The institutional church

This post is from the defunct blog "Dying Church"

Rob Harrison with a helpful post that helps us see the usefulness of the institution, while also recognizing its limitations:

The institution is just a structure to organize our activities to help us function...The institution is a dead thing that protects and gives form to the live thing underneath. But that points us to the reality that the structure isn't going to do the work of the church, because the structure isn't the church; we together are the church, and the structure is there to enable us as we do the work of the church. To avoid facing that, though, we tend to pile those expectations on the institution instead, and then when it fails, we blame it, and denounce it, and set off to find a better way...

I also suspect that we object to the 'institutional church' because it gets in the way of us doing what we want; but in reality, that's part of its purpose. Yes, there is a tendency for institutions to become self-justifying and self-serving, and that's a bad thing; but is that the fault of institutions, or of the people in them? That's a human sin, and attacking institutions won't change it. If anything, doing that makes it worse, because the existence of the institution, for all its faults, reminds us that it has a purpose. We can still do all the touchy-feely 'spirituality' stuff that's all about us without any kind of formal structure, but a congregation that never really goes beyond that is about as self-justifying and self-serving as anything can be; what we need the institution for is to do the things that take us beyond ourselves, the things that actually require work and effort and need organization and structure to support them and keep them going.

via

Comments

[Leighton Tebay]

I think this guy has some good points. Most people who complain about church institutions are naive about the realities of trying to organize any more than a handful of people.

[The Ancient Mariner]

Thanks for the link. I'll have to take some time this morning to explore your blog a bit.

[Next]

I think those who feel the need to defend the institution must first justify it's existence. From Scripture. To mock those who left the institution, only to form another one is painting with a very broad brush. They are not representative of the over 5 million Americans who have left the institution to walk closer with our Lord and with our brothers. Grace to you, Next

[Darryl]

I think you can argue pretty easily that some sort of structure took place in Acts and the epistles that you could call an institution. I'm not sure I see the mocking in the post. I have a lot of sympathy for those who are frustrated with the institutional church, but I do wonder if they will end up eventually repeating the same mistakes themselves. In the end the real problem turns out to be us, not the institution.