Fantastic!

In this last paragraph, Fitch powerfully sums up what the western church must do in a sentence.

Let us reclaim the practices of being His Body.

This last week I was pretty sick. I wanted to go for a run. I wanted to go surfing. I wanted to go hang out with people, but my body wouldn't cooperate. Must be how Jesus feels! There is so much he is about in the world, but, his Body won't cooperate. They are sick. Sick with the viruses of capitalism, economics, and democracy. Sick with individualism and self centeredness while the extraordinary opporunity to embody the life of the Kingdom is missed. (Please keep posting Fitch's stuff here, love it!)
-Seacrest, out

I concur with portions of Fitch’s analysis. I agree that the church in North America is in trouble. I am pretty convinced that in the area where I live and minister, the Southern United States, we are only about ten years of funerals short of closing the doors of hundreds, if not thousands, of churches.

However, I am a bit stymied by his comment in point (a) that we have “accommodated ourselves to American culture in such a way that we have become another example of the mistake of protestant liberalism.” This is most definitely not the case in my field of ministry. Indeed, the majority of churches that I am familiar with are anything but accommodated to American culture. They are so far removed from the 21st century American culture that a step through the front doors is like a step through the portals of a time machine. Far from being accommodated to the American culture, our churches have manufactured a unique, mid-20th century culture that is all their own. I believe that this distance from and unfamiliarity with the current culture is one of the root causes of our church struggles. I have recently blogged on this subject at http://missionmpossible.blogspot.com/2006/08/can-one-size-fit-all.html .

As far as the church needing to become the Body of Christ in our world (point b) … that one is a “no-brainer.” It is high time that our churches and leaders climb down off of their “soap boxes” of judgment and dig deeply into the trenches of ministry. We need to start “earning the right” to share our faith.

Nicely put. This true indictment and clarion call just echose hundreds of theologians and pastors who have dare to be a prophetic mouthpiece in recent years.

My hunch is that evangelicalism as a cultural movement has lost (if it ever had) historical contact with the roots of the Christian faith. For the first 300+ years the church and those who followed and gave allegiance to Christ as Lord (not Cesar) were seen as seditious and subversive. Because in their very being they were so transformed by the resurrected Christ they did not follow the rules of the popular "domination system" of the Roman Peace.

They understood that the Gospel cannot be bought and sold, that salvation was more than raising a hand (it was a process of conversion) and Jesus call was to repentance in light of God's reign breaking into the world.

A recent book chronicled a church movement that is subversively taking place. I believe this movement to be reforming where evangelicalism has gone wrong. This movement is:

1. Asking what it means to be a follower (disciple) of Jesus in the 21st century

2. Seeking to transform the divide between sacred and secular resulting in salvation pertaining to the whole cosmos. This means that salvation says something for how we live today, not a disembodied hope for the future.

3. Living as community/as is essential to recovering an ecclesiology that bears witness to Jesus' people in the world.

David,
Great insight and unfortunately truthful about who we are as Christians and who the church has "become". I've become more and more disillusioned by the church and the way, we as leaders, have allowed ourselves to mold ourselves after the "culture of entitlement" instead of God shaping us, our lifestyles, our motivations, and our mission after His heart. Maybe reclaiming what the church is supposed to be means "stripping" it down in a way ... stripping our own individualism away from our being and letting God restore us to true community with Him and the Church?

Some of these comments I agree with. But I am tired of hearing statements like the following...

"The evangelical church...has accommodated itself to...the organizational forces of American business".

I agree that not all business principles are godly. But a majority of them are neither sinful nor holy. They are neutral. What is holy or sinful is the person who pracitces them.

I think we need to become more gospel focused and be gripped with the reality that people really do spend eternity somewhere. And that if business principles (which are neutral) can be used to lead more people into a saving relationship with Jesus, then why are we so critical of them?

We are to become all things to all people so that we might win a few!!!

