Quote from Forum Archives on March 29, 1998, 11:49 pm

Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>

Standing Shoulder To Shoulder with "Fellow Soldiers in the Trenches",
Encouraging One Another as we "Fight the Good Fight".

Title: Seven Strangleholds on the Church (part two)
Institutionalization of the Church:

Dear Co-Laborer:

I am sending this note to you from the famed soybean capital of America
---- Norborne, MO, population 453 (or thereabouts). We have just
concluded the second service of a week of meetings. The auditorium was
nearly full for both morning and evening services, with many first timers
here in the evening. So, please remember Jo Ann and me in prayer this
week. I am not only preaching, but also the two of us are leading the
worship and she is speaking several times to women's groups. Pray that
God will do a good work this week.

What an embarrassing moment it was yesterday when I realized last
Sunday's newsletter had been sent to the wrong address, and nobody got
it! I do hope you finally got it yesterday! If you have not yet read
#10 dated March 22, 1998, you should do so before reading this one, part
two of several connected letters.

In part one I shared part of my personal pilgrimage that brought me out
of the darkness and futility of the Christian life being expressed
through performance into a vibrant relationship of life and light. I
mentioned that this experience which began more than 30 years ago has,
among other things, showed me the stark contrast between the Church of
First Century Fire and the Church in a Twentieth Century Mire.

I tried to lay some foundational frame work concerning why there is such
a disparity between what we see in Scripture and what we see before us
today. The differences are extremely disturbing, in spite of the
exciting fact that signs of revival are all around us, and the showers of
God's blessing have begun to fall, and, in some cases, even pour.

We esentially have but three recourses available in dealing with this
glaring difference. One, we can try to explain it away and accept it as
the harmless norm by trying to show how culture and circumstances are
different now than then. Another is to acknowledge our twentieth century
depravity and confess that nothing can be done to change it, and just
continue to play the game and settle for business as usual. The third is
to confess that depravity, repent from it as sin, and ask God to invade
us again with His death-destroying, life-giving power and change us. All
three alternatives are extremely costly, but I promise you that you, if
you have not already done so, are this moment in the process of choosing
one of the three, and you will pay for your choice, ---- whichever it is.

THE CHURCH ROMANIZED, SIMONIZED, AND EMBALMED:

I also noted that this process of ineptness and death that shackles the
church in general today had its origins in decisions that were made
during the reign of Constantine when the Church, rather than
Christianizing Rome, itself became the victim of Romanization. This, of
course, as history records, provided the grease on the downward slide
into the Dark Ages lasting more than 1,000 lifeless years. I often
wonder how many thousands, perhaps even millions met the Eternal God
without eternal life because of a dead church.

When God, in His own sovereign grace, began stirring the hearts of men
such as Zinzendorff, Zwingli, Calvin, Knox, and others, the midnight
darkness could not contain the Light ---- and the Church burst forth
again as from the tomb ---- and was promptly attacked and recapured by
the fall-out from the Reformation that failed to blossom into genuine
continental revival. All the great benefits of the Reformation not
withstanding, the latter bondage was worse than the first, because it
offered an appealing "form of Godliness" as a substitute for the real
thing.

Out of that centuries-long process came seven strangling conditions that
have all but snuffed the life out of the Church; and, were it not for the
faithfulness of God, the thundering rebuke of God's prophets, and the
broken-hearted repentant anguish of hungry souls, there is no telling how
much worse the
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condition would be than it is today.

RESULTS OF THE PROCESS:

Just what actually came out of that long period of time? Let me just
name a few things.
Church buildings for large, impersonal, non-participatory gatherings in
place of the intimate full-participatory home gatherings.
The selection of only the most gifted to be the regular speakers in order
to best impress the guests.
A platform on which to put the speaker so he can be seen by all the
people.
A classification of Christians into two groups ---- clergy and laity.
Special clothing to differentiate the "minister" from the rest of the
crowd.
A performance-based service that fosters spectatorism.
An organizational structure that requires larger and larger amounts of
time, money, and effort to maintain it.
The creation of preaching into an art form to be critiqued by the
listener, and then judged on the basis of delivery style, personality,
charisma, and content.

I noted the following consequences:
1. Institutionalization of the Church,
2. Intellectualization of the Bible,
3. Credalization of our doctrines,
4. Culturalization of our approach,
5. Rationalization of the supernatural,
6. Compartmentalization of God's activity,
7. Minimization of holiiness and obedience.
For the next several issues, I want to address one or more of those
conditions.

James Rutz, in his book "The Open Church" says that the Church of the
Lord Jesus Christ lost three essential ingredients as a result of the
Constantinian era and the Reformation ---- 1) Open Worship, where
everyone participated in all aspects of worship rather than selective
participation by only the best or the assigned while all others look on
as spectators. 2) Open Sharing, where everyone has the opportunity to
share with others what God had been showing him about the Christian
experience. 3) Open Ministry, where everyone is recognized as a
qualified minister who can serve, encourage, build up, pray for, and
otherwise minister life to others, instead of leaving the ministry up to
the "real" minister, the pastor.

1. INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF THE CHURCH:

Just what do we mean by that term? Like most labels we put on people or
things, the words themselves are subject to interpretation. We all
recognize the existence of various institutions ---- schools, hospitals,
missionary societies, banks, etc. We recognize that the very first
institution ever formed was created by God, and it was called "Marriage".
Of course, even though we call it that and often use that term in our
wedding ceremonies, there is no evidence that God ever called marriage an
institution. i suspect God's idea was that it be a "Relationship" and
not an "Institution".

