ORGANIZATION VS. ORGANISM
“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church…”
Colossians 1: 17-18a
Indeed, Babel has had its effect throughout history. We can see that time and time again the church has conflicted, communicated poorly and broken. I believe, however, that it was during the times of Constantine and Theodosius that many of the building problems would solidify. While doing some great things for the church, like ending a series of seven deadly persecutions by legalizing and ultimately making the church official, these two emperors also ushered in much frustration. Constantine, in 324 AD called together the very first counsel of Bishops in Nicaea. Eighteen hundred bishops from the Roman world were invited to Join Constantine for the first Nicaean council. Of those eighteen hundred only some three hundred showed up. Those three hundred would then become the official hierarchal bishops for the church. They were ordered by Constantine to meet bi-annually for regular synods where they would develop the canons (rules) for the early church. In many of those canon synods the bishops would decide on what was heresy, who was to be excommunicated and ultimately which doctrines the church would incorporate into their universal existence. While Constantine was friendly to the Christian world, he himself never ultimately bought into much of its teaching. In fact, he later adopted the views that one of the synods banned as heretical, Arianism. It was Theodosius who would become a Christian and ultimately force Christianity into the forefront of national recognition. He declared the Christian Universal Church to be the official church of Rome. Buildings were constructed, liturgies were finalized, rites, rituals, practices, and ultimately organization was built. The simplicity of Christ centered faith melted away into the complexity of doctrinal perfection. Much of what is now considered organized religion finds its roots in the Nicaean council.
So what was it before Constantine? From our study of history we can see that there was much freedom in Christ, from Docetism and Montanism to the Monastic movement, people were detrimentally free to go in which ever direction they wanted to. This posed a problem for the supposed unity of the church when certain brothers in Christ disagreed with change. As a result, the church post-Constantine had developed a model to deal with heresy and apostasy, so it could control membership, and liturgical ecclesiology.
How does this affect us today? While the early church appeared to have some organization, they were not an organization. As much as they gathered, broke bread together, heard words of prophesy and sang together, their ecclesia (gathering) was more organism than it was organization. Many Christian churches today are behaving like organizations rather than like the organism that is the vibrant and living body of Christ. What I mean by this is; churches today run their “non-profit organization” as though it is a business. With common hiring practices, hierarchal views of leadership, business meetings and organizational programming, churches are striving to be successful organizations. Hired staff is viewed as an employee(s) of the organization and is, as such, accountable to the democratic assembly of members. Membership must be placed, and job titles are doled out in the form of ministries. This organizational mentality hovers around the all-encompassing assembly (better known as the worship-service), with the intention of providing a product or program that will appeal to the masses. Evangelism is our sales department, attempting to sell the program that we have developed. This is all done in the name of Jesus. It is no wonder that we have so much conflict today, we cannot decide over what our organization should look like or how it should function. This is an unnecessary fight because the church was never meant to be an organization in the manner it has been built, but an organism closely resembling Christ!
In his book, “The Family of God” Batsell Barrett Baxter says the following:
“There are some who think of the church as an organization like other organizations. It is true that the church is an organization, but it is not primarily an organization. Rather, it is a new way of life. Those who have the view that being a part of the church is like being a member of a lodge, a luncheon club, a political part, or even a business are seriously mistaken. Such people feel that they should give to the church the same kind of support and loyalty which they give to these other organizations. It becomes my church,” as it is “my club, or lodge, or party, or team.” The Christian’s loyalty to Church, however, should be unique, for in reality it is a loyalty to Christ and His way of life. The church is like no other institution on earth and a person’s membership in the church is like no other membership which he may sustain. The church is more like a vibrant, living organism, than it is like a cold, structured organization.”
“…Some make the mistake of thinking that the church…exists for the entertainment and enjoyment of its members. On the contrary, the church exists in order that its members may have an intimate relationship with Christ and God, as well as a close relationship with mankind.”
Thank you to Baxter for his wisdom here. He makes a very strong point, the church is not so much organization as it is organism, and the purpose of the organism is clear; relationship, both with God and with mankind. If indeed that is the point of the church, then what place is there for the continuous battle over organizational matters?
The Bible gives a beautiful analogy for the church on various occasions, it is the body. The book of Colossians 1:18 states that Christ is the head of the body, the church. Ephesians 1:22-23 says, “22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” The Church is the body and Christ is the head. Paul writes in Ephesians 5:23 that the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ as our husband is the head of the bride which is the church. Then, Ephesians 4:11-16 says; “11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” The head of the body, God, through Christ put his body to work for the sake of growth and maturity. We work towards growing up into Him who is the head, and who joins us together, building one another up in love as each body part does its work.
