The institutional manifestation of the Church that pretty much all Christians experience is essentially stuck in a world view that is completely anachronistic; hence, rendering their witness to the world of marginal effect.We have all inherited a form of church that comes from a world where everyone was "Christian" except the Jews and a few marginal unbelieving types or groups. That world has completely vanished, yet we cling to church structures (forms of ministry and real estate), activities (worship services and other programs), and modes of belief (religiosity, denominationalism) that allow the world of the present to marginalize us; hence, the supposition that we are in a post-Christian age.
None of this is to say that there are not churches or ministries that are alive in Christ and effective vehicles of the good news, but unless you set your expectations very low, such churches are few and far between. The majority of churches maintain their congregations and next to nothing in terms of the commission to "make disciples of all nations." They just don't know how to do it, as institutions.
In my experience, it continues to be the individual Christian who is following the call of Jesus on a daily basis who is the primary witness for Christ. In the Orthodox Church, that is more or less how it is expected to be, but there is still a disconnect that often undercuts our personal evangelism: the growing attitude of clergy professionalism.
Once upon a time, and in some place even today, the thing that distinguished Orthodox clergy from those of other churches was their complete abandonment to Christ. This gave them the power and effectiveness to really anchor their churches, corporately and individually, in the Lord. Now, in the Greek church anyway, it is vanishing.
The Christian world has disappeared, and the world that has replaced it seems indifferent to the call of Christ, the need for salvation, and the claims of the institutional Church.
Just as modern man cannot face the fact of death but disguises it and distances himself from it as much as he can, he does the same with Christ, whom he knows about, sometimes knows a great deal about, and with the Church, which he cannot possibly understand from the outside. Yet human beings continue to be the same, in spite of their higher educational and cultural levels, their various attainments, and so on.
And while we debate, discuss and develop "new" and "relevant" ways to reach the lost of the new world, they are slipping away into the abyss, rejecting what or rather Who will give them eternal life, because they no longer even want it.
This reminds me of something I read from Tim Keller. In "The Reason for God" he says, "Think of the people you consider fanatical. They're overbearing, self-righteous, opinionated, insensitive, and harsh. Why? It's not because they are too Christian but because they are not Christian enough." I think this fits in with what you are saying here. The Church has an identity crisis. Some cling to the traditional form of their particular group or denomination. Others cling to the "newness" or "relevance" or (shudder) "contemporary"-ness of their group. Of course there is a place for tradition, and there is a place for innovation. God can, and does use both. But we cannot let it be a source of division.
ReplyDeleteGod's word is broken down into history, parable, narrative biography, poetry, prophecy...all of these things, at least partly, are there so that each person has something in the Bible that they can readily take to heart. We should study it all, but God made us gravitate more to one style or the other. I think the same is true in the Church. I attend a church that meets in an old movie theater. The pastor wears Columbia hiking pants and sandals. We drink coffee and sing acoustic folk songs. My Dad's church is in a building with a steeple. You don't chew gum in the sanctuary. People wear suits. They sing Hymns from the Baptist Hymnal. But God's Holy presence is in both places in a way that you can feel. How can either look to the other and say, "you should do it my way"? As you imply in your last paragraph, when we try to make other churches look like ours, we close an avenue that would bring in a certain type of person. What would the body of Christ look like if it were made up completely of index fingers?! God made a complex and variable world. His Church should follow suit. What binds us is not style of worship, it is the Love and Blood of Christ.
I'll end this long-winded comment with a quote. We had an Irish minister stay with my family for a couple of weeks when I was little. He preached a revival at my Dad's church. I don't remember much that he said from the pulpit (though I have some great memories of the time he spent in our home). The one thing I remember is him saying, "In Ireland there are too man Catholics, and too many Protestants, and not enough Christians." I pray that we can embrace our differences as they truly are; the sign of a God that is the ultimate Truth of every aspect of reality, not just of our particular group.
God bless you, Romanos, for speaking His Truth once again.