MOVEMENT NOT INSTITUTION

A pattern that I have observed and experienced many times in the life of the church is an organic organism becoming organized, and then the life slowly drains out of it.  It begins in a delightful way with people getting together to simply talk about their life with God; to sing and worship and just be together and enjoying the company and companionship of one another.  The numbers grow and then the gathering becomes bigger so organization develops, formality increases and soon the problems arise.  The normal pattern is meeting at a larger facility and then the building project begins and another Church Building is erected.  Eventually the building (container) becomes the focus, changing the content and conversation away from God and people, to the maintaining of the building.  Hence the institution is fixed and the original movement is ceased.

Institutions require control and control requires hierarchy.  Soon money is needed to support the institution.  Fund raising, buying and selling, and all the things that Jesus spoke against find their way into the mix and in my opinion we have as a result a Golden Calf.  In most of these cases the people began in innocence and with good purposes.  But something happens and both are transformed into something that does more harm than good.  When I read that a minister of a church makes a salary of $250,000.00 in my spirit I know something is not right.  I don’t see this in the teachings or mission of Jesus or the Apostles.  What I do see is the pattern copied over and over again.

Jesus tended to keep things simple, not spectacular. Jesus began a movement to a better life, not a bigger life; transformed individuals not necessarily tremendous buildings.  Even the event at the very center of a Christian’s life, the Resurrection, was treated in a simple manner.  Jesus showed himself to his disciples.  It would have been a sensational event if he had gone to Pilate or to the Pharisees.  Being a celebrity or a superstar was not his motivation or God’s plan. He had warned his disciples against this very thing many times.  He left the earth as he had come to earth, in humility and hidden except to those who were closest to him.

Jesus rose from the dead to give us life.  Life is moving and growing and needs the freedom to do that.  Institutions are stationary; they become needy and demanding.  Christians are to follow their Master and tend to the needs of living souls in people, not the lifeless stones of buildings.  To expand and build is always in the mix and seems to be a well used pattern.  But I believe we need to look at the original plan of Jesus and keep to his task.