The head/body image is powerful and multifaceted. Like the building analogy, God is the creator of the body. He holds it together by His great love and power. Like the mortar between the bricks, He joins us and holds us together as ligaments do in the flesh. As humans, we understand that our physical bodies are weak, easily fractured, and susceptible to illness, disease and pain. It stands to reason then, that the body of Christ, made up of flawed humanity, though held together by God, and lead by the son, would too be predisposed to illness. Is the church ill? Were I a medical doctor, I might say that the church is, indeed, very sick. I would even venture to diagnose that our illness is likely sclerosis of the heart! I say this, because the church that has been acting as an organization rather than an organism, assumes the head position and, as the head, orchestrate the happenings and works of the church. They develop the programs that are believed to be effective, and they see them to fruition. And maintain that they are doing what needs to be done in order for the church to succeed. Perhaps you disagree with this statement, I can understand if you do as most Christians would never profess to be the head but rather the body. But what if we do this unknowingly? When we put together our programs and campaigns they become the heart of the church. Good intentioned and successful many of them are as they pump life into a dried up and frail church. Members buy into the idea, and begin to work their magic inviting the lost, reaching out, and running a well oiled engine. They work the campaign, and find tremendous success in it. The program or campaign runs its course, the body has worked it to death, they have run the program’s circuit, and it begins to lose steam. But many in the body are reminiscent of its success so they try to keep the heart beating. The die-hard falls to its knees beside the fading program and starts cardiopulmonary resuscitation, striving to keep the program and its effectiveness alive. I can almost hear them yelling “CLEAR!” as they pull out the paddles and try do defibrillate the nearly dead project. But it is too late; there is no resuscitation for this poor dead heart. As a result the body falls ill, lost in the wake of the what-once-was sea. The Heart no longer beating, the body strives to find life again, purpose. New heads arise, with new vision and a grand program, a transplant happens, and the body once again has life in it…that is, until the program fizzles again!
There was a congregation in the heart of a well known metropolis. For twenty-five years the congregation and its leadership team maintained a once successful Children’s Ministry Program. Every week, except for the summer months, a handful of volunteers would gather together to provide bible teaching, songs and fun for the kids in the community. For the first eight years of this ministry, now twenty-five years old, the volunteers worked tirelessly catering to nearly one hundred and twenty children. The success of the program was staggering, and people were excited. However, leading up to the ninth year of “Kid’s Club” the numbers of children dwindled, and the volunteers grew tired. By the beginning of the program in the ninth year the numbers dropped significantly. With only nineteen children attending, the same volunteers plugged on. Now in its twenty fifth year, attendance is staggered at best. One week there were only four children in attendance, some weeks have none. Yet the volunteers, (some old guard and some new school), still reminded continually of its previous success, plug away, trying to diagnose the problem, heal the program. Every once in a while someone comes up with a new idea, and acting as a defibrillator, charge up the crew. This new vision is followed up with excitement and apprehension, it is implemented and then proceeds to fizzle after a few short months. “Why?” the congregation inquires of the burnt-out, over worked volunteers. What they are really saying is, “why can’t you get this to work?” Or “What is wrong with the program, how can you fix it?” Perhaps the right question would be; why are we trying to revive a dead program? Or why have we sucked the life out of these volunteers for the sake of an age old success? Either way, questions are being asked. The congregation ultimately decides that it was time to do away with the dead program. They respectfully put it to rest; they honored its successes and reminded one another of the hard effort that was put into it for so many years. It was a beautiful memorial, but there were still some who felt that it should be resurrected, that the volunteers didn’t try hard enough. Five years later, the congregation, still fighting over the death of the weekly kids club, birthed a new plan. A new program was born to facilitate a new ministry, now to the rising adolescent community. I wonder how long before this new heart begins to harden, and the cycle of dying programs and near-death-experiences take hold.
The organizational church is always susceptible to this kind of near-death-experience, hoping upon hope the heart will be restored to normal sinus rhythm. As you have already drawn the conclusion, I won’t spend much time drawing it for you. However, I must say that the program based, organizational church cannot survive so long as they try to do the work of the head, and place some man-made plan at the heart.
The image of Christ as the head and the church as his body does not end with the few passages I mentioned earlier, in fact, there is much more to this body image than the head/body metaphor. Christians are called the body of Christ on various occasions, and the analogies about the body are nearly limitless. One such analogy is found in 1 Corinthians 12.
