Two Faces of ...Church

There were two things I wanted to write about, but space and attention spans prohibited me from doing them both in this blog. The one I will save for later deals with Christmas, so look for it in a day or so.
This blog was prompted by an email conversation I had with a young man that responded via email about my past "issues" with the church, and the circumstances in which they arose. I answered off-line, but wanted to share my dual attitude about the church, as she is manifested today.

Yes, I have an issue with the manifestation of the church today. I believe the structure in place is one of expedience and not one of spiritual design. I look at two evidences of this "a-scriptural" church. The lack of spiritual discernment is stunning to me. For all the decades I have been associated with this form of religion, and the emphasis we have placed on education, we are still as spiritually unformed as we were 30 years ago. Oh, I know, the worship services are more contemporary, and the process is more business-like, but the people are just as confused and self-centered as ever. I read a little book called God's Debris, that summed it up pretty well. The contention was that people didn't really believe in God, but in the benefits of being in the group.
The proof was that if people really believed they would do whatever it takes, go to the ends of the earth and beyond, to truly understand. When in reality, they won't even go to the ends of the pew to fully understand. And I would like to believe that this simply applies to the people and not the leaders, but alas, that is not the case. There are very few leaders who can articulate the major theological precepts, much less apply the precepts to church health. Consequently, we are led by amateurs in the battle, by men who concern themselves with the health of the organization rather than the organism.
Which leads to the second indication. The church is run as an organization, which is man-made. Most, if not all, of the decisions are based on making sure the organization moves forward. Leaders are the head, directing the masses below, usually through a team of hired professionals. I find nothing in scripture that promotes this structure, and I have looked. This structure is man-made, and in my opinion will ultimately fail.
This structure, this mindset does most of the damage to the church today. Ministers are hired and fired, programs are initiated and scrapped, ideas come and go, processes are implemented, then dropped because they are man inspired and fall apart.
So, yes, this structure has harmed me and the ones I love and thousands like us simply because we saw another way. This one I have issues with.

But I think the church, when viewed as a community of believers, can be one of the most powerful and most effective voice of God in the world today. When the church is lead by Jesus
Christ and Jesus Christ alone, we see the point of our existence. When the church is viewed as a family of people dedicated to caring for each other, caring for those around them, and dedicated to articulating and practicing the justice, mercy, discernment of God in the world, they are the most fulfilling endeavor we can associate with.

When this happens, leaders become spiritual formulists, helping develop those around them into the disciples they need to be. These leaders are fully immersed in the spiritual disciplines, they are men who have triumphed and failed in their spiritual journey, they have stared the evil one in the eye and grappled, hand to hand, and won. They have grey hair (or no hair) because they have "worried" the enemy to the ground, and stood humbly in the presence of God and counted their victory as his. They have edged to the side of the trail and reached a scarred hand to those who have fallen, and helped them back onto the trail, supporting them with a shoulder until the strength has returned.
Those who follow them are people who have come to understand the grandeur of following a God who has a purpose and a plan, outside the security and happiness of those following. They are a people of discernment, what one of my professors once a called a "people of informed judgement." People who are willing and able and anxious to struggle with the big ideas of God, the conflict between things on earth and things in heaven. They are a people who see world events from a different point of view, and live out that point of view, regardless of the consequences. They are willing to engage the battle of injustice, of greed, to engage the battle for those less fortunate, because their God implements his plan in those circumstances.
This is the church I love, this is the church I will go to my grave loving, this is the church that will endure. I am a member-at-large of this church. This is God's church.

So Godspeed to all you other members. Maybe we should develop a secret handshake, which would mean we need a committee....see where this starts?
Don