Saturday, August 29, 2009

Is the church still the church without people?

This quote is verbatim from Alan Knox's blog and I think it gets at the heart of what ills the church:

“The Christian idea of the people which, according to the Gospel of Mark, is defined by Jesus’ relationship to them (the ochlos) was not merely left unimplemented in the history of the hierarchical church; it was actually suppressed. We shall only rediscover it if we rise up with the cry of popular protest–this time on the part of the church’s people–claiming: ‘We are the church.’ This is what has happened since 1994 in Catholic congregations in Europe. Ever since the early Christian development of the manarchical episcopate, we have known the church as a hierarchy ‘from above’ which delegates the universal episcopate of the pope ‘downwards’, and demotes the people of Christ to the status of ‘the faithful’, or ‘the people in the pews’. The distinction between clergy and laity has split the people of God into two. The word ‘lay’ originally meant a member of the laos, the people of God; but because the clerics were set apart from the people, the word came to mean the ignorant and incompetent, those with no jurisdiction. A ‘complete layman’ means someone who doesn’t understand what something is about. In the hierarchical perspective, ‘the people’ are only there as the object of ‘holy rule’, of caritative care and guidance by their ’shepherds’. For centuries, people in the church have reacted to this godless and un-Christian deprival of their responsibility with growing apathy and with silence. Since they are no longer ‘forced’ to go to church, they leave the church altogether. The result is people without a church and a church without people. This is a silent falling away from the church which the church itself has brought about. It is only if this ‘church for the people’ becomes a ‘church of the people and by the people’, and if the hierarchical church for looking after people becomes a congregational church, with many different kinds of participation, that the ancient schism between chruch and people will be overcome.

“What applies to the Roman catholic hierarchy in its estrangement from the people can also be said about the Protestant pastoral aristocracy, or its somewhat more modern variation in the form of a theological and pastoral expertocracy. Ideas about a blanket church-management which will cover the religious needs of the people are not enough to create what in Germany is called a Volkskirche, a church intended to meet the needs of the whole population. Even the strenuously promoted programmes ‘church for the people’, ‘church for others’, or ‘church for the world’ do not reach the people, because the word for cuts the church off from the people and makes the people an object–something to be cared for. A ‘people’s’ church which accords with Jesus and the people can grow up only through a congregational renewal that springs from the people and is implemented through the people. For this, the Catholic base communities in Latin America, and the free church, Pentecostal congregations are examples and models.” (Jurgen Moltmann, Experiences in Theology, 265-66)

I don't know much about Moltmann, so this is not a wholesale endorsement of him or his theology because frankly I am not sure where he is coming from. What he says about the state of the church is right on in so many ways. As Alan points out, the church is not a "people's church" in the sense of a church that is about the people. I like what he said here:

He is correct that when the church becomes the clergy’s church (either in Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, or Protestantism), the people become separated from the church. The people lose sight of the fact that they are the church in identity, and the church functions only as the people function… not as the clergy functions. In reality, the church does not exist apart from the people, since the church is the people of God gathered out of the world and sent into the world.

The church is about Christ and is manifested in the people of Christ. By forming separate classes of people, we have crippled the church by overburdening a few and relegating the rest into spectators.


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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

When an article like this shows up I would like to see a clearer usage of words, the word “church” could mean a building as meanings of words evolve by common usage.
Today the word church could mean a building. The use of the word church in this article I believe is intended to mean people but this is not enough. The real definition of the word church as used in Scripture is not just people rather the word church in Scripture means the people of God, the church is catholic i.e. universal. This church is everywhere and in all orthodox denominations.
The church is not the church with out the people of God. Common usage of the word church could mean a building but still the building is not the Church of God that is catholic.
This article is almost meaningless, it’s as if the clergy and laity could be separated at all.
This is the church of God.
Acts 13:1 Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
1Cor. 12:28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.
1Cor. 12:29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?
Eph. 4:11 ¶ And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
James 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
Philem. 1:2 to the beloved Apphia, Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:
1Tim. 3:15 but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
Col. 1:24 ¶ I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,
There are many other Scriptures that mention the church, the church is the people of God. Not a building, not priests, not laity but the people of God.
Ken Clouse

Alan Knox said...

Ken,

Actually, the word translated "church" in the NT does not mean "the people of God". The word ekklesia simply means "assembly of people". The word is used in Acts 19 of the gathering of citizens in Ephesus. The word was used to refer to the citizens who made political decision in Greek city-states.

Of course, from context, we see that ekklesia often refers to "God's assembly of people", or simply "God's people". However, this meaning is not found in the word ekklesia ("church") but in the near context.

Of course, in my post I say exactly what you say that the end of your comment: "There are many other Scriptures that mention the church, the church is the people of God. Not a building, not priests, not laity but the people of God."

-Alan