I received the latest issue Christian Century (May 31, 2011, vol. 128, No. 11) today. On the coverage, it’s said The Dismembered Church: Attending without Joining. Christians go to church without membership. It implies that (1) Christians go to church without strong commitment to the church; (2) Christians believe in Christ but don’t want to belong to the body of Christ. In theological language, Christians embrace Christology but not ecclesiology; (3) and Christians only expect to receive from the church, but not to be demanded by the church.
I am very interested in this topic. However, I am not happy about this reality. To a certain extent, I am bothered by it.
In the magazine, there is an article called Loose Connections. The author Amy Frykholm quotes from Robert Wuthnow, Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, saying “Although churchgoers still have friends at their local congregations, they now have loose ties with friends, organizations, and information sources that span the globe.” (p. 21) We have many church friends in the church, but we have “loose ties” with church friends.
In the article, the author also points out another reality of the church. She writes:
“Bill Bohline, a Lutheran pastor in Lakeville, Minnesota, said a recent study showed that the demographics of the area in every respect but one—among thirtysomethings. The thirtysomethings were absent from church. While some of them drop their kids off at the church for programs, they don’t come in themselves.” (p. 21)
“What is the church,” I asked. On the one hand, I am old enough to realize that the church is a tough place to practice Christian faith. On the other hand, my theological and biblical conviction is that we cannot grow toward maturity in Christ apart from the body of Christ, the church.
“So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Rom. 12:5).
“We are members one of another” (Eph. 4:25).
If we believe the church as the body of Christ, do we act in certain ways that we gradually turn the church into social gathering or social service? Attending without joining almost sounds like shopping without buying. We walk into a shop in a mall and expect a salesperson to say nice things to persuade us. Deep down in our heart, we know that we are not going to buy the product. But we like to be persuaded and treated as if we were super special. As David Wells said about the church, “Marketers are looking for buyers.”[1] We buyers have no commitment to marketers; marketers who have no real concerns for the buyers try to arouse our appetites and seduce us to buy their products.
The more I study Calvin, the more I am able to converse with Calvin about my surrounding. Calvin looks at the church as outward aid for human weakness. The church is God’s external means of grace for all believers. Calvin says, “Our weakness does not allow us to be dismissed from her school until we have been pupils all our lives” (Institutes, 4.1.4). The church is “a collective sanctification.”[2] Calvin views the church as school. The church is the place where Christians are taught, nurtured, sustained, and supported. For Calvin, apart from the church, there is no sanctification, for God wills all believers to belong to the body of Christ.
“Apart from me, you can do nothing” said Jesus. (Jn. 15:5) The same principle also applies to the body of Christ: Apart from his Body, Christians can do nothing. It is not that the church offers salvation. Calvin was against the Roman Catholic Church because of that. In Christ alone, salvation is found (Acts 4:12). As a reformer, Calvin affirmed it with conviction. However, Calvin talked about sanctification within the church in and through which Christians as one body of Christ influenced the world. For Calvin, there is no such thing as “attending without joining.” The New Testament makes it so clear that Christians are not individualistic. Rather, they are members of a body.
Let me conclude with this wonderful paragraph from the article:
“When you become a member…you discover the privilege of being a giver as well as a taker. A church, unlike other sectors of society, does not have qualifications for joining. Membership is open to all. But it does involve an element of commitment, even a covenant, with a specific group of people over time.” (p. 23).
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