Preserving the Institution at the Cost of its Mission

Saul, a prophet of Christ by the will of God to the Church of the United States and all under its influence, grace and peace to you.

How the leadership of the churches cry out about the collapse of the blessed institution and its norms. How pastors, priests, and reverends call out “Why have the people left the church?”

The church itself is an idea, an institution, a set of practices and traditions that has changed over thousands of years. It is not the same now as it was when Jesus first left his followers to carry out discipleship. It is not the same now as when the Council of Nicaea came together to set a standard creed.

It is not the same now as when the crusaders fought a bloody war under a perceived banner of righteousness. It is not the same now as when Martin Luthor opposed the Catholic church with the 95 Theses. It is not even the same now as the charismatic movement that just a few decades back swept through the United States.

The church has always changed to meet the moment, to meet the people. And its theology has always changed to meet the call of discipleship to the “least of these brothers and sisters” as told in Matthew 25.

Yet, the cry from the church is not for the people, but for the institution. Why have people left the church? Why are the people not coming to church? Why do the people stay away from the institution? It is time for the church to ask itself a different question.

Why isn’t the church meeting the needs of the people? Why has the church stopped going to where the people are? Has it become so preoccupied with the traditions of any specific flavor of denomination, that it must forsake the primary mission?

It can become difficult for a church leader to make this adjustment. After all, in our institutionalized system of church, the church leader is often inextricably reliant on the institution of the church for their needs. The church is their salary, the church is their home, their church is their sustenance. Anything that threatens the institution therefore inherently threatens their very well-being.

And congregations know this all too well. They leverage this reality against the church leader. If you change my traditions, if you go against my expectations, I will leave this place and take my support with me. If I, the church attendee, find anything I do not like about this church, I will remove my support for the institution as well.

What a predicament. Church leaders are beholden to the institution, and church congregants have the power to maintain their status quo. So the church asks itself why aren’t people coming, instead of how we must change to approach more people?

The institution becomes the priority over the mission. So we say why don’t they come? Yet we saw in Jesus a man that defied the institution and prioritized the people.

The least of these, the mission.

May the discernment of the Lord be with you so that the institution may stop crying and instead meet the cries of the people.