I have been reading this book for the better part of a year and half. Though I love it's words it is not a book that you can settle into after a long day, instead you must engage your brain to read it. I have been in and out of a reading phase for a while, so I was excited to get through about 75 pages on a recent camping trip with friends. The funny thing about this book is that God strikes me with the urge to read just when the next chapter I am to read in the book applies to my life most. So on the day that our preacher, Steve Cobb, was to announce a huge change in the was our church is to structure our Sunday school/Bible Fellowship Groups. Any change brings discomfort. Though I am very excited about the change to small group that meet in homes and am ready grow smaller and closer. So here is the excerpt that God had for me on that day.
"The Church and the Mall
Consumerism is the god of this age. I spend my days choosing between countless goods and services, all designed to cater to my preferences and whims. I wake up in the morning and have my choice among an absurd number of breakfast cereals (or other foods, for that matter). I can catch up on the news either by reading my choice of newspapers, by checking any number of Web sites, or by watching one (or more) of 200 TV channels. I stand in front of my closet looking at over thirty different shirts (although I usually just wear my top four), thirteen pairs of shoes, pants, shorts-most of which I don't need, let alone ever wear. I drive to work listening to one of 100 radio stations. I go out to lunch at my pick of hundreds of local restaurants, each offering an extensive menu of selections. Going to the mall or grocery store presents me with a bewildering array of choices. I spend all day, every day, deciding what I want and what will be most pleasing to me. When I choose poorly, I have "buyer's remorse"; when I choose well, I feel momentary satisfaction until I have to look into my overstuffed refrigerator and decide what to have for dinner. My life is based on my right to choose.
So it no surprise that this mentality creeps into the church. Many of us come to God with our wants, desires, and preferences in primary view. And churches, if they are not careful, begin to cater to perceived demands of their patrons. A mall mentality affects the church. We feel the need to offer a dizzying selection of services and ministries designed to "meet the needs" of the whole family, realizing. of course. that if we don't. there are many churches in the area who are willing to meet those needs. Our job, even unconsciously, becomes outdoing the "competition" down the street.
Erwin McManus, in his book Unstoppable Force, makes a distinction regarding the church, which has stuck with me. McManus distinguishes between the church as a movement and the church as an institution. A movement is concerned with it's mission-it exists for a reason and will stretch itself to grow and accommodate to fulfill that mission. An institution, on the other hand, exists for itself-it seeks to maintain the status quo and usually has a great deal of resistance to change. A movement adapts and grows; an institution preserves and guards. A movement is organic and grass roots; an institution is structured and hierarchical. This distinction exists on a continuum-every church, to some degree, is both movement and institution.
God intended his church to be a movement, guided and powered by the Holy Spirit to fulfill the mission of Christ on the Earth, which is to make disciples of all the nations and to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth (Matt 28-18-20; Acts 1:8) Both structure and organization are necessary within such a movement. We see this in the early church and the instructions of Paul. The apostles had to delegate some work to others so they could focus primarily on teaching and prayer (Acts 6:1-7). Paul put believers in positions of authority and charged them with oversight and leadership of local churches. (e.g.; Titus 1:5)
Not everything about an institution is bad, but I suspect most of it is simply unhelpful in accomplishing the mission the church has been given. When the church turns inward and begins catering to the preferences of those who are there, it leaves the dynamic edge of Spirit-led obedience to places of greater and greater discomfort. When a church spends most of its times on cherished traditions and ceases to ask God in prayerful dependence what else he may be doing (even if it doesn't look like what we are doing now) so that we may join him there, we lose the joy and wonder of seeing God do the unexpected and unplanned-for.
Many of us realize the consumer mindset is the exact opposite of the outlook we are to have when it comes to the purpose of the church. I've heard many times. "The church is the only organization that exists for it's non-members." Most agree with the sentiment; we just don't know how to do that or why. The church has been (and still should be) a revolutionary community attempting to subvert and redeem the culture around it. Perhaps the clearest picture of how the church should function within a culture that is hostile to is comes from the book of Revelation. "
Emphasis mine.
Sorry this got so long but it is such a powerful passage. I want to join Christ in his plan for our church, for our city, for our state.....
