Why We Need a New Ecclesiology

How do normal, happy, well-adjusted people turn into the wicked liars that inhabit most Evangelical churches? The people are not the problem. People are just people. We all have our faults and sins, and we all have our moments of kindness and good will. No, the reason that wickedness pervades in the church is because of the church structure, because of the way that men have set up the church.

Jesus saved his worst insults and accusations for the men who ran the church of his day, the Pharisees. You have to understand that this was not religious rivalry; at the time Jesus identified fullly with the Jewish religion. Jesus' problem with the Pharisees was an internal Jewish dispute. He was not upset with the Pharisees because they did not accept him as Messiah, he had not made that pronouncement yet, but rather because they had corrupted the leadership of God's people.

I make the same claim against the current Evangelical church. The leaders in the current church have corrupted God's church and have caused God's people to become narrow, selfish, wicked people. The leaders are snakes, whitewashed tombs, who work tirelessly to make a convert and then cause her to be further from God than she was before she walked into their church. The Pharisees are the true enemies of God.

Strong statements, but I only repeat what the Master has already said in the same context. And, considering the Evangelical church is in such a state of failure, the need for strong statements has come. What's that, you say? The Evangelical church is strong and growing? Ah, you've made the mistake of confusing outer appearances with the inner soul. Allow me to become more explicit in my critique, although I do so love the language that Jesus used to tear down the evil that men do.

1. Theological Failure. The church bases its theology on poor hermeneutics, causing them to inject their own theological preconceptions into their teaching. The primary focus of this failure is an abandonment of salvation as a free gift for the modern doctrine of salvation by belief. In other words, you are saved if you agree with certain key doctrines, not whether you trust in Christ or not.
2. Moral Failure. The chuch glorifies the sins that it commits: pride, envy, greed, lying, gluttony, etc. and treats them as if they were righteous acts. Then it takes sins that no one in the church wants to commit: homosexuality, drinking, smoking, etc. and makes those into the worst of mortal sins. By whitewashing their own sins and overstating the sins they don't commit, the Evangelical church sets up a system of lies and hypocrisy that it uses to punish those who disagree with them.
3. Political Failure. More and more Evangelicals have become convinced that a Christian may only be a Republican. This causes them to render unto Caesar what is God's, and to become serfs of the Republican power structure. Since they have sold out to a human institution, their theological positions have been compromised. For example, churches that think smoking is morally wrong continue to support the tobacco industry because the Republicans say they must.
4. Ecclesiastical Failure. The church is supposed to be the gathering of believers, nothing more, nothing less. As currently instituted, the Evangelical church is either an extended social club with all the baggage common to that institution (black-balling, politics, ostracization, peer pressure) or a small band of the "Elect" who know the secrets of eternal life and who pity the rest of us who will burn forever in the fires of God's anger. Churches which are loving, accepting, humble, gracious, and forgiving are rare and ephemeral. Perhaps, for a season, a pastor who knows the real deal will be able to make the church what it should be, but he is soon overwhelmed by the money, the power structure, or the men who hold the lease.

These failures are due in part to a bad ecclesiology. The church structure has been modeled after a business, with a CEO and board of directors who manage the money and allocation of resources (people). As with any business, profit is the ultimate goal. In the context of a church the profit is not in money, but in popularity. The goal of a church is to have as many people as possible in that church. One would think that if all the Christian churches truly were interested only in spreading the gospel that they would not care which church a person attends. This is not the case. There is always the undercurrent that only one's particular sect really has it "just right". So the goal is to get everyone into our church. Every Pentecostal church rejoices when a Baptist "converts" and comes over to the right way of thinking. And vice versa.

Since the goal of the church is to attract and retain a population, the church uses all the normal systems that humans use to control one another. Peer pressure ensures that everyone in the church thinks and behaves the same. Ostracization is the threat used to keep people in line. If you start to think differently than the church, there will be hints that you aren't welcome, with the final stage being a full disfellowshipping. For most people, it's easier not to rock the boat and so they stay and swallow whatever they must.

Businesses have expenses and so the church must institute a tithe to pay for the staff and buildings it needs to keep everyone in one place. This is important, and why the weekly church service is mandatory. The church would have a harder time controlling people if it did not build a sense of shared experience, which is what the weekly service does. If you look at the way an Evangelical church service is structured, the high point of the sermon is either preceeded or followed by the collection. Obedience to the teaching of the church is reinforced by obedience to the tithe. When people invest their money in something they have a natural desire to see it succeed. This is the true importance of the tithe. Proof that the tithe is essential to the working of the Evangelical church is simple: if it's not essential, stop taking a collection. You won't find a single church that will do this. Their structure demands strict monetary obedience by the church population. Pastors know who tithes and who doesn't. Believe me, I've been there at the meetings where it was discussed. They try to play off the collection, as if it were a necessary evil, but in actuality it is a core part of their mechanisms of control.

So the church as currently structured has very little to do with the message of Jesus and the way the church was meant to be. It was never meant to be a monolithic power structure capable of building huge buildings and aggregating hundreds or thousands of people in one place. It was never meant to enforce conformity of doctrine or thinking. It was never meant to lift up leadership into a position of power over people. Finally, the church does not have authority over every part of our lives. I know pastors who think the church has the final say on who you marry, who your friends are, how you vote, how you spend your money, and what sexual positions are allowed. This must stop.

It is no wonder that with such manipulation in the church, that the people begin to be narrow and vindictive. They are under pressure to conform, and are probably hiding many sins behind their church smile. You'd lash out at someone who was different too in their position.

How must the church be structured for the next millenium? That is a question for the next article in this series. As a preview, the church will not be about buildings and staff and sectarianism. It will not be about conformity and money and power. In fact, for the church to survive the next millenium, it must be something quite different.