“12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don’t need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don’t need you!" 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are not presentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
Every living human being has a spirit. It is the spirit within man that is, indeed, the life-force animating people. As with humans, so it is with the body of Christ! The church is a body of called out believers whose life force is the Spirit of God, dwelling within. As members of this body, our life force is God’s Spirit whom we were baptized into and with. It is this Spirit that is the breath (pneu:ma) of life for the church. By this Spirit we are lead and shaped, and by this Spirit we become the instruments that God would have us become. Unfortunately, in an organization, each member must attain to the uniformity of the whole. For example, if the organization wants to run a successful Sunday school program, the members of the organization must then comply with the constraints of the program. Much of our conflict within the church today is over disagreement of opinion surrounding the programming of the church. One member says that we must accomplish our program in this way, and another disagrees. The battle for uniformity ensues and discontent, then, prevails. It is a wonder to me how anyone can believe that we must all think and reason the same regarding every matter. Some dictate that we must only perceive the text in one way, through one filter, and in the uniformity of thought. They teach clearly that our worship program must contain, or not contain certain elements and that if we were reading the same text in the same way we ought to all agree. This is not bound by the constraints of conservative or liberal thinking, it is found in both places. I believe that I Corinthians speaks against this uniformity mindset. Not everyone is the same, not every part of the body has the same function, and not every part of the body is going to have the same function.
I spoke earlier of how some of the membership strives to be the head, make the decisions, and direct the affairs of the church. Much can be said in the same manner regarding the membership expecting that everyone should be the same. In fact, this mindset is so prominent that others, who do not conform to the mold of understanding, feel as though they are not really a part of the body. I believe that this is exactly what Paul was addressing with Corinth. Many were taught that in order to be part of the body, they must fit a certain uniform role, and when they could not live up to the standard they dismissed themselves from the assembly. Paul says that every part has its function, and is purposeful, but not every part is the hand, foot, eye, etc. If they were the same then the body would be dysfunctional. As it is, the church has all kinds of people in it, a group diversified by opinion, and function. Diversity has always been an issue within every organization, but in an organism it is essential. Each cell in the human body is for a specific function. There are epithelial cells, hormone secreting cells, metabolism and storage cells, barrier function cells, ciliated cells, extracellular matrix secretion cells, contractile cells, sensory transducer cells, etc. Diversity of cells in the body is essential to its survival. Should all of the cells say they are interstitial cells, then where would the barrier function cells allowing for kidney function be? You get the point, but let me iterate it in another fashion. I am an orator by profession, but not everyone is an orator. Some are better at reaching out; others are better caring for the lonely, some are great at grunt work and maintenance, while others still are gifted at encouraging. While I attempt to be all of these, I realize that I cannot solely accomplish the work that is necessary for the whole body to do (though I realize that may be an unspoken expectation, another topic for another time). But I do know with certainty that if the body is functional, each part working its own job, that when one part hurts, or breaks, the whole body’s attention is drawn to the part that hurts.
COMMUNISM AT ITS FINEST
This leads us into a topic that, were it the 1940’s could land me in prison: Communism! The battle between Communism and Capitalism has a long history. Communists have long taught that Capitalism is evil and leads only to poverty. The rich get richer and the poor become destitute, so the need for a better way, a socialist way is essential. The Capitalist believes that money is an individual acquisition, and we are “free” to become as wealthy or as poor as we want. Both positions have strong points, both valid, and both hostile to each other.
“With the exception of the Soviet Union’s, China’s and the Italian resistance movement’s great contribution in World War II, communism was seen as a rival, and a threat to western democracies and capitalism for most of the twentieth century. This rivalry peaked during the Cold War, as the world’s two remaining superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, polarized most of the world into two camps of nations (characterized in the West as "The Free World" vs. "Behind the Iron Curtain"); supported the spread of their economic and political systems (capitalism and democracy vs. communism); strengthened their military power, developed new weapon systems and stockpiled nuclear weapons; competed with each other in space exploration; and even fought each other through proxy client nations.”
Communism is a social structure and political ideology in which property is commonly controlled. It is a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.
Rolland, why are you talking about communism? What could this possibly have to do with the topic? Could it be possible that our culture of capitalism clouds our insight into a very basic Christian principle? I was taken back a little when I first considered this thought. Communism is literally a swear word in our culture. It is something that we frown upon because of the second part of the definition, which is as follows: “a system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party.” It is this communistic mentality that has been held by tyrants and enemies across the board. While I strongly disagree with this tyrannical view of communism, there is another portion that holds my attention for a few extra moments. It is the egalitarian in me that makes me consider just what the appeal of communism is. "Pure communism" in the Marxian sense refers to a classless, stateless and oppression-free society where decisions on what to produce and what policies to pursue are made democratically, allowing every member of society to participate in the decision-making process in both the political and economic spheres of life. While Karl Heinrich Marx is not usually associated with friendship to Christianity, his ideology has its roots in theology. If, particularly, we read in Acts 2:42ff, we will find much of this mindset in the early church. They did not hold possessions or wealth as of primary significance, but they sold their possessions and gave their wealth to anyone who had need so that none would be. At its very core, communism was supposed to be a selfless, classless existence! Acts 2 is not our only reference to this; in fact, the Israelite peoples celebrated something called the year of Jubilee. It was during this celebration that none would farm, but just eat what the land produced. Also, property was returned to its original owners, slaves were set free, and people returned home. One could say that this was a reset of the whole nation, where social classes were erased, and debts were cancelled. You could say that this was a time of renewal in which all would be given a “clean slate!”
