i'm not sure we know what church is

and perpetuating not-church undermines the real thing

Things have been busy for me lately. Last week, I took my daughter, Emma, to Chicago to participate in a national children’s choir. It was a wonderful experience for her! My apologies for falling behind here; I hope this week’s post is worth the wait!

When you picture “church” what image comes to mind?

A building with a steeple? (Open it up and there’s all the people!)

A Sunday gathering with clergy? A sermon? Communion?

Religious art, stained glass, altars and incense?

Low lights, loud music, and elaborate stage backdrops?

Dana Carvey?

One of the most significant barriers to real Christian unity, I think, comes from our confusion about the fundamentals of the faith. “Church” is a word we all assume we understand. But if the image in your head is dramatically different from mine, how can we pursue the unity of the church? Agreeing on the nature of church is an important first step on the path to Christian unity.

(And if you aren’t sure that’s important, take it up with Jesus. I’m pretty sure He wants that to be among our top priorities.)

That’s not the only reason knowing what “church” is is important. If a hospital isn’t sure it’s supposed to be about healing and treatment, patients won’t be cared for and illness and injury will go unchecked. If a school doesn’t know it’s about education, kids won’t learn and ignorance will only grow.

If the church doesn’t know what it means to church, then it won’t church very well. And if the church is adrift in this way, then people will stop going and churches will close.

I’m not sure we know what church is. And perpetuating not-church is killing what’s left of the real thing.

we think church is events and institutions

We tend to think church is a complex of events and institutions. We attend church, give to the church, serve the church, join a church.

We implicitly define church this way, because this is the way most of us experience church. Church is a “place” that we go or a weekly “event” in which we participate. There is a tendency in our culture to think of church as an event or institution. And I think this modern mistake paves over the real goodness of what church actually is.

don’t pave over church. let the real thing bloom!

It makes sense that we think this way. This isn’t just a mistake of the laity or congregations. It’s a mistake that has been perpetuated by denominational leaders, church growth gurus, and pastors of all shapes and sizes.

There is a natural temptation in activist American culture for church leaders to prove that they are necessary and effective. We define the success or health of a church by its “counting stats:” the size of the budget and Sunday attendance. (This is shorthanded in any number of ways: “nickels and noses,” “butts and bucks,” etc.) A “successful” pastor has a large congregation and is able to leverage the number people of people in attendance into broader influence—from speaking engagements, to book deals, to denominational leadership.

Pastors become “brands” and define themselves on twitter as “entrepreneurs,” “visionaries,” “communicators,” and “influencers.” Anything but plain old boring “pastor.”

The trick is to hold events and create dynamic institutions that will inspire people to attend and give. Church becomes another participant in the marketplace, competing for scarce resources. Events and institutions become the focus because these are how we keep people engaged, hold their attention, and ensure the necessary growth that will justify our careers.

It’s one reason why “church shopping” is what people do when they move to a new city or town. We need to judge who provides the best spiritual services that meet our needs.

We don’t mean to treat church cynically. Neither do the leaders who perpetuate this mistaken approach to church. As Americans, we are discipled by the marketplace in just about every area of life. It makes sense that we would fall into this way of thinking.

Deep down, we know it’s wrong. We know church is broken. But oftentimes, we just can’t quite put our finger on the reason why.

church is persons-in-relationship (because that’s who god is)

Church is not events and institutions. Church is persons-in-relationship. That’s what church is, because that’s who God is.

One of the best-known verses in the Bible is 1 John 4:8: “God is love.” We may know the verse, but do we grasp the reality of what it means?

God is love. Biblical revelation tells us that love is at the heart of the divine essence. To be God is to be love.

But love is not an ontological category—it isn’t a defining characteristic. I can say that I am human, male, of European descent, an embodied soul, an image-bearer of God. But I can’t say that I am love. I can’t say that because love is not an ontological category; it’s a relational one.

So how can St. John define God as love? Because God is relational in His very essence. Christians confess that God is One (Deut. 6:4). But we also confess that there are three Persons in one God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If God were merely, simply, absolutely one (as Islam teaches Allah to be), then we could not say that God is love. This would make no logical sense.

Christians confess that God is love because God is Persons-in-Relationship. This is how God has revealed Himself. At creation. In His providence. And, most perfectly, in the incarnation and redemption which He won for us in Christ Jesus.

Unfortunately, as Catholic theologian Karl Rahner said, “Despite their orthodox confession of the Trinity, Christians are, in their practical life, almost mere monotheists.” Practically speaking, we are not Trinitarians. Our confession of the Trinity is a doctrinal affirmation, but not a lived reality.

To be a mere monotheist is to think of God in non-relational terms. It is to think of the church in non-relational terms.

God is Persons-in-Relationship. By His grace, He catches us up into His very Life, by the work Christ and the power of the Spirit.

The church is not events and institutions. The church is persons-in-relationship, moving towards ever-increasing union with and delight in the God who is Persons-in-Relationship.

If events and institutions help us more perfectly become who we are, great! But events and institutions are not an end in themselves. They are a means to an end, and that end is church: persons-in-relationship. To the extent that they detract from this fundamental theological reality, we are missing the mark.