Encouraging Notes For A Downer Like Me

I don't know anyone who isn't mildly critical of the institutional church... I'm probably more so than most, admittedly. (Unfortunately, it's been at times to the point that it's entirely distracted me from the purpose of going to/being the church). There's a new book out from the Barna Group (a marketing research firm that actively studies the state of the church and church-goers) called Pagan Christianity.

The book outlines how the majority of practices and traditions of the institutional church are actually pagan traditions and not biblically based. The authors eventually went on to argue that because of these, the institutional church does not, historically or biblically, have the right to exist. I don't know that I would go so far (one probable explanation is that the president of the Barna Group is a Biola graduate. ;-) ). In reading a brief review of the book, I came across a very encouraging quote from Eugene Peterson (again, not sure I entirely agree with it, but it's an interesting analogy).

What other church is there besides institutional? There's nobody who doesn't have problems with the church, because there's sin in the church. But there's no other place to be a Christian except the church. There's sin in the local bank. There's sin in the grocery stores. I really don't understand this naïve criticism of the institution. I really don't get it. Frederick von Hugel said the institution of the church is like the bark on the tree. There's no life in the bark. It's dead wood. But it protects the life of the tree within. And the tree grows and grows. If you take the bark off, it's prone to disease, dehydration, death. So, yes, the church is dead but it protects something alive. And when you try to have a church without bark, it doesn't last long. It disappears, gets sick, and it's prone to all kinds of disease, heresy, and narcissism. (Eugene Peterson)

It's refreshing to hear that people are remembering that the church is protecting and ensuring the well-being of something larger than herself, and that we're not allowing the church to be a strictly self-serving entity.

I love the church for it's potential, and for what it points people toward... not for what it is today.