Churchless Christians

John Barrett estimates that there are 112 Millions of churchless Christians - men, women and children who confess Christ as their Lord but do not belong to any of the traditional churches. This number is growing fast. I know at least 50 of them. Either this is the Great Apostasy or it is a Great Apostolic movement. Apostolic means "to be sent" - maybe many of these are "sent" out of the Church walls and into the world God so desperately loves? This would necessarily require a radical new-definition of "church": liquid, dynamic, defined by relationships and not by meetings and structures. If we take this seriously - wow! If church is "the ever changing form of God`s mission into the world" (one of my own definitions), then church is - and has to be - a reflection of the way people live and relate to each other. I still believe in meetings - we will need them until the end, I think - but they are not the essence of church, just one of many ways church becomes visible.
This weekend is Pentecost - a great time to reflect more and deeper on these things that will determine my personal future a lot.

Comments

[Andrew]

Good call, Reinhold. I just posted your thoughts on my blog. Have a great Sunday!!!

[Darren Rowse]

good thinking mate - similar stuff to what we've been thinking about lately too.

[Tim Bednar]

Alan Jamieson wrote a Churchless Faith about the topic.

http://www.reality.org.nz/articles/33/33-jamieson.html

[tony esposito]

just stopped in to ck u out?like what i hear/feel.just coming to realize i have been caught up in" religiousity",and seeking truths opposed to traditional ideaism/"christianity".especially good since your not in USA.

in CHRIST
tony esposito

[brad]

it seems ironic that we are seeing a double "ekkalleo" in our era - one group being those called out of the world to become disciples of Jesus Christ, and the other group being called out of the institutionalized churches to escape the very source they (we) feel hinders our becoming better disciples of Jesus Christ. there may be nowhere for us to go, but there is much for us to be and to do.

i've lived in this place nearly a year, and the three most local denominational churches include: one that has long since gone so far beyond mainline liberal that even my 70+-year-old mother left it and many of her friends there behind "because they just don't believe the Bible." one that is about 80% as far gone as the other brand, and at their denomination's annual summer meeting, they made some decisions that show the decay is not stopping. the third is a theologically conservative mega-church where some kind of truth is likely taught, but it's been "at war" politically with the neighborhood for 20+ years over zoning issues related to getting enough parking for people to attend.

is it any wonder that many of us who are older and "postmodern-friendly," for lack of a better term, believe most denominational brands will die within 25 to 50 years?

is it too cliche to say that the only "brand" i want now is the mark of serving Christ?

this existence is unsettling (i've always believed disciples should contribute the use of ourselves and our gifts to a local body of believers, but i'm no longer in a formal church). it's like floating in a spiritual anti-gravity room, trying to get bearings. but it's also freeing. i can focus of the true essentials of following Christ with a band of brothers and sisters, and not be bound by unnecessary trappings of institutional structures.

my choice for this past year has been to live in residential community with six other people, plus a dog and a cat. if i/we can't figure out how to get along with one another beyond simple tolerance and experience/exhibit unconditional love and kindness and service, then what's the point? if we can't live the message of Christ's love that transforms lives, what makes me/us think we have any moral authority to share with anyone else a message of Christ's love that supposedly transforms?

is this "monastic" (as opposed to academic, ecclesiastic, or apostolic) perspective crazy? or am i crazy? community certainly lends itself to experiencing a range of emotions. some days, i feel like i'm a pathetic drain on the good will and lives of my housemates. others days, i know beyond feelings that i contribute deeply to their lives ... and even to their lives of their friends who are gradually becoming part of my "oikos" as well.

i have been in churches my entire life - nearly 50 years. but this has been one of the more challenging, yet satisfying, experiences yet. i'm not a freelance Christian or a libertine; just feeling more freed from inherent weights and legalisms that come from uncountered institutionalization.

where do i apply for your forthcoming Christian farm/communal center, reinhold ...?