Pastor’s Notes….
So there we were on Sunday evenings inspired by a familiar author and engaged in conversation about the future of the church when we still saw ourselves as a young and non-traditional congregation. Our talks were enriched by the multigenerational voices in the room. No videos. No pre-scripted pages in a study guide. Nothing was safe. No one slept through these sessions.
The first question we entertained was a familiar one. “Do we even need denominations?” Most of us in the room gave the expected answer. We’d all heard it in conversation with other folks. NO. We echoed the common reasons others were citing. ‘The lines of division were not good for the body of Christ.’ ‘Most denominations represent the outdated church.’ ‘People are just more independent.’ ‘It is time to let go of tradition.’
Declaring that denominations are no longer relevant is to say that we stand ready to eliminate middle judicatories. After all that is how denominational structure is manifest: through synods and conferences, parish and regional offices. Then our conversation tightened around life without some structure. What would replace structure? Or the Regional or Area office? The topic became What would a healthy middle judicatory look like?
Some of the things we had depended on our area and regional offices before were re-established in importance. Middle judicatory has always assisted our congregations in conflict resolution in the local church, helping to avoid destructive conflict and to journey with congregations through healthy conflict. Area and regional offices have helped equip and care for a strong and healthy clergy through education, accountability and by fostering real relationships and accessibility to other clergy.
The two traits of healthy middle judicatory that resonated in our own context were these: that healthy denominations help the local church confront parochialism and participate in the work of the larger church and healthy denominations help keep individuals and congregations aware of the whole gospel. It is easy for local churches to polarize around social issues or political or theological baggage. What is good for the local congregation may not always be in the best interest of the larger church. Even worse at times we can become consumed with our own passions and blind to the realities of the kingdom of God. If we are called to be ‘in the world but not of the world,’ then something has to keep us focused beyond our own beliefs and needs.
It turned out that we changed our answer by the end of just one session. Maybe denominations aren’t such a bad thing after all, we just need healthy ones. Not a surprising conclusion to reach when after all we come from the original non-denominational movement on this continent!
Another way to think about healthy denominations and middle judicatories is that they are like veins and arteries and connective tissue between individual participating congregations and their people. That doesn’t seem like an outdated idea.
The truth is most denominations weren’t suffering because church folk were more independent or giving up on tradition. It was simply that church folk in number were growing fewer and fewer. There simply was not the money or the energy to staff judicatories as in the past.
So with offices and hubs closing and geography increasing, where is the connective tissue? How can we maintain arterial health?
to be continued…
So there we were on Sunday evenings inspired by a familiar author and engaged in conversation about the future of the church when we still saw ourselves as a young and non-traditional congregation. Our talks were enriched by the multigenerational voices in the room. No videos. No pre-scripted pages in a study guide. Nothing was safe. No one slept through these sessions.
The first question we entertained was a familiar one. “Do we even need denominations?” Most of us in the room gave the expected answer. We’d all heard it in conversation with other folks. NO. We echoed the common reasons others were citing. ‘The lines of division were not good for the body of Christ.’ ‘Most denominations represent the outdated church.’ ‘People are just more independent.’ ‘It is time to let go of tradition.’
Declaring that denominations are no longer relevant is to say that we stand ready to eliminate middle judicatories. After all that is how denominational structure is manifest: through synods and conferences, parish and regional offices. Then our conversation tightened around life without some structure. What would replace structure? Or the Regional or Area office? The topic became What would a healthy middle judicatory look like?
Some of the things we had depended on our area and regional offices before were re-established in importance. Middle judicatory has always assisted our congregations in conflict resolution in the local church, helping to avoid destructive conflict and to journey with congregations through healthy conflict. Area and regional offices have helped equip and care for a strong and healthy clergy through education, accountability and by fostering real relationships and accessibility to other clergy.
The two traits of healthy middle judicatory that resonated in our own context were these: that healthy denominations help the local church confront parochialism and participate in the work of the larger church and healthy denominations help keep individuals and congregations aware of the whole gospel. It is easy for local churches to polarize around social issues or political or theological baggage. What is good for the local congregation may not always be in the best interest of the larger church. Even worse at times we can become consumed with our own passions and blind to the realities of the kingdom of God. If we are called to be ‘in the world but not of the world,’ then something has to keep us focused beyond our own beliefs and needs.
It turned out that we changed our answer by the end of just one session. Maybe denominations aren’t such a bad thing after all, we just need healthy ones. Not a surprising conclusion to reach when after all we come from the original non-denominational movement on this continent!
Another way to think about healthy denominations and middle judicatories is that they are like veins and arteries and connective tissue between individual participating congregations and their people. That doesn’t seem like an outdated idea.
The truth is most denominations weren’t suffering because church folk were more independent or giving up on tradition. It was simply that church folk in number were growing fewer and fewer. There simply was not the money or the energy to staff judicatories as in the past.
So with offices and hubs closing and geography increasing, where is the connective tissue? How can we maintain arterial health?
to be continued…