For most of Christian history congregations have served as gathering places where geographically approximate adherents could practice their faith. It was not always this way.
For most of its first three centuries Christianity was mainly a street movement, a marketplace phenomenon that spread through slave populations and social guilds of free laborers. Gatherings of adherents took place primarily in homes and some suitable public places, convening primarily for fellow- ship, teaching, and worship. However, the gatherings were not the point or focus of Jesus-follower spirituality. Christianity was primarily a practice, a way of life.
Love of God and love of neighbor meant adopting a life of sacrificial service that distinguished followers of Jesus as a counter-cultural force, differentiated from those around them by the character of their lives. Early believers rescued babies (especially girls) abandoned by Roman households. They stayed behind to tend to the sick people when plagues drove the population out of the cities. In other words, Jesus followers demonstrated allegiance to Jesus primarily when they were away from their gatherings, engaged in lives that typically and routinely intersected with and included non- Jesus followers. The church represented a lifestyle that was radically different from its cultural surroundings but radically committed to the well-being of the people in the culture.
Along the way, though, this orientation changed. The church movement became domesticated. The imperial edict by Constantine is usually blamed but a shift was already under way with the rise of a clergy class. These two forces— the need to create a state religion and a clergy eager to comply—combined to centralize and institutionalize the Christian movement. The church congregationalized. This move profoundly altered its way of being in the world.
The idea of adherents gathering together as the central practice of the faith gained ascendancy when the church settled down into a religion dominated by clergy. Church as congregation developed the expectation that people would demonstrate their devotion to the faith by participating in congregational activity, which centrally involved the worship service. Rather than a lifestyle of counter-cultural sacrificial love of neighbor, adherence to ‘‘the faith’’ became centered on assenting to a set of doctrinal beliefs. Christianity became defined as a set of theological propositions rather than a way of life.
The ensuing schism between belief and practice promoted a sacred-secular dichotomy that greatly influenced the nature of congregational life as something distinct from the rest of life. Church became a ‘‘sacred place’’ where specific religious acts were performed. The congregation served as home base for Jesus followers, a sort of refuge, effectively pulling the church off the streets. Loyalty to Christ was measured by one’s participation in congregational activity. In exchange for this support the church provided religious goods and services to its ‘‘members.’’ The ‘‘member culture’’ would eventually give rise to a culture of competition, as congregations vied for the affection and financial support of existing and potential customers.
The most enduring legacy of the congregational church is its worldview. Church as congregation became something other than the people who were its constituency. The church became an ‘‘it.’’ It stood outside people. This notion is in contradiction to the New Testament understanding of church as a ‘‘who.’’ Biblical teaching on the church sees the church as the ongoing incarnation of Jesus in the world, an organic life form vitally connected to him, even married to him, depending on the metaphor chosen by the writer. Church as an ‘‘it’’ followed the inevitable path that all institutions travel. Institutional goals eventually became separated from and supplanted spiritual mission. The clergy, who initially served as spiritual leaders because they were spiritual leaders, over centuries became increasingly captured by organizational concerns at best or political agendas in the worst cases.
Although the Reformation adjusted some of the theological categories, it did little to alter the notion of church as a congregational expression. In fact, Reformation ecclesiology remained centered on the congregation. Church vocations still referred to clergy roles. Orders and practices guided and focused on what the church did in its corporate gatherings, worship, and activities. In many denominations the idea of church itself became inextricably tied to the proper administration and functioning of gatherings, worship, and activities, especially if it was a way of distinguishing one denominational tribe from another.
The post-Reformation modern era did not move to alter the congregational understanding of church. Though several developments affected its practices, nothing challenged the ruling paradigm of church as congregation. Twentieth-century developments in transportation and the corresponding infrastructure such as freeways allowed people to travel greater distances more quickly with relative ease. People could choose among congregations to select their spiritual ‘‘home.’’ This, in turn, fueled congregational competition, giving rise to the customer-service orientation of the contemporary program church (and spawned a church growth industry that promoted the idea of building even bigger and better ‘‘churches’’ — meaning congregational organizations). The assumption was that community and individual transformation would result from having great congregations with well-trained clergy and lots of programs.
The rise of the megachurch in the second half of the twentieth century paralleled what was going on in the retail world as the center of gravity shifted from the ‘‘mom-and- pop parish’’ to the large ‘‘big box retail centers.’’ These megachurches have maintained their core sense of identity as a congregation—that is, for those who attend, church is something outside of me that I belong to, that I attend or ‘‘go to,’’ an institution that I support.
This sweeping and admittedly broad-brush treatment of church development over the centuries might sound as if church as congregation is and was bad. I do not mean to imply or even to suggest this. To the contrary, many congregations do a lot of good. Some pack hundreds of backpacks of food every week to send home with school children who are food insecure. Others conduct mentoring and tutoring programs for underperforming students. Some churches are building wells in overseas villages so people can have access to clean water while at the same time creating microeconomic development opportunities for the villagers. Still others work to liberate women and children from sex traf- ficking and slavery. Certainly without congregational effort, the clean-up efforts after Hurricane Katrina would have been far less extensive and effective. In fact, the faith community saved the day for many—and is still working to rebuild that part of our country. Disaster relief abroad as well would be much diminished without the altruism expressed through American congregations. Added to all this is the spiritual teaching and nurturing of millions of Americans each week! All of this should be honored and celebrated.
