“Today my thinking centers on the search for a Credo for the church of tomorrow.”
In 1970, Jacques Ellul wrote an essay entitled Mirror of These Ten Years. He discusses the development of his thought over many decades of church involvement and societal critique. Most of his writing revolved around the world systems, particularly mass media and technology, that dehumanized cultures and people.
He was particularly dismayed at the inability of the “church” to recognize the true nature of the world and also it’s inability to stand apart from the world. The longer he worked with the church the more he saw that it was “a bureaucratic system, an enormous machine that, the larger it grew, the more it conformed to the societal laws of organization, rather than obeying the promptings of the Holy Spirit.” He ends this essay with the desire to find a new Credo for the church, one that is transformative rather than conformist; a Credo that is radical in it’s ability to stand against the deluding and dehumanizing forces of the world.
Community is the beginning point of that Credo. Unfortunately Ellul mostly saw the answer in mostly intellectual terms, not relational. The Spirit’s creation of community is a radical point of departure from the world’s systems that isolates and deteriorates the human spirit. Participation in the Spirit’s Community is transformative, it restores true personality and personhood. The pursuit of an intellectualize Christianity will not bring you to a right system of answers. The pursuit of Christ will bring you into a right relationship with people who need love, compassion, and restoration.
Or, at least, so I’ve learned in my own years of working with people, the church, and the world. I’ve earned a couple of degrees in theology and ministry, and I’ve worked both in and out of church. My concern is that church, when it is systemized and rigid, is often antithetical to the formation of community. Community formation is much harder work (yet much simpler) than church work, but infinitely more redeeming and rewarding.
This blog is a bit of space to work out some thoughts on church and community. I do spend some time being lightly critical of the “church” in America. But that’s really only for fun. Being critical of church is a fruitless endeavor. And redundant for the most part; church itself will admit that it doesn’t work, that’s why it’s always seeking the next big thing in attracting people. But oddly enough, many people believe they should spend their Christian lives trying to tweak, reform, re-adjust, fine tune, or somehow make “relevant” the church. This is a tail-chasing pursuit. Rather, life in Christ is about building community, coming along side, suffering with those who suffer, and rejoicing with those who rejoice. Relationship is always relevant.
