The Church Within the Church

My professor would often speak of the church within the church. His cryptic phrase used the word church to refer to two different realities - and, therein, is the key to understanding his thought.

He used the word church to refer to a spiritual community of Christ-followers. This use of the word communicated deep, spiritual relationships that were centered around a mutual commitment to living and growing as the followers of Jesus. Church in this sense of the word is about relationships (spiritual friendships), spiritual development, and living the ways of God that Jesus taught in everyday relationships, routines, and responsibilities. Acts 2:42, 43-47 describes this kind of spiritual community.

He also used the word church to refer to the institutional church. The institutional church is about organization and structure, roles and responsibilities, programs and activities and events, finances and funding, expectations and standards of conduct and belief. Because human relationships are often messy and chaotic, some kind of organization and structure are needed as the size of the group grows. We see this reality in Acts 6:1-7. A specific group of seven men were identified for a particular role and given specific responsibilities in order to address a specific need. Role and responsibility, organization and structure arose in response to a specific need.

Ideally, these two expressions of church would be compatible and interdependent. The institutional church would exist to foster the spiritual community committed to growing and living as the followers of Jesus. The institution - as in Acts 6 - addresses a specific need. The spiritual community, in turn, would keep the institutional church spiritually alive, vibrant, and healthy.

My professor's statement suggests a different reality. The institutional church is almost (almost?!) always dominant. The spiritual community sometimes exists within it - the spiritual community within the institutional church.

In my experience, the institutional church generally displaces the spiritual community. Instead of serving and fostering the spiritual community, the functioning and survival of the institutional church become the focus. The institution's functioning and survival dominate spending, determine priorities and focus, and dictate where energies are invested. Members become concerned when the institution is in decline (attendance and giving fall off) but seldom recognize the loss of spiritual vitality and health that always precedes institutional decline.

I have spent my adult life and my career serving the institutional church - managing the organization, making sure roles were filled and responsibilities were fulfilled, planning and implementing traditional events and activities, dealing with peoples' expectations and desires ... all the while being responsible for keeping the institution growing and well funded, working to keep the members happy.

My call and my passion are spiritual formation - spiritual growth and development that takes place in the context of deep, spiritual friendships. My gifts are used in living out that call and passion - (compare Isaiah 50:4 and Ephesians 4:7, 11-16.) I served the institutional church as a platform for living out my call and my passion, for using my gifts.

This past February, I made the decision to retire as an elder in The United Methodist Church. That means I am retiring from my leadership role in the institutional church. I am retiring from the itinerant ministry in The UMC. However, I cannot retire from a call. I cannot step aside from the passion God has placed within me. I cannot lay aside the gifts the Spirit has given me. God's call, the Spirit's gifts, the God-given passion are who I am. Let me be clear: I am not saying my identity is/was tied to a role in the institutional church. Far from it. I set that role aside with relief. What I am saying is I will continue to live out of who God has created and is creating me to be. I am eager to see what God has for me in this next stage of life.

More about the church within the church next week.