One Adventist pastor, puzzling over the
widespread negative attitudes toward organized religion in our world today suggests that we offer them
“disorganized religion.” In other words, for those potential believers who
cannot come to terms with the “big business” type of religion perhaps we should
use informal, small groups, café churches and similar grass-roots communities.
The Catholic Church has experienced an almost Protestant style of renewal in some
countries in Latin America through the use of “base communities.” The
Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America has a Simple Church Project which
starts small congregations (average size; 10 adults) that meet in homes or other
available locations and function very informally. Complexity of organization is
not necessarily a sign of strong faith, so maybe the best approach is “don’t fight
it; join them.” Nonetheless there are, on reflection, some assets associated
with organized religion that may be useful. Here is a brief description of
several items that may fall into that category:
1. Organized religion provides the resources
necessary to serve communities and internationally. When an earthquake kills
hundreds of thousands in Haiti or a hurricane devastates New Orleans and the
Gulf coast of the U.S., it is the relief organizations of large religious entities—World
Vision, ADRA, United Methodist Committee on Relief, Catholic Charities, etc.—that
end up doing the most good. The United Nations and various governments, including
the local governments, can do certain things, but nothing is better at meeting
the survivors where they are and providing immediate, practical assistance than
the agencies created by large denominations and parachurch ministries. Only a
constituency as broad as a major denomination can consistently mobilize the resources,
provide the large numbers of trained personnel and the on-the-ground
relationships necessary to do this work.
2. Organized religion provides large churches
that meet the needs of suburban families and inner city neighborhoods. It is a
myth that most megachurches are independent congregations. In fact, recent
research has shown that the majority of megachurches are affiliated with a
denomination. And the independent megachurches are, most of them, affiliated
with a support organization such as the Vineyard or the Willow Creek
Association. (Thumma and Davis)
3. Organized religion provides many smaller
congregations that meet the needs of young adults, senior citizens and small
towns. New generations today seem to prefer smaller churches in urban
neighborhoods and other communities. Senior citizens generally get better care
in small congregations that often become their extended family. Even the smallest
towns in North America are served by one or more churches when all the other entities
of civilization have deserted them. These small churches are kept alive by the large
denominational structures that support them. For example, in the Adventist
Church in North America, the small churches are subsidized from the tithe of
the large churches. Even if in a three-church district the amount of tithe
turned in by those three churches does not cover the actual cost of their
pastor, tithe from the college church or the largest church in the conference
keep them from becoming an eight-church district.
4. Networks to share ideas and information.
Organized religion fosters all kinds of networks that support a wide variety of
special needs and specific ministries. Someone who is skeptical of organized
religion will probably say at this point, “Well, there can be all kinds of
networks without organized religion.” OK, but that means she has one foot in
the boat. Are these networks not organized religion? They may be
non-bureaucratic, low-cost structures, but they are structures nonetheless.
Organized religion is often informal and low-budget in nature.
5. Organized religion can provide a variety of
structures from those that have only the most distant connection to the large,
corporation-style denominations to those that have a long history at the heart
of denominational traditions. Organized religion has the capacity to meet a
wide spectrum of needs. A “one size fits all” approach is bound to fail in
today’s world. The growing religions are those that foster more variety. Large
religious organizations have the ability to offer that variety. Some of the
café churches and community-based groups associated with organized religion are
seen by most of their local participants as entirely informal, independent
groups. Yet the allegiances and resources that the sponsoring denomination,
invisible in the background, brings to the venture are really essential even if
it is just the vision and experience of passionate church planters fostering
postmodern church planting movements.
6. Organized religion has the capacity to form a
visible national or international witness on significant issues. It is the vast
resources of organized religion that can mobilize pressure to save the
invisible refugees of Darfur or press for civil rights laws to protect African
Americans in the 1950s and 1960s. Admittedly, it is difficult to create
consensus and sometimes these movements over-reach into meddling with the
private lives of nonbelievers, but organized religion has also done much good
through the centuries, ending the slave trade in the 19th century and
colonialism in the 20th century, inventing the hospital and the university.
7. Large religious organizations provide
accountability. Cults like the Branch Davidians permit a David Koresh to
misbehave because there is no higher authority or outside source to say,
“David, where does it say in the Bible that you can take the wives of your elders
or have sex with 12-year-old girls?” Cults are dangerous because they are
small, free-form and dominated by charismatic figures who are accountable to no
one. Organized religion provides structures for objective evaluation of
leadership, intervention in unhealthy situations, and a balance of power.
Completely privatized religion is the most dangerous kind when it comes to
abuses even if the abusers hiding in the largest denominations get the most
attention from the media.
8. Organized religion provides a community of
well-educated scholars that bring the best study and thinking to issues of
faith. Throughout history wild, new religious ideas have swept through various
civilizations. Some of these turned out to be excellent innovations that we
praise God for today. Others resulted in untold cruelty and stupidity. Some
scholars believe that the early civilizations of Central America that seem to
have disappeared so rapidly despite advanced astronomy and vast economic
networks (and perhaps many other advanced features we do not know about) did so
because a new religious cult came along and destabilized the empire. The most
effective guard against wild and dangerous new religious movements is a group
of people prepared to ask challenging questions, to look beneath the surface
and evaluate these ideas. Organized religion, by supporting seminaries and
universities, paying for some of its brightest minds to get doctoral degrees,
etc., is the bulwark that provides this safety feature which really benefits
all of society. None of this is necessary to salvation, but all of it adds much
to the richness and depth of Christian faith. It provides the wide range of
choices that are generally valued by North Americans today. Within organized
religion there is a much deeper menu of possibilities than there is outside of
it.
More important much of this structure is clearly
within the purposes of God. It may not be your cup of tea, but it does meet the
needs of others. It is the Holy Spirit, after all, that gifts people with
vision and energy to organize, according to Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and
Ephesians 4. To condemn it across the board is to condemn servants of Christ
operating at the behest of the Holy Spirit.
Organized religion connects us to the history of
faith. A family lineage is important to an individual’s identity. Those who
have been cut off from their lineage are excited to find clues to where they
came from. This is the same for us as believers. There is a history of organized
religion that helps to identify who we are and where we came from. The truth has
been passed down from Adam, and we are privileged to share in the tradition and
the enjoyment of the worship of our Maker. Even if our earthly family does not
share our beliefs, we know that we have a spiritual family that does. We are
part of Abraham’s promise. We are part of the line of Adam. We belong.
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