Institution:
An established custom, law, or
relationship in a society or community:
An organization
or establishment founded for a specific purpose,
This has been a great topic of discussion
that has arisen over the last few decades over whether or not the church has become institutionalized. This debate has come to surface, due
only to the conception of the new age religious movement. As for myself, I find
this to be an unfounded argument. The New Testament church is and has always
been an institution. We only need to look to scripture or even historical texts
to find that the institutional church has had its existence from the pre to the
post apostolic age, and up to the present time. In the scriptures of the New
Testament, “churches” are mentioned as individual entities over different areas
of the then known world. I must concede that we find no records of the early Christian
church having sanctified “facilities” or specific buildings in which to
worship, but they were definitely organizations with unified, exclusive
membership, which could very well define them as “institutions”.
The question arises only when the
focus of the people is moved from the simple working of the true church to the dealings
of the modern “churchianity” of today. Many of these new age organizations
operate more on the lines of a corporation rather than the institution of the church.
In fact most choose not to carry the word or title of “church” anywhere in
their names. This is not an absent-minded omission, but is a deliberate move on
their part, for the word church in the original Greek was “ekklesia”, a
compound word from “kaleo” (to call) and “ek” (out), therefore “ekklesia” meant
“called out ones”. Since most new religious establishments today have no desire
to be “called out” from the world or to be aligned with the doctrine of
separation that comes with true Christianity, they remain attached to the world
while at the same time attempting to identify themselves with at least some
smattering of Christian religion. For the same reason, many of these neo-modern
organizations also boast the fact that they are non-denominational. I must confess
that laying claim to any denomination can add nothing to the worship and
adoration of Jesus Christ. However, a denomination
(which is simply a name or title), at least identifies itself with a specific area
of religion or belief system that has a proven historical theological orthodoxy.
I agree that many of the newly
established denominational churches may have become completely unorthodox in
their means of “worship”. Yet, non-denominational “worship centers” have no stamp
of scriptural or biblical identification whatsoever. The attitude of most of
these facilities is “come as you are and stay as you are; whose mission is to advance
individual self worth, with no identifiable change to a Christ like life required.
We
need not search long to find that the modern church has been swallowed up by
the world, or should I say the “church” of today is swallowing up the world.
Let’s look at it this way; the church is much like a ship on the sea;
surrounded by its waters on every side. As long as the sea is kept outside and not
allowed to “seep” into the bowels of the ship, the ship remains intact and safe.
If the ship begins to take on water and nothing is done stop its influx, it
will most certainly founder and will eventually be overcome by the sea and sink
into its abyss.
In conclusion, I say again that I must
believe that the church of Jesus Christ, regardless of denomination has been, and
exists today as an institution. We are to be an organized membership of God’s believing children, bearing in mind
that for any institution or organization to claim the title of Christian
Church, Jesus Christ must in every case, be the Head not only of “the” Church,
but of each individual body of believers which is called “a” church. We as the
church’s membership are charged with keeping our respective institutions, in
line with scriptural teaching, while guarding them from the influence of the
world. The church should be seen as the very exemplar of separation from the
anti-Christian lifestyles that are connected with what we call “the world”.
Keep in mind that God is not a God
of anything goes, but rather a God of order. And even though we may indeed
worship as individuals, we are also biblically commanded to worship
collectively (Heb 10:24-25).
Sam Everett
