Church
without institution... How Christians can relate together unencumbered
by denomination.
The Nebulous Church
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The largest, most long-lived
social experiment of all time has so far been inconclusive,
but I don't want to give up on it....
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Despite disappointing results to date, millions of people
around the world still want to carry on with this experiment. It is
called the Church, and it was expected to unite people of different
backgrounds, different races and different positions in life.
excommunication
I belonged to the institutional church for more than 20 years, from
conversion to excommunication, and I have been out of it for almost
20 years more. The people who rejected me had been misled by dangerous
teachings about "discipleship" which they have since abandoned.
Some of those people are now my close friends, but I have no inclination
to rejoin theirs or any other institutional church. That experience
of rejection did not make me bitter because previous trials had
prepared me for it and I believed that God was leading me on into
new ways.
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Long before that final experience of being
asked to leave fellowship I had been through situations which
prepared me for it, starting with heavy "exit counseling"
to leave Pentecostalism while I was still a teenager. That
early experience taught me to be cynical about leaders who
direct and command in order to support their own prejudices.
Each later experience hurt less, until I was able to face
with relative ease the blow of 'excommunication', which many
other people found utterly shattering.
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The experiences of the past few years have helped shape my understanding
about those "new ways". I have not stopped believing in the idea
of the Church, but I have sought to redefine my thinking about it.
together The Church was a totally original idea introduced to the
world by the apostle Paul. There was no equivalent in Judaism, in
Roman paganism, nor in Greek philosophy. Previous expressions of
religion had some element of exclusivity about them; they were for
single tribes or nations; they were for single social classes; they
were for warlike hunters or for peaceful farmers. None of them matched
the Pauline concept of a fellowship of universal
love, or his remarkable vision of people working together as if
they were one body made up of many interdependent members.
frustrated
Many people who shared my experience of excommunication from sects
of the Charismatic movement previously believed that the movement
was leading them towards the ultimate unity of the Church. They
expected the Holy Spirit to draw people together by the power and
example of "the gifts" and the authority of anointed leaders. Unfortunately,
the abuse of leadership power led to widespread disillusion. Many
who felt let down by that move turned back to traditional denominations,
carrying with them a frustrated feeling that their dreams may have
been too idealistic. They decided that second best must be better
than nothing at all. Some other people remained outside the churches
and concluded that Paul's ideal must have been a mistake. I stayed
outside the churches but answered "No" to the question posed
in the title to one of George Tarleton's articles....
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The brief article referred to here appeared
in the mid 1970's and seemed so significant that I kept it
safe. It contains ideas and forms of expression that George
might shudder at today! .... But I like it and have often
referred back to it.
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"The Concept of One Church - Is it an Impossible Dream?"
. I have held onto the dream, and want to continue with the experiment.
independence Many people through the ages have become disillusioned
with the institutional church. Some, like Luther and Calvin, tried
to reform it, and ended up controlling new institutions of their
own. Some, like St. Anthony or like Simon Stylites, abandoned human
fellowship and went away to live a hermit's life, seeking God on
their own. Some of the mystics of the early Mediaeval church showed
striking independence from official church thinking, as we can see
from their writings and teachings; but they chose to influence the
church from within, like yeast influences dough.
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