Well, a big thanks to Hamo for posting the first comment for this blog! And as a way of saying thanks I thought I’d blog about his question about structures and church, partly to say thanks but mostly because I think his question gets to the heart of this blog.
Firstly two observations. (1) Structures in churches / groups is what frustrates us about churches / groups. (2) Structures in churches / groups are what makes or defines a group.
All churches have some kind of structure.
A) To be part of the early church in Acts you had to give all your possessions to a collective pool.
B) My home church (currently consisting of me and my wife and another couple) meet every Sunday morning. And although this is perhaps the only spoken rule we have, there are lots of unspoken rules. Like, none of us would just invite someone else to the group, and we usually read a Xn writer or look at the Bible in some way.
C) Some Anglican churches who have a very structured liturgy have a theology far more flexible than a lot of alternate churches.
So, does your church (or dream church) have a structure?
My little test is this, will these 4 people be welcome and have an equal part to play in your church?
1. A conservative Xn who thinks the left behind series is great theology
2. A Gay Xn
3. A militant Xn who wants to kill all Islamic people
4. Me
In short if your church (or dream church) does not allow for equal participation by these four people then it has some structure, and that’s not a bad thing.
The title of this blog basically comes from the idea that we all have, at some point, a line where we say that’s not church and this is. Church is more than just meeting with Xns. If I met with some Xn friends at a coffee shop and talked about the latest bjork album is that really church? For me it would be a great and valuable thing to do but it is not church. Church has a structure. The big question is what is that structure or more simply what is church?
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