Thought on the survival of denominations

(Programming note:  I have a post in the works to follow up my recent post on heresy, since I got a spurt of comments on that post a few days ago which are simply too big to address in the comment thread; I hope to have that up in the next few days, life permitting.)

Toby Brown, the Classical Presbyterian, posted this past Tuesday arguing the thesis that“denominations as we now know them must die.”  His arguments for this thesis run as follows:

1. Human beings are so sold out to worldly sin-patterns that any human attempt to construct Institutions That Last Forever are always doomed to fail by someday inevitably becoming disease-ridden dens of slack and vice.

2. Building up bank accounts for the purpose of endowing the aforementioned Instititions That Last Forever likewise inevitably leads to Bigger Barn Syndrome (Lk 12:13-31) and this also is the death of creativity and kills radical reliance upon the sovereignty of God in these institutions.

3. There is no possible way to insure that all members of the organization will be actually regenerate, so that any rules put in place to guard against future erosions of the teachings of Jesus in the organization will one day fail.

4. Point 3 then gurantees that one day these Institutions That Last Forever (ITLFs) will become so engrossed in themselves that they one day will oppress those that seek to be faithful to the teachings of Jesus.

5. In the final stage of institutional calcification, these ITLFs will become ends unto themselves and like the imagined Borg of Star Trek fame, all who labor within the ITLFs will exist solely to service the institution. That’s a fate worse than death to anyone who calls Jesus their Lord.

I would further posit that any examination of history (even with the most superficial means, like History Channel and Discovery) will prove my point. The mainline denominations are well on the road to actually doing more harm in the world than good, as they jettison Biblical teachings for the quest of endless self-preservation.

The interesting thing is that I agree with each of the arguments that Toby offers, but disagree with his conclusion.  This is probably a matter of our differing backgrounds and experiences, but I don’t believe that the death of these institutions is necessary, though I agree that it’s certainly one possible outcome of the process he lays out.  I believe this process is reversible, and that revitalization is possible, though it does not happen without committed effort.

I believe that for a couple reasons.  The first is that I’ve seen that happen in my home denomination, the Reformed Church in America.  Over a decade ago now, under what I believe was the conviction of the Holy Spirit, the leadership led the RCA to re-envision itself, to see the denomination as nothing more than a support structure for the local church—and to do so in order that our congregations might be fruitful in carrying out the mission of Christ in the world.  To that end, the denomination adopted this mission statement:

The Reformed Church in America is a fellowship of congregations called by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be the very presence of Jesus Christ in the world.

Our shared task is to equip congregations for ministry—a thousand churches in a million ways doing one thing—following Christ in mission, in a lost and broken world so loved by God.

OUR VISION

Imagine . . .

Laity and pastors unleashed, hungry for ministry; congregations mission-minded and inviting, authentic and healing, growing and multiplying, alert to the opportunities around them.

Imagine . . .

Classes and synods as communities of nurture and vision—accountable, responsible, sustained by prayer, alive to the Spirit.

Imagine . . .

A denomination, locally oriented, globally connected, that prays in many languages and beholds the face of Christ in every face; a denomination renewed and renewing, raising up leaders, always directing its resources toward the front lines of ministry.

Imagine . . .

Hurts being healed, the lost being found, the hungry being fed, peace healing brokenness, hope replacing despair, lives transformed by the love of Jesus Christ.

Imagine . . .

The Reformed Church in America, engaging the world.

LIVING OUT THE VISION

This vision will be lived out . . .

By congregations focused for ministry—creative, confident, healing, and radically attentive to the world outside its doors.

By consistories selected more for ministry than management, attuned to the Spirit, eager and equipped to serve.

By ministers of Word and sacrament open to dream, prepared to lead, willing to risk.

By classes that are empowering and proactive, living in communion, each accountable to all, and all to Christ.

By synods and staff that funnel resources to the local church, and keep us connected to the larger church.

By all the people of the RCA, a network of relationships, a fellowship that celebrates its gifts and confesses its failures, and where the ministries of all are valued and cherished.

To live out this vision by consistories, classes, synods and staff, our decision-making will be transformed by a pervasive climate of worship, discernment, and biblical reflection. We will no longer do business as usual, nor our usual business.

Now, if this were treated as window dressing, it wouldn’t mean anything—but it hasn’t been; there has been a concerted effort to bring this statement to life in the work of the RCA.  The denomination is far from perfect, but on the whole, I believe, it’s doing a pretty good job of realizing the promise of this statement.

This has been supported by the revitalization and renewal that we’ve seen at our seminary in Holland, MI, Western Theological Seminary.  When the Rev. Dr. Tim Brown joined the faculty there, he started telling anyone who would listen that that renewal, though historically unprecedented, was going to happen . . . and amazingly, due in part to his leadership and recruitment, it did.

Second, the presbytery to which I belonged in Colorado, the Presbytery of Denver, came to a point some years ago (well before my time there) when it took a long, hard look at itself, recognized it was doing more harm than good, and decided to change.  Again, a large part of that change was realizing that the presbytery existed to support its churches, not the other way around, and so they restructured, decentralizing as much as possible, to support that realization.  I still have significant issues with the theology of a lot of the folks there, but the institution of the presbytery is honestly a good thing.

None of this is to deny that a number of our big denominations have serious problems; from a gospel point of view, I completely agree with Toby that some of them are doing far more harm than good.  It is simply to deny that there’s no hope for them.  In Christ, there’s always hope. 

 Which is a good thing, because there’s really nothing out there to replace denominations with; they serve a critically important purpose.  The denomination is like the bark of a tree, a dead thing that protects and gives form to the living, growing thing underneath, without which that living thing would soon die.  Yes, individual trees are in bad shape, and some will no doubt fall; yes, there are trees where the bark only serves to protect and enable parasites, much like all the red trees I came to know in the Rockies.  That said, to argue from that fact to the conclusion that we should give up on bark altogether is, I think, to go too far.