What is Church? How should we reconstitute it?

 

Perhaps as prologue to considering how we ought to reconstitute the ELCA, we ought to pause and consider what is the Church? Now, I’ve done an educational series on this question at both congregations I’ve served as pastor. Here are a few things from that series worth considering:

 

The Church is what happens on a congregational level, and that varies greatly by congregation. Congregations define themselves by:
-who they are not (for example, the congregation was founded by people dissatisfied by the other Lutheran congregation in town)
-what they do (for example, “we’re the congregation who feeds people” “we’re the congregation that holds the craft fair in November”)
-by their history (“we’re a Muhlenberg congregation founded before the country” or “we found our identity as a congregation when tons of WWII refugees moved into the neighborhood in 1951”)
-ethnic heritage (we’re a German congregation, we’re a congregation of “Squareheads”, etc).
              As such any definition of Church, and any restructuring of church, has to take into account a certain amount of diversity.

 

The Church is defined in particular ways by Lutherans.

The third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, creates and keeps the Church. (Luther’s Small Catechism)

This creation of the Holy Spirit is people gathered around scripture and sacrament. That’s it, other things are fine, but are of human origin. (The Augsburg Confession, 7^th article)

This gathering will include saints and sinners, true believers and false Christians, righteous people and hypocrites. Bad and wrong folk don’t render the Church null and void. (The Augsburg Confession, 8^th article)

So, in reconstituting the ELCA we need to remember: that we’re always stewards of what God has first done, not to elevate or fixate on non-essential things, and make organizational decisions knowing they’ll be administered by humans not angels.

 

The Church has been defined in the ELCA’s constitution. There is some really thoughtful stuff already present in how we do church, and I hope we don’t jettison it. For example:

Jesus Centered: To quote directly from the constitution, “All power belongs to Jesus, our actions carry out the will of Jesus Christ.”

Humble Ecumenism: We recognize we’re not the entire expression of the Church, as such we describe the ELCA as “This Church” not “The Church” which we understand to be much wider than the ELCA.

Mutuality: At our best we’re three expressions of This Church, the local Congregation, the regional Synod, and the national Churchwide. We are accountable to one another.

Worshipful: Every major decision in our denomination is made by a group of people in worship. Congregational Meetings are made by people assembled for Sunday worship, Synod Assemblies are a worship gathering of people from every congregation where the business of the Synod is discussed, and Churchwide Assembly is a multi-day worship event that also involves major decisions for the life of this Church.

              I pray the reconstitution of the ELCA is worshipful, gathers consent from all the expressions of This Church, takes into account our commitments to other Christian bodies, especially those who we are in full communion with, and most importantly, the changes are done in order to more fully carry out the will of Jesus Christ.

 

              Another way to come at the nature of the Church is to name “What Christianity is Not” as Douglas John Hall does in his book of the same name. According to this book, Christianity is not:

Culture: It is not tied to a country, or subculture or people or ethnicity. St. Paul struggled with defining the bounds of the faith in ethnic/cultural/religious divisions. St. Augustine did the same vis a vis Rome and Kierkegaard vis a vis Denmark.

Religion: As stated above the Church isn’t a method for humans to reach heaven, but a gift of the Holy Spirit.

A book: The Reformation slogan “Word Alone” isn’t the same as Bibliolatry, but the experience of encountering the God pointed to in the Scriptures.

Doctrine or even Truth: Ultimately faith isn’t a matter of cognitive affirmation to particular points of view, but trust in the God found in Jesus. Being found by God.

Morality: As said above, the Church will by its very nature be filled with both saints and sinners, often found within the same person.

The Church: The whole of the book of Acts is the church catching up to what the Spirit has already done.

              So, after going through all these things that Christianity is not Hall defines Christianity as “When Jesus is proclaimed and experienced as Crucified, yet Lord and Prophet.”

              How might this help the reconstitution of the ELCA? It names six important aspects of Christianity that are so important that we have a tendency to think they are the ultimate concern of the faith, when they are in fact penultimate. For example, a cultural or moral concern could scuttle a reconstitution discussion, but with the above in mind can be relativized in the light of the most important thing, our Crucified Lord. Also, I pray that the folk involved in these conversations always keep open for experiences of Jesus as Crucified Lord. 

 

              So, at the end of my congregational educational series, how did the group I was leading mash up these ideas into a working definition of Church? “A community who trusts in Jesus Christ, gathers around word and sacrament, and proclaims the Gospel to our neighbors.”

              I pray that the Reformed ELCA, whatever its ultimate shape, will proclaim Gospel to the world, worship together well, and trust Jesus Christ.