on the walk

I don’t normally think in violent metaphors, and I am not a big fan of guns. (I have fond memories of a pump action BB gun, a fence and coke cans, but that is as far as my fond gun memories go.) But lately I have been thinking about gun barrels.

I remember learning once that different types of gun barrels differently impact the trajectory of the shot that is fired. In particular I remember excited conversations in history class about the discover that by adding a twist to the inside of long gun barrel, the bullet would be given a spin that would increase its accuracy and perhaps its distance. This spin was called rifling and this development was the defining difference between a musket and a rifle.

Feel free to write a correct my in adequate knowledge of firearms. (But don’t spend to much time on it, because all of this is a metaphor.) In any case, the design of the gun barrel it turns out is a key part of the effectiveness of the gun. Rifles are more accurate that hand guns in part because of the length and design of the barrel.

So now let’s switch gears to the church. Skye Jethani has posted a two-part article on the Out of Ur blog, entitled, “They Love the the Church but Not the Institution.” It is a modified version of the classic struggle of loving Jesus but not the church. You can find the parts here and here.

It is a challenging post. While I have little sympathy for the attitude of claiming to love Christ but not his body(the church) or his bride ( again the church), I have more sympathy for the struggle that Jethani is discussing. You can read the post to hear his struggle with the notions that the church is the same as the institutions which serve the church.
There are a few places where his analysis annoys me but by the end of the second post I found myself profoundly disturbed. (In a good way.)

Here is a healthy chunk to chew on:

As I stated in part one, this does not mean structures and organizations are evil. It simple means that institutional structures should exist to support the Spirit-filled people so they can advance the mission of God through human relationships. It’s not about either people or the institution, but about getting the order right. The institution exists to resource the people. People do not exist to resource the institution.

My Honda Civic serves as a helpful metaphor. Decades ago Honda began using an engineering philosophy referred to as “man-max, machine-min.” The idea was to design cars by allocating maximum space for the human occupants and minimal space for the mechanical components. It sounds intuitive, but in the 1970s—the age of gas-guzzling land yachts—it was a radical approach for an automaker. Since then the notion of ergonomics and user-friendly technology has become pervasive.

What if we approached our mission with a similar philosophy: “man-max, institution-min”? This is not an anti-institutional philosophy of ministry any more than Honda is an anti-mechanical car manufacturer. It simply recognizes that people are both the instruments and objects of God’s mission in the world. Human beings are the vessels of his Spirit, not organizations or institutions. This would mean asking new questions when the church (the community of believers) seeks to advance the mission of the Gospel:

He writes, “The institution exists to resource the people. People do not exist to resource the institution.” The barrel exists to focus and direct the bullet. Longer barrels help (but only to a point), straight barrels can make all the difference in the world, Rifled barrels help. In fact, if I were in the business of shooting people, I would want a research team devoted to the purpose of studying and designing barrels. But I would not invest more in barrels than I do in bullets.
BUT

The barrel serves the bullet. The institution must serve to resource the church which is not itself. The church is God’s people united in worship, and study and service and mission.

This forces me to ask a lot of questions. Jethani suggests several good ones.

Not: How do we motivate people to serve in the church/institution?
But: How do we equip people and release them to serve outside the church/institution?

Not: How do we convince more people to come?
But: How do we inspire more people to go?

Not: How many programs can the church start?
But: How many programs have other churches started that we can help support?

I am asking, “When I offer classes, am I doing that in a way that maximizing their potential to resource Christians to be the church outside of the institution? Do I teach in a way that leave people less dependent on me? When I resource and train Christians for service, am I sure to train more for service out their than I do for service to the institution?

What new questions would you have to ask to help the church resource people to do the mission of the church (as opposed to just maintain the institution)?

How can we take another step to be “person-max – institution-min?”

on the walk

-Ethan

Trackback URI | Comments RSS