Just ME and Jesus!!

This article in USA Today struck a nerve within me.  The title itself is rather riveting:  As Protestants decline, those with no religion gain. (The link to the article is at the end of this blog.)  Some of the usual suspects contributing to the slide are:  cultural upheavals, distrust of religious institutions, the constant public display of sexual sins or greed of the church by the media, and the lack of heritage of many of the under 30 segment of the population.

There is one explanation that does not seem to be considered and that is the lack of community.  The Roman Catholic Church with all the bad press is still growing in the USA.  One can account for some of this growth through recent immigration trends.  The Greek Orthodox Church and the churches in communion with Orthodoxy are growing in the USA.  There is some indication that a good percentage of growth is coming from those who label themselves as Evangelical.  Some mainlines are decreasing due to more liberal theological stances in regard to homosexuality, abortion, inclusion of all paths to God, etc.  But what really got me thinking was the lack of community in the church.  One of the products of the Evangelical movement is a lack of understanding of community.  Please stay with me.

As you view the video that is embedded in the article, listen carefully to the statements.  The statements are all about my view.  It is egocentric, eclectic, naïve, and suspicious.  As I listened, I thought: Is this not an unintended product of Evangelicalism’s focus on the personal relationship, the personal belief, the personal convictions, the personal identity, and the personal axis of interpretation of all that is good and evil?  Is it possible that the Evangelical has promoted the personal relationship to the exclusion of the community?  I personally believe that we have neglected community.  Community is looked upon as important, and the promotion of small groups is indicative of seeing the need; however, the community that is the Church seems to be lost on many Evangelicals.

Evangelicals push the personal relationship to the exclusion of the role the Church plays in the believer’s life.  The idea that I do not need the institution of the church is a product of the Me & Jesus generation.  I was a Jesus freak.  I was brought into the Kingdom by the influence of overzealous, anti-establishment, folk singing, long haired, Mary Jane inspired youth.  It was the 60’s.  The Jesus Freak movement often was met with skepticism, prejudice, name calling, and just plain rudeness by local congregations.  Community was found in like minded new believers who gathered in upper rooms above bars, pubs, barns, etc., drinking beer and singing choruses from Amazing Grace to Blowing in the Wind.  There was community, but it was a community detached from the church.  Me & Jesus and I don’t care what the world thinks or especially what the uptight church lady (or guy) thinks.  This attitude seems to be the predominant attitude in my tradition from the pulpit to the pew.

Personal relationship with the Lord is vital.  It is necessary.  It is important.  The problem is that personal relationship with God while spurning his Church is wrong.  Can a person really find community apart from the Church?  Is not the Church the gift of God to us?  Does not the Church hold within it the key to community through the sacraments/ordinances?  Is not the Church the womb of life, security, and warm embrace for all believers?  Does the grace and power of the sacraments flow through the Church or are they personally grasped or both?  Can one baptize herself?  Can one go to the Lord’s Table, the Eucharistic meal, alone?  Have we lost some of the mystery of life by ignoring the transformation of the material world by the Incarnation of Christ?  Have we lost the mystery of our communion with one another and the Lord through our common meal?

Church is not necessary to the Me & Jesus grouping of saints by their declaration; however, declaring a thing to be so, does not make it so.  The Browns will win the Super Bowl this year!!  Can we be sacramental and not allow it to become a magical movement toward God?  Can we be sacramental and thank God for the personal relationship we have with him through Jesus Christ and still understand that it is the Church that Jesus created that is the guardian of community.  If I can serve myself communion, baptize myself, pray for myself, interpret the Bible by myself, disciple myself and teach myself, what need do I have of the Church?  If I see the Church for what it is, the community called out and established by Christ, the womb of life in sacramental (or ordinance) experience, and the community through which I grow and experience God, then I may be less ego oriented.  If I begin to understand that the Church is visible through the gathering of the saints, might I begin to see it as bigger than my homemade institution of one?

We do have a personal relationship with God, but we also have a relationship with his Church and therefore with one another.  To declare that Me & Jesus is all that matters is to declare that our Lord’s gift of the Church is extraneous and is an unneeded or worse yet an unintended appendage hindering my growth in Christ. It seems to me that we need to reexamine our ecclesiology and begin to emphasize through our teaching and preaching the importance of the Church.  Different traditions will vary on the shape of what is church; however, most of us can agree that community is not found outside his Church or outside baptism and the Lord’s Table.

Dr. James D Allen

Dr. Allen served as a seminary VP, pastor, and as a trustee on a Christian mental health Board. He has earned a BA, MA, MA Biblical Counseling, Doctor of Ministry. Dr Allen has also preached on 5 continents, lived in 3 nations, and so has a diverse Christian experience. He has a distinguished career of being a pastor, consultant, author, and educator. MY FIRST LOVE--Being a Pastor and encouraging others!