A Fatal Flaw

 

The decline of the American Church has been a source of concern and study for decades — well over half of my professional career. Think tanks such as the Barna group have studied and reported it. Leaders, consultants, scholars, and megachurch pastors have offered their thinking as to what is causing it. Having diagnosed the cause of the symptoms, they offer prescriptions—suggestions for how to address the problem and reverse the decline. Megachurches offer annual “how to” workshops—a registration fee is required, of course. Conferences and dioceses promote new programs built around their proposed solutions, dedicating new money for and hiring new staff to lead this “key to reversing the decline.” Consultants and coaches are readily available to help pastors and congregations—again, for a fee

In spite of all the study, thinking, emphasis, effort, and money, most congregations are still experiencing decline. Across the board, the institutional church in America continues to decline.

In my last blog, I suggested an underlying, unidentified cause for the decline is the unwillingness of congregations to change. Congregations are emotional-relational systems that inherently resist change. They are made up of individuals who inherently resist anything that disrupts the comfort of their status quo. That unwillingness to change sabotages any effort to address what is contributing to the decline.

In addition to this unwillingness to change, a fatal flaw exists at the core of the American Church. This flaw fuels the decline and guarantees the death of the American institutional church.

This fatal flaw is located in its theology. It resides in the kind of thinking that lies at the heart of its institutional life. This theology, this thinking is reinforced every time the congregation gathers—in worship, in Bible study, in committee meetings, in mission groups. It is the congregation’s lifeblood.

This theology appeals to the ego.

This theology emphasizes right belief, right behavior, and right worship. It fosters either/or, black-and-white, right-and-wrong thinking. Such thinking inevitably produces us-them distinctions. Those who do not embrace our thinking or mimic our behavior (ethics) or adhere to our way of worship are viewed as “other.” They are viewed with suspicion and fear. They are excluded as we surround ourselves with those like us. Segregation is our pattern of relating. (This pattern explains why there are so many different denominations as well as so many different “independent” and Bible churches.)

This way of thinking and functioning appeals to the ego. It reinforces the sense that “I’m right” and "You’re wrong.” It subtly allows us to feel “better than” and superior to those other people. We can reassure ourselves knowing we are right, that we are not like those other people.

I use the word “fatal” to describe this way of thinking and functioning for two fundamental reasons.

First, this way of thinking and functioning—living out of this theology— is based on sameness. We segregate ourselves from those who are not like us and who do not think like us. We surround ourselves with those who are like us and think like us. Such relationships are fragile. This sameness-orientation sets the stage for conflict. A difference of opinion about some issue is inevitable. Polarization around that difference of opinion and that issue then develops, often leading to division. Once a split takes place, we once again associate with those who think like us and segregate ourselves from those who don’t. Our like-us, sameness orientation sets the stage for yet another conflict in the future over yet another difference of opinion that will inevitably surface. This pattern is ultimately self-destructive. As Jesus said, “If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand” (Mark 3:25). The impending division of The UMC is an example of this pattern. It is a pattern that has been played out in numerous other denominations, as well.

This sameness-orientation is ego driven. It is the way of the world. It leads to death.

A second and primary reason this ego-centered theology is fatal is it is not the way of Jesus and the kingdom.

Jesus’s pattern was self-emptying, not self exalting. “Although he was in the form of God, (he) did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on the cross” (Philippians 2:6-8). The Apostle Paul called his readers, as the followers of Jesus, to take on the mind of Christ, that is, this self-emptying pattern (Philippians 2:5). Living out of this self-emptying pattern is the opposite of ego-centric living.

Jesus himself taught that to be his follower was to die to the ego-centric self. “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). To deny self is to die to the ego-centric self, the self the world told us we had to be if we wanted to be accepted and valued. The cross was the method of execution the Romans reserved for insurrectionists—those who challenged their authority and their way of life. To take up our cross is to choose to live out of step with the ego-driven ways of the world. It is to die to the ego-centric self the world told me to be. It is to tie my identity to Christ rather than to the standards the world uses to define success—power, achievement, wealth, possessions.

Jesus’s way is the way of the servant. “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:42-25). The way of the Gentiles, i.e., the way of the world, is an ego-driven way. It values power and position, status and standing, affluence and wealth. It fosters competition with others as we compare ourselves — our power and position, status and standing, affluence and wealth — to them. Being a servant is not possible until we die to the ego-centric way of the world and the ego-centric identity we created using its values. As long as we are concerned about our status and standing, our power and position, our affluence and resources, we cannot embrace the posture and position of a servant. As long as we live out of this ego-driven thinking, we cannot live out of a servant spirit.

A theology that appeals to and nurtures the ego is the opposite of the mind of Christ. As such, it cannot produce the transformation of heart and mind that are fundamental to being a disciple. It cannot produce a self-giving, servant spirit marked by humility. It can only duplicate the ways of the world, producing what the world produces —polarization, division, and self-destruction.

A theology that appeals to and nurtures the ego is the fatal flaw that will ultimately destroy the institutional church of America. Its poison is evident in the polarization, division, and decline that we are witnessing with our own eyes.