Continuing my “list” of character qualities that make up a true church, I want to add to both Apostolic Authority and Biblical Faithfulness, the next quality: Covenantal Relationships.
A few years back, eminent sociologist Robert Wuthnow conducted a very well-regarded study of the small group phenomenon in the United States. His conclusions were published in two different books, the title of one, summed up the pervasive American passion for small groups and “community”: It was entitled, I Come Away Stronger.
In nutshell, Wuthnow concluded that Americans like small groups for what “I” get out of being part of a “we”.
I read the book as part of a doctoral seminar exploring community in contemporary American culture and the professor, Dr. Robert Banks, posed a question to us. “If your small group folded or ceased to exist, what would be lost?” Immediately, we theologically astute, community-minded, brighter-than-average, students responded with a list of woes:
“I would have less support for my Christian journey.”
“I would have less accountability for living out my Christian convictions.”
“I would have….less friendship, more loneliness, less fellowship, less tradition (…and on and on).”
Yup. Even those of us who were most interested in Christian community thought of it primarily or perhaps even solely as a means to make Christian individuals better Christian individuals.
Dr. Banks retort was, “How about this? If my small group folded, there would be one less intentional community in the world. There would be one less place where people have committed themselves to each other. The social fabric of our society will be less knit together. Have any of you thought of how less groups means more individual Christians living without commitments and connection and how that alone is something to grieve?”
We hadn’t, of course. Even for us, community was basically just another strategy for making “Me” better, stronger, holier, healthier…(fill in the blank). And that conversation became deeply formative for my understanding of the church. While a small group is for most of us, a strategy for discipleship—even a deeply relational strategy—but the emphasis is on personal—that is MY discipleship. And frankly, there is nothing all that "revolutionary" or counter-cultural or even uniquely Christian about wanting to be around others who make us better at something we care about. (A glee club, study group or cycling group does the same thing.)
The church however is not primarily about personal improvement (even spiritual improvement), but covenantal faithfulness. It’s about a group of people brought together by the Holy Spirit to live out the covenant of God that is a reflection of the Triune God's own self-reflection. Together, through our covenantal life we are to reflect the life and presence of God in our midst. (Even amidst our brokenness and spiritual frailty, I would add.)
For a church to be a true church, the commitments made to each other must be more than expedient, convenient, even helpful or beneficial, they need to be covenantal. They begin in Baptism, they are renewed and reinforced in Holy Communion, they are tutored through discipline and discernment, and they are, by their expression, witness to the reality of God’s Spirit working to bring God's reign to the world.
When we join a church we don’t “align with an institution,” but become “members of one another” (1 Cor 12:12—in language that sounds curiously like marriage--see Ephesians 5 again). And when the "body of Christ" lives together as a healthy body (Ephesians 4) under the "head" Christ, both individual members are strengthened and God is glorified.
In a true church, it’s not enough for me to “come away stronger”, God's witness should be seen clearer.
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