The Tension

While it is true that many churches have some version of Matthew 28:19 (Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...")  as their stated purpose, it is also true that the real purpose is self preservation.  The church is a kind of two minded body.  One is the institutional mind.  The other is the spiritual mind.  There always is a tension between the two which brings to mind what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans, "I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do..." (Romans 7:19) 

 

Some might say it is a healthy tension for the church, but for all practical purposes the tension is pushed far beneath the surface so that the institutional mind can direct the affairs of Jesus without an overriding sense of guilt.  Seldom do those of us on the membership rolls of the church receive letters from our leaders inquiring about the condition of our prayer life, but when the treasury gets low, we can count on some note encouraging us to give generously to God.  Giving generously to God is institutional talk for giving to take care of building maintenance, salaries, and indebtedness.  In these days when Sunday morning gatherings are taboo out of health concerns, the institutional mind is likely experiencing its own version of insanity.

Of course, this is not a condition peculiar to these days.  It is easy to remember the church of Martin Luther's day and the scandal of indulgences.  Going even further back is the sixth century theologian, Pelagius, who lost favor with the Vatican in part because of his call to affluent Bishops and church dignitaries to be attentive to the need for redistribution of wealth.  The institutional mind of the church is always concerned about self-preservation.  The struggle between the institutional mind and the spiritual mind can be seen in the record of the church in Acts as well as on the street corners of today.