Toe-stepping time!

O.K., here goes.

I am still formulating my belief's and opinions on this topic and I hope this will start some meaningful discussion. Let me start with a little background - on myself, just to let you know where I am coming from so that I won't be accused of either being defensive or biased (which we all are to a degree if we'll just admit it!)

I grew up in a ministry family - my mom was a full-time, licensed C.E./Children's pastor, my uncle served on the mission field in Central America, I spent a great deal of time during my adolescence doing ministry with outreach teams in Mexico (all over Mexico!). I went from High School to Bible College where I majored in Biblical Languages, then I went to Fuller Seminary (I lack 5 classes for my Master's. My whole goal in life has always been ministry - pastoring, church staff ministry, and Teaching at a Bible College or institute.

I have been leading worship and teaching since I was in high school. My first real foray into ministry was leading worship and being on the "team" for a successful church planting venture while I was still a senior in High School. I had a great mentor. I then spent several years in full-time ministry as a youth pastor, then bi-vocational ministry while at Seminary. Our family then moved and we pastored for a couple of years (it was disastrous!). After that we served on staff again for a year or so - then we were dumped! (I won't give any details - but let's just say I wasn't the first and certainly not the last casualty under that particular ministry/senior pastor).

Soo, I now find myself in the Mid-West rethinking the whole role of the institutional church and where I fit in as a servant to the body of Christ.

I am not responding to any particular post, book or blogsite, but rather to my personal sense that the pendulum shouldn't swing too far in the direction that it is currently headed. Let me just say that I could fill several lines with links to references from just a handful of bloggers, book reviews and articles to prove my point. Here I choose not to make it personal against any particular author or post, just suffice it to say, I am not angry about anything, nor am I offended - I am just concerned. Also, my opinions and observations are not directed toward any specific church or pastor - My former church (JAG) is a GREAT church, with a GREAT PASTOR! I now attend another great church with a great pastoral team and awesome ministries for the whole family. That being said, here goes.

My first point (yes, that was a long intro.....):

The institutional church is definitely in trouble.

There are scores of books and bloggers out there currently spelling this out. Some of them are helpful at pointing out areas where we are missing the point and not connecting with our culture - I agree. Some are merely critical and don't offer any real solutions - in fact the perception I get is that many of the authors themselves have all but given up on the church as it stands today. I believe that this is a mistake.

The Church HAS been (slowly) Responding

There are many different formats and forums where "the church" can flourish - house churches for one. In our society there is a growing need for people to connect in a meaningful way. As an aside, one thing that drew our family to LARGER churches in the past was our need to feel "safe" and insulated from people because we were wounded in ministry. (This was both wrong and a temporary solution to a very real problem we had to work out in ourselves.)

In my experience there is also something very meaningful about coming together as a larger representation of the body of Christ and gathering in celebration. That could explain why there are so many regional conferences popping up where smaller churches (and home-based fellowships) can come and worship collectively. There truly is something special that happens as we identify with the body of Christ at large.
My main point is that while we are in a state of flux, there are and will continue to be "successful" ministries across the spectrum. The whole goal should be to fulfill the Lord's commission to make disciples. There are people who get plugged-in through traditional ministries as well as through non-traditional formats. I believe it is a shame to completely discount the "traditional, institutional church" as totally irrelevant. True, there are many (like myself) who are screaming for reform from within the old structure. I believe we can find success - it is a worthy endeavor. Two of my heroes were just such figures - Erasmus, and Sir Thomas Moore. They were both contemporaries of, and mostly in agreement with many of Martin Luther's criticisms of the catholic Church of his day. But, they sought to reform the church from the inside-out (which would have saved much bloodshed). History tells us that they were successful to a degree - as was Luther - only many years later.

This new state of flux and need for reform we are currently experiencing shouldn't require bloodshed. (Although I have witnessed a few lively church-council meetings in my day). In a nutshell, there seems to be a bit of pride getting in the way between churches who have buildings vs' churches who choose not to have buildings. Also, (and to a lesser degree) churches with professional clergy vs' those whithout. There are arguments for and against both models.

Frankly, I am on neither side. I rejoice when I hear that one of the churches in town is growing to the point where they need more space. There is a limit to how many services you can hold in a given weekend - especially if you rely heavily on volunteers. I also relate to the church who chooses to meet on a Saturday evening at the park, play volleyball, cook bratz and sing together accompanied by acoustic guitars - awesome stuff! My beef is that there isn't a RIGHT way, or WRONG way to do church, as long as we are being obedient to what the Lord has called us to be and we aren't doing it out of rebellion or pride.

Any thoughts?