My friend Joe Boggs has a good post, here, on the idea of the "vow of stability" in the Benedictine tradition contrasted with the phenomenon of church shopping, i.e., people jumping from one church to the next to find one that suits their "needs." I can see both sides of the issue, and I'm curious about your thoughts, but here is what I commented to him:
"Joe, that reminds me of Luther and Wesley who, although they revolutionized the churches they were a part of, never intended to leave them. Luther was forced out, and Wesley never actually did part with the Anglicans. It seems that a lot of the positive movements have been where people sought to stay but were forced out.
Still (and I'm curious about your thoughts), what to do when the very place where we're supposed to be in relationship and receive proper teaching and encouragement, ceases to be that place?
To wit: Barb and I have visited nearly 20 different churches since we've been here in Toledo. The reality is that there are maybe 2 or 3 that we might consider staying at if God hadn't called us here to do something different. Most of it is because the communities seem more focused on themselves than on others. But there's also the felt lack of depth in worship, fellowship, and teaching. We want to be someplace where it's obvious that God's Spirit is moving and has freedom to blow where He listeth. Sadly, our experience, and the experience of many is that there aren't many places like that.
That doesn't mean the church has to be big either. We were a part of two churches in K.C. (Trinity, a.k.a. Rainbow Blvd., and Jacob's Well) that fit the bill above. Trinity was ~100 and Jacob's Well was ~450. Lima Community Nazarene in Ohio reminds me of a large church (2200) that's trying hard to do the right thing and be outwardly focused.
All that to say, I believe there's a time to stay and a time to go. Probably people leave too quickly, but sometimes they may stay too long. Not everyone has the spiritual disposition to endure years of dryness and antipathy. And if on would argue that a person should work on their own spiritual life in spite of what's going on in their church, then that discounts the primarily relational character of the Christian faith--we're never meant to live it out in isolation and with no support.
I'll end with this: If we believe that the Church is as important as we say it is--for fellowship, encouragement, spiritual teaching, service, etc.--then we need to take into account what to do when a particular church fails to provide any or even all of them."
What are you thoughts?
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2 comments:
I agree completely with the main point of your response...we have to strike a balance between the concept of stability and the need to be in the right community.
Returning to the Benedictine approach, each monk, before pronouncing final vows which tie him or her to a particular monastery, goes through a novitiate - an extended period of time in which he or she lives with the monastery and both the monks already at the monastery and the novice monk determine whether permanent vows are indicated. At the end of the novitiate, the current monks vote on the novice monks, and the novice monks are given the opportunity to withdraw. So even with the vow of stability, there is room for ensuring that a person is in the "right" community prior to pronouncing permanent vows.
Moving that into non-monastic life could be difficult, but perhaps we should make "membership classes" longer, to allow for a sort of novitiate in the church community. Then, when the time comes to join the church, each new member is asked to make a commitment to stability as far as possible (meaning things like job moves or other circumstances don't constitute a breaking of that commitment).
I'm not sure what the answer is, but I have come to believe that there are those whose calling as believers is to go to those communities that are self-centered and not Christlike and be loving examples of change. Others are either not capable of handling such a task or not called to do so. An intentional adaptation of the novitiate, it seems to me, would be a good - albeit somewhat radical - way to help alleviate the tension between church hopping and finding the community to which God has called me.
Here's the comment I left for Joe...
"I can't say for certain who was preaching when I heard this - but I think it was my current pastor at my wonderful bilingual Nazarene church.
He said in response to the common, "I'm just not getting fed" statment: "But what are you doing to serve your church? What are you doing to "feed" the church?"
I really like it when he put it that way. So many people expect the church to just feed them and do things for them and make them feel wonderful. However, we are called to serve in our churches as well. I've really felt convicted of this recently too. I really don't LIKE to help with the worship team - it makes me really nervous and it isn't my favorite feeling but I know they need and appreciate the help and I also know that God is calling me to help out at church.
Churches can't "feed people" unless there are enough people serving in the church..."
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