Communism and Capitalism are about social situations and finances almost entirely. But the parallel with “church” is not about finances. While the early church sold their possessions and gave to anyone as there was a need, the mindset was far deeper than financial. The body of Christ is such that no one is rich and no one is poor but we all receive grace in proportion to our need. Unfortunately, we are a people of currency, and when it comes to matters of religion our currency is doctrine and theology. Those who have a greater understanding of doctrinal matters are better off than those who do not have as clear an understanding. Those whose faith is stronger and actions more righteous, are better off than those who are weaker or less righteous. In many respects, we are capitalists in the faith that strive to individually attain a greater wealth of righteousness. When we do attain our wealth of righteous actions and theologies, we can easily lord them over the poor and weak as if the “money-means-power” mentality applies. It is in this mentality that righteousness melts away into “richeousness!” Paul tells the Corinthians that they are all parts of the body, some are presentable, and others are not. He is not saying this to classify people, but to do the exact opposite, to declassify them. 1 Corinthians 12:18-27
18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don’t need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don’t need you!" 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are not presentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
God has arranged the body; put every part in its appropriate place. He has combined the members of the body so that they are all one. He’s given honor to every part, even the navel and armpit! He’s done this for a very good reason; that every part has equal concern for each other.
An organization is usually comprised of a hierarchal structure where the wealthy righteous have the most power, and the weak and frail have none. As it is, the church is not supposed to be an organization, run by programs designed by the “richeous” among us. The church is, instead, an organism; it is the body of Christ which boasts a full and diverse cross section of parts. All of those parts, big, small, smelly, or beautiful comprise His body. It is a living and breathing, spirit filled organism that moves and acts according to the thoughts of the head, which is Christ all for the glory and praise of God Almighty! He wills, so we will!
If the church is a building with Christ as the foundation, and God the Master Builder, then we are simply bricks being built into his kingdom. If the church is, indeed, the body of Christ, and Christ is the head, then we are simply members of that body made specifically to do our part. We can, however, perceive this in different ways. One can understand this to mean that every individual in a local church is a specific part of that church, or one can have the perception that every church claiming Christ as head and foundation has a role to fulfill in the “Universal” body of Christ. It is easy for us to minimize the meaning of this topic, to bring it down to the very familiar and to not venture into the possibility that this is bigger than our local assembly. In all of this, I have stopped several times to ask myself, “why are there currently over forty-thousand different faith groups based on Christ within our known world today?” One could speculate that there is this many because no one has got it right yet! Or we could even surmise that we are a reactionary people and when we disagree, we over react and “throw the baby-out-with-the-bathwater,” so to speak! But perhaps there is another reason; maybe there are so many different belief systems because God is perpetuating his kingdom through our imperfections.
Whatever way we look at this, whether local or universal, one thing is for certain; two thousand years following the birth of Christianity, we are still here! We argue, and dispute, and divide over things that, in the scope of grace, are chaff. One thing, and one thing only matters, God is working! We are simply his instruments because of Jesus Christ, our foundation and head.
What does any of this mean for us individuals? It is easy for us to sit back and say that it is exactly right that some people bank too much on building and organization rather than just being the head. In fact, it is distant and theological enough that we can separate ourselves from the application of it. One might even agree with my sentiments on being an organism rather than an organization, and never place themselves in the “responsibility hot seat!” Until we own our current dilemma, until we take responsibility for the issues that plague us today, we cannot move ahead! As you read this, say to yourself these words, “I am one hundred percent responsible for the issues in the church today!” Can you do it? Some may not be able to because of the belief that it is the “change” people among us that are causing the problems. It is not God’s fault that we are where we are, the blame does not fall to other denominations, nor does it fall to a younger or older generation bent on change, or adamant that it does not. The fault is entirely yours and mine that we are in the “pickle” that we are in. Let us not make the same mistake that we have been making for generations, pointing our fingers away from ourselves, crying heresy when issues arise, and pulling specks of dust out of the eyes of another. These were the problems of our past, which we have journeyed through to get to where we are today. Let us learn from our history, learn that every time we interfere with the perfect plan of God in an attempt to enhance, renovate, and ultimately program it, we put our human frailties before God’s infallibility.