Geoff's comments are on target, many churches have manufactured a unique culture that is disconnected from current American culture, which isn't necessarilly where the problem lies. The real problem is found in the fact that this manufactured culture is rooted in past practices, sometimes empty rituals, and not in the formative power of the Holy Spirit. Spiritual formation for both adults and children, based on people claiming their unique Christian identity, could be a good corrective approach.

Mark,

Sorry "business principles" are not neutral. In fact in many ways they have negatively affected the church in America's ability to hear the Scriptures.

The Scriptures are not neutral.

People are not neutral.

Media is not neutral.

Culture is not neutral.

Business is not neutral.

Any who are interested in an engaged theological analysis along these lines should read:

Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination.

by Walter Wink

I think that there are two churches, one of sheep, and one of goats. The problem is that they both look like one another, act like one another, but if you stare long enough at the flock you begin to see some differences.
The primary issue that has plagued Evangelicals is their insistent desire to do something for somethings sake.
Perhaps they are a bit too goal oriented, dunno, just a guess. But if you want to really point to what is the classic symptom of a church spinning out of control is the where they are at today.
Where is the evangelical church at today?
They are in the business world "ministering" if you want to use that phrase to the "wretched" in the boardrooms...if one is willing to call a golf-course a boardroom, and ministering to mean particpating in a vast, and unseemly moneymaking events that "spread" the good news of so-and-so's ministry.
They're in the council's of Government ministering to the wretched of the leaders of our country...well, if you're willing to accept the term "ministering" instead of lobbying for legislative persecution of others who are not toeing their particular moral view of what our Country should be like.
They're also out to remake this country into the myth they hold dearly which is that this nation was founded as a Christian nation and we must turn the boat around so it's back on course through any and every means possible...which means politically revamping this nation's social order. Forget bringing the message of salvation to the lost, the Evangelicals are bringing the whip to guide the lost.
Yep, the Church is so involved with the machinations of this American society it's a wonder they don't have their own building on K street, or do they?

I doubt that many in church leadership would argue any of the listed "practices of being His Body."

Two failings, in particular, come to mind as things I've seen in many churches:
1) A disconnect between leadership and parishioner. Pastor assumes congregants have the same passion, commitment, and understanding of Christ call as they have, and parishioners assume that Pastor only has that passion because he doesn't live the complicated lives they do. Pastor assumes everybody knows what the vision statement is, parishioners don't know what it is or why it matters. Leadership assumes people will volunteer if they just post notices, parishioners wonders why nobody ever asks them to do anything.

2) Churches are too afraid of real criticism and discussion. Sometimes that's a lack of truth-speaking and confrontation, other times it's a lack of charity, an inability to really listen to one another. So programs that drain resources and do not contribute to the vision aren't reformed or ended. Persons that practice gossip and foster dissention are not confronted in their sin. Difference of opinion, experience, or viewpoint, whether within the congregation or expressed by visitors, aren't welcomed.

In both cases, the challenge is love: love that meets people on their own terms, AND that calls them to an awareness of the truth and a life of discipleship.

But these problems I see are breakdowns in carrying out the mission of the Body, not in understanding it. So I don't find David Fitch's comments particularly groundbreaking or helpful. True, yes, but not where most churches are failing, in my experience.

Well said. Lately I've been asking "is the church influencing culture or not?" "Are we making progress in redeeming our society for the Kingdom of God?"

On one level it appears evangelical churches are growing (at least in my Midwestern city), but I'm not sure that we are increasing our redemptive influence in society. That said, I do not want to disparge the efforts of leaders to grow healthy churches, but rather to say that we need to do an honest assessment of our ability to influence culture.

Jim Collins of Good to Great raised an issue at the Willow Creek Leadership summit about following business practices in the church. He stated that most American businesses are mediocre, so why should we want to follow their practices. Food for thought, don't you think? Especially coming from one who has done so much study on the issue.