Nor do I mean to seem to be predicting the end of the congregational expression of Christianity. Millions are served in their spiritual journeys through its efforts and millions more are helped to enjoy a better life through its ministry. The congregation is here to stay!
I am simply trying to point out that this one view of church has been so predominant in Western culture that it has made it seem as if it is the only legitimate expression. Anything that takes place outside of ‘‘church as congregation’’ has seemed suspicious to some. Even terms like para-church—a word that makes no sense biblically (one is either in the church or not)—is an organizational term invented to affirm the supremacy of church as congregation. It has taken years for the house church movement to gain respect, even though it was the predominant form of church expression in the first three centuries of the Christian movement and is a potent life form in countries where the church is growing virally.
What I am after here is opening up the discussion of missional communities so that we can begin to see that God is up to something new. I am suggesting that we expand the bandwidth of how we think church can express itself in our culture. We need to or else we are in real trouble.
Even with the rise of megacongregations, decades of emphasis on church growth, and large infusions of money and people resources, the congregational approach to ‘‘doing church’’ has entered its declining period. Church attendance is holding up as well as it is only because Americans are living longer. Even so, participation is slipping. The prognostication is not good. A variety of indicators all point to the same conclusion: we have entered an era that is ripe for and needs a post-congregational church.
Reggie McNeal will be speaking on October 14th, 2011 at the "At the Corner of..." conference.
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We got to address and answer a different question: How can we be church where people already are? A different trajectory of a different set of questions and a different set of issues if we are going to be salt, light, and fulfill the great commission.
You know the spots we get into where we are sure that God is calling us somewhere and huge obstacles stand in our way? The places where what stands between you and God’s dream for you seems insurmountable?
I have been thinking about those places a lot lately. Personally it may be a battle with an addiction, it may be a child with a disability that you can’t change or fix, it may be trying to climb out of debt. The list could keep growing.
As a church it seems that there are always huge gaps between what God is calling us to and the resources to get there.
I don’t know what they are for you but I know that you have them because the more I read in the scripture that more I realize that these places are normal places to be in when you are following God.
God is the God of the impossible. The insurmountable moment of the people of Israel standing between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army, The Giant and the kid with the slingshot, The walls of Jericho and a Jewish marching band, The Roman Empire and a homeless King hanging on the cross breathing his last breath.
I am thinking now that if we are not in these places we may need to ask ourselves how closely we are following in God. Time and again this is where the people of God end up. God takes us to these places for a reason. It is here that he does some of the deepest transformational work in our lives.
Here are some of the things that I am learning about God in the midst of insurmountable odds.
Awareness
The first thing that I notice is that God has my attention. I am no longer resting in the ease of things. I am God attentive. Aware of the obstacle before me I come face to face with my own limitations. I don’t have the resources to overcome it. I am in great need. God alone has the ability to take me through this place he has lead me. He is the only one that can make it happen or bring about the change.
Faith
All of my doubt is coming to the surface here. My quickness to blame the situation on others bubbles up to the top. I think of the Israelites asking Moses why he led them to this place. “Were there not enough graves in Egypt?” EX 14 I am quick to look for who is at fault for me being in this place. I may be asking a different question than they did but it is this really the same doubtful question in the midst of my fears. “Were there not enough failed pastors that you needed another one?”, “Did I not have enough pain in my life already that you wanted me to have more?”, “Did I do something wrong that you brought me here to ruin me?”
Waiting
It is in the in-between that we are called to stand. Nothing more than that, just stand. We can try to avoid the waiting by working hard to find our own way out of the situation but it wont work. We know it won’t work because we have tried it over and over yet we still end up here. It is in the waiting that I am learning about God and myself and the school of discipleship is taking root and growing Christ in me by his Spirit. So I wait. God allows me to wait. It is in the waiting that my emotional doubt starts to subside. I have to get them out of my system and give voice to them so that the deeper voice can begin to be heard. The voice of God. There is a lot for me to learn in the waiting but I wont catch it until my soul gets quite and begins to be still and know that he is God.
These three things seem to be the starting point of moving into and through the insurmountable places that God leads us to. I wouldn’t call any of them very fun. There is more going on here than fun. God is doing something with us and in us and through us and he is taking it very seriously. For God more is at stake than quick passage through hard times. He is shaping a people for himself that will be salt and light in the world. That comes through deep and profound change. God is making that change in these in-between moments where we stand between our Promised Land dreams and the obstacle of large seas and oppressive armies.
What has God taught you in the in-between places when you are facing things that are too big for you and promises that you are called to stand in?
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Rick McKinley will be in Houston for the conference "At the Corner of..." 2011. To register click here.
