technical term for this kind of discussion is ecclesiology, which comes from the Greek word ekklesia.  I love this word and I think about it often in the midst of my ministry. The word literally means "the called out ones". The ekklesia is a group called out (of what?) for a specific purpose. In its early uses before referring to the church, the ekklesia had a political connotation (the nature and function of the ekklesia changed over time). Ideally, the word still has a political connotation for the church, but not in the sense that a James Dobson or Pat Robertson might want it to mean (or Glenn Beck for that matter). The ekklesia, in terms of the Christian faith, is the primary agent by which God is at work in the world for the sake of reconciliation.

Those people who comprise the ekklesia have been called by God for just this purpose: the transformation of the world and the making of disciples (both of which, I would argue, fall under the heading "reconciliation"). This is a more active and challenging definition of "church" than, I daresay, most of our churches are willing to accept. Here's what it requires:

1) A complete trust and reliance upon the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus wasn't joking when he told his disciples that they would face situations where they would have to depend on the presence and power of the Spirit. It is no different for us. The flip side of this is the church fails in its mission when it relies solely on the abilities and energies of people.

2) A relinquishment of ego - kenosis. This is central to the church living up to its calling. In Philippians 2:5-7, Paul says the following:

"Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,who, though he was in the form of God,did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,being born in human likeness."

That phrase "emptied himself" can be summed up for our purposes here by the word kenosis, pouring yourself out. This concept of self-emptying factors heavily in my understanding of the church (the same idea is expressed by Jesus in Mark 8:34 - "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.") Church, in an important sense, is learning how to corporately lay aside selfish agendas for the sake of God's agenda, discerned through what Wesley called "holy conferencing", prayerful discernment, and careful/prayerful study of God's Word. This is almost excruciatingly difficult work for people who have been trained to be consumers and see church as existing to meet their narrow needs. They must be transformed by God's Spirit. People must be taught how to relinquish their ego and the church has, of all places in our culture, the resources to make this happen.

3) An outward focus. It has been my experience that many churches are quite content with who they currently have in their churches. This comfort with the current situation transforms a church from an ekklesia to a civic group. What many Christians fail to realize is that successful outreach breeds successful "inreach". The church is designed to be constantly going "out", to be constantly seeking people who are in need of God's grace (in other words, everybody).

4) A shared vision. It's nigh on impossible to have a successful church that has competing visions concerning what the church is "about". Of course, there will be some who are called to missions, some to care for the sick, some to worship planning, etc. I'm not talking about the diffusion of gifts among the Body. I'm talking about agreement on what we're here for. Missions is a particular manifestation of that, as is intentional discipleship, or care for the sick and dying, on and on. A major problem is that people often confuse particular manifestations of a vision for the vision itself. If the vision is "to make disciples and transform the world", this would be accomplished by various means using the multitude of gifts within a congregation.

I'm running out of steam…perhaps more later this week…the peace of Christ be with you.