Institutions or Individuals?
I’d like to pose a few questions that might help all of us (including me) to think about our thinking. Specifically, I wonder if some of us may think more of the church as an institution instead of thinking about individuals – especially the souls of individuals. Maybe your list would be longer, but here are just a few questions designed to get all of us started thinking.
- Is the church primarily a building–or–is it a family?
- Is the church an organization set up to meet my needs–or–is it a body of which I am a vital and functioning member?
- Does membership in a local congregation allow me to have privileges– or–does it provide opportunities for me to serve?
- Am I more concerned about the eldership–or–the individual men who serve (and their families)?
- Are my prayers for the elders phrased in terms that suggest that they comprise a board of directors charged with decision-making duties-or–do I pray for them as they shepherd the souls of people?
- Do the elders, themselves, see their duties more in terms of institutional duties–or–do they view their role more in terms of “watching for the souls” of individuals?
- Is the preacher’s role viewed (by him and by others) as a sort of office manager–or–is his role seen as helping individuals go to heaven?
- Does the preacher love preaching–or–does he love the Lord and the souls of people?
- When a person is baptized do I emphasize the fact that he/she is now a member of the church–or–do I rejoice because a soul has been saved?
- Do I view my giving as helping to enable the church to keep functioning–or–do I view it as one of the ways in which I can demonstrate my love for the Lord and for the souls of those who need to hear about Him?
- When a brother or sister does, in fact, drift into a life of sin, am I more concerned about the fact that he/she is “bringing reproach upon the church”–or–the fact that he/she is lost and in need of somebody to try to provide guidance back to the way of righteousness?
- When a straying brother or sister in the Lord has been restored, is he/she added back to the “church roll”–or–has a family member been reclaimed?
- Do I view the church as (in today’s parlance) a “brand”–or–do I view it as a relationship?
These are just a few of the things that come to my mind. As I typed them, I was certainly thinking about my thinking about the church, my relationship with the Lord, and my relationship with others.
To be sure, the New Testament provides for us what some might call an “organizational structure” for the church. I am, in no way, suggesting that God’s plan should be ignored or modified.
What I am suggesting is that we need to resist the temptation to focus on the plan and lose sight of people. People are a huge part of the purpose for the plan. Long after meetings, programs, campaigns, etc. are no more, it will be individuals who will be in eternity. It seems to me that this is what should be the focus of everybody who claims to follow Jesus.
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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
