It strikes me that, as time goes on, the reality that there are people in our culture who love Jesus but either hate, or are uncomfortable with, the organized American church continues and expands.
And, from what I can tell, the number of people who are on fire for Jesus and are unconnected to organized Christianity is growing...and doing so at a quickening pace.
In fact, if there's exponential growth in American Christianity at all, it may be in the expansion of the group that follows Jesus apart from involvement with organized religion.
It's becoming an issue for the organized part of American Christianity that considers itself to truly be the "church," that there is a rapidly increasing number of people who believe in Jesus, and who follow Him passionately, yet who don't think of organized and institutionalized American Christianity as the church at all.
Many of those people have at least some degree of hostility toward the organized and institutional church, as do I, but many more, I believe, who are, by now, simply, indifferent to it.
I'm constantly reading about how the organized church can reverse its declining fortunes...or save itself...as if Jesus following will die out in America if the institutional church fails.
More and more, I doubt that that is so.
And, what's more, I'm convinced that if the organized church is going to have a future, it's going to have to humble itself and acknowledge that there's a growing number of passionate and radical, genuine Jesus followers who find organized American Christianity to be a detriment to a life of obedience and righteousness.
More and more, I think that the organized American church will have to seek an accommodation with people like me, people who love Jesus and may even hate or, at least, dislike organized religion.
(The people who love Jesus but are already disinterested in institutionalized Christianity may be a lost cause.)
Interestingly, if rumor's true, my own body's response to my passionate and radical life of obedience and righteousness has been to exclude me.
As the number of people like me expands, in five or ten years, it strikes me that the institutional church won't be able to do that any longer.
After all, the number of people who don't believe in Jesus and who think the church is irrelevant is also growing. The growth of that group truly is exponential.
Can the organized church write off believers?
I think the group you speak of is far smaller than you imagine - people that are so on fire for Jesus that they leave even the best expressions of church in the dust of their enthusiasm.
ReplyDeleteSure, there are plenty of sincere believers in Jesus that genuinely love and try to follow him.
But...
I know of very few who are not connected with a church in some way who are passionate and really growing in their faith.
Most (that I know) are stagnant in their (sincere) faith. Of course very many involved in churches are also - and often enough just as stagnant.
Institution doesn’t compel me personally. But to act as though the overwhelming majority of churches are ALL institution and no dynamic, real growing faith is not accurate in my experience.
Anyone that serious about following Jesus needs community of some sort to do it. You can't fulfill what Jesus calls us to as a lone 'ambassador.'
Actually, I think much of what you speak of is American individualism. It catches even the best of disciples.
If you think you can follow Jesus best by yourself, that’s not something to be applauded. It’s time for some
humility.
If churches are failing disciples - and many times they are - that’s a real problem.
But churches aren’t going to be robust communities of disciples is the disciples don’t want to bother with the challenges of community.
Churches need to wake up.
Disciples disconnected from Christian community need to wake up as well.
Dan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for saying this on the blog.
As I was writing that post, I was aware that I may be seeing more than exists and I checked myself several times.
The truth is that I know many devout people who are disconnected from organized Christianity.
Some are involved in the Simple Church, aka the Organic Church, or, house churches.
And, others live for Jesus and take their Christian community from close friendships with brothers and sisters who may or may not attend Christendom congregations.
I don't know any people with a robust faith who attempt to follow Jesus apart from community. I do know some with a robust faith who find their community is ways entirely disconnected from the organized church.
As you may know, Evieand I have a very complex network that forms out connection to the Body. But, it almost never involves us in consuming a "worship service."
It is possible to find community outside of the organized church, believe me.
What I've learned in recent years is that there are more than a few people these days who find what happens in a so-called worship service to be distasteful...
...and, more to the point, that it inhibits their love relationship with Jesus.
And, please, don't be too quick to blame America. The House Church movement, for instance, is probably bigger in Europe than it is here. And, certainly its significant in Africa and Asia.
If anyone in the organized church would be aware of the need to change, I'd have expected it would have been you.
My claim, at this point, is not that there are many people like the ones I describe now, though I suspect that there are far more than you realize. What I'm suggesting, is that the number of those people is growing, and will continue to grow in the years immediately before us.
I'm absolutely convinced that the millennials and post-millennials I know won't be attending, for example, the typical ERC CGGC congregation to establish a vigorous life of righteousness.
Do you disagree?
The organized church will have to find a way to make peace with the people who have a distaste for it.
I'm convinced of that.