Our Collapsing Ecclesiology
A truly “catholic” church has universal appeal. It doesn’t pander to diverse audience. And it simply can’t be that diverse anyhow. Terry Johnson writes:
“Churches ought not to adopt the cultural preferences of any single demographic in the church. To do so is to give an unwarranted preference to one group and unnecessarily alienate everyone else. What should the church do? What did Protestant churches do for the last four hundred years? Or two hundred years? Or one hundred years prior to 1980? Their public ministry was catholic. They ministered and worshiped in the forms of their own ecclesiastical culture, founded on Scripture and tested by time. Their public ministry was historic—what the church, more or less, had always practiced. The word was read, preached, sung, and prayed, and the visible words, the sacraments, were administered. Even their music was that which had slowly evolved and gained universal acceptance. Their services were simple and plain. Their format, music, language, and furnishings and decorations belonged to no single group, and so their public worship and ministry belonged to every group.
A church that targets a specific demographic, be it the young or the old, cowboys or surfers, rockers or hip-hoppers, forfeits apostolicity. Why? Because the apostles did not target specific kinds of people. They cast their gospel nets widely, and their churches, as a consequence, were heterogeneous.”
Full article here. HT: Uri brito.
July 28th, 2011 at 3:31 am
You’re assuming that the unrighteous all come to the church (in this case, an institution). Jesus and the apostles took the church (a belief system) to the people, be they tax collectors, fishermen, adulterers, young/old or rich/poor.
If the righteous approach those demographics that you list and a body of believers come out of it, so be it. I see nothing wrong with a demographic-based church. If there is an issue here, then Jesus Himself should be questioned about his wharf-based group. Do you think the tax collectors were upset when they had to sit on the sand to eat with Jesus?
The important thing to remember here is the meaning of the word “church” – the entire community of all who are called by and to Christ. Whether that group ends up in the sand, on horseback or in a pew is of little consequences.
July 28th, 2011 at 9:02 am
Kelly
You do have a point, and there are some benefits in reaching a certain demographic or racial group. But that limits the assembly. If God gives you a certain group, train them to be open to all.