But, then, everyone knows that we do have good and worthy institutions;
most even believe that society could not exist without institutions.
But, of course, we've been wrong about other things, too.

WHAT IS AN INSTITUTION?

To me, and for this application, an institution is an idea or movement
which served a specific purpose, and that fostered an orginzational
structure and driving motive which gave it identity and apparent value.
Frankly, that doesn't say exactly what I want it to say, but it will have
to do.

Institutions, by their very nature, are neither good nor bad ---- they
are just there. It is the people within them and the way the
institutions are used that determine their value. It is when an
institution loses its moorings and abandons its purpose that an
institution becomes institutionalism.

WHAT ABOUT ORGANIZATION?

Before we go any further, let me differentiate between institutionalism
and organization. For this setting, let me say that organization is a
structure erected to support (NOT produce!) life. Institutionalism, on
the other hand, is a structure erected after life was imparted and has
perhaps departed, with the intent of at least imitating life and
hopefully producing life. I might also add that if organization was
developed while there once was life and the life is now gone, the
organization has also become institutionalism.

You see, fro
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m the very beginning, God intended that life be created and
sustained on the basis of relationship ---- not on the basis of
institutionalism. All institutionalism, no matter what high motive
conceived its birth and existence, produces nothing but ultimate death
---- and the institutional church is no exception. Life begets life.
And if there is no life, there is death. And death cannot produce life,
because death is dead. Dead things produce nothing but more death and
the stench of death. This is an absolute impossibility ---- that death
can produce life ---- that institutionalsim can produce life, even life
in a church.

You may say, "why, I cannot agree! Just look at all the good things we
are doing, and all the activities we have." ---- to which I would reply,
"activity is not the result of life, but of energy." Electricity can
keep your organ playing automatically; it can keep your church management
softward buzzing, and keep your lights on in the building. It can
produce activity ---- but it cannot produce life. So, don't assume that
just because you have lots of activities going on that your church has
life.

You may retort, "well, then, what about medical equipment that keep
people alive? That's energy at its best ---- sustaining life." Again, I
would reply, "the energy is not sustaining life, it is sustaining an
environment in which life is given a chance, but it is not sustaining or
producing life itself. Only God can do that.

It is my personal opinion that institutionalism is a crutch we use to
hold a lifeless entity upright so it looks alive.

CHARACTERISTICS AND SYMPTOMS OF INSTITUTIONALISM:

1) Institutionalization has set in when the structure and system becomes
the primary focus, and sight of the real purpose is lost.

2) Institutionalization has set in when the structure and system are
maintained after they have lost all effectiveness and value.

3) Institutionalization has set in when the efforts of the people
produce to significant results beyond maintenance.

4) Institutionalization has set in when the institution is looked on
with honor and loyalty even though it is accomplishing nothing.

5) Institutionalization has set in when it continues activity long
after death has set in.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF AN INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH:

1) The institutionalized church creates a false religion built on
performance graded by man-made criteria to determine a person's spiritual
condition and worth. (You're a better Christian the more you attend and
the more you do.)

2) The institutionalized church unknowingly promotes a false method of a
false salvation, resulting in many people carrying false assumptions that
they are Christians.

3) The institutionalized church becomes something that unbelievers can
accept or reject based on its performance and whether or not it offers
something that is needed or desirable.

4) The institutionalized church can divide itself up into camps or
groups based on beliefs, structure, or function, and give people the
false impression that there is more than one way to know God.

5) The institutionalized church, by its various divisions, leads the
unbelieving world to conclude that Christ is not needed, because His
followers are all in competition with each other.

6) The institutionalized church sends a message to the unbelieving world
that Christianity is not a viable religious choice because it is so
fragmented.

7) The institutionalized church fosters an erroneous message that life
and organization are the same thing.

8) The institutionalized church consumes enormous amounts of energy,
money, time, and other resources with little or no eternal results.

9) The institutionalized church deceives its members into believing
they are being actively involved in the fundamental task of the church
---- the Great Commission ---- by giving them choices of many
insignificant, unrelated, and ineffective activities.

10) The institutionalized church leads people to believe that the
building is the church, and that the programs are vital spiritual
ingredients.

IN
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CONCLUSION

I am far from satisfied with my treatment of this issue. What I feel in
my heart has barely been expressed. All I can tell you is that a church
can have all the man-made trappings and appearances of spirituality and
vitality, and still be as dead as death itself. On the other hand, a
church can have the most basic of things, and yet be filled with life.

Somehow, in some way, we must break free from the chains of
institutionalism. We must put programs, structures, systems, buildings,
and things in their proper place ---- and rediscover the fact that the
Church and the Gospel it preaches are issues of Life and Relationships.
Life generates relationships, and relationships produce life. If you
don't believe that, take a look at your child ---- Life is what brought
you and your spouse together in marriage relationship, and that
relationship is what gave opportunity for the birth of your child.

Any church that tries to function on a level below that of Life and
Relationships is, in my opinion, stuck in the muck and mire of immobile
institutionalism.

HOWEVER! God is breathing new breath into the dead bones! He is giving
new vision to the leaders! He is putting a new wind in the tops of the
mulberry trees!

Hang on! Good things are around the bend!

In Christ's Bond,

Bob Tolliver
Life Unlimited Ministries
[email protected]
Ph: 417-275-4854
Fax: 417-275-4855

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