"Elizaveta Iurievna Kuzmina-Karavaeva Skobtsova, later known as Mother Maria, was a Russian Orthodox religious thinker, poet and artist. Her multi-faceted legacy includes articles, poems, art, and drama. In the 1910s she was part of the literary milieu of St. Petersburg and was a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. She fled Russia soon after the Bolsheviks' takeover and lived in Paris, where she became a nun. In 1935, she participated in organizing the so-called Orthodox Action, which was designed to help Russian immigrants in France. She and her fellow-workers from Orthodox Action opened a house for homeless and sick immigrants in Paris. During the Nazi occupation of the city, the house was transformed into a refuge for Jews and displaced persons. Mother Maria and her son were arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 and died in the Ravensbruck camp in Germany. Mother Maria's selfless devotion to people and her death as a martyr will never be forgotten. In 2004, the Holy Synod confirmed the glorification of Mother Maria." - from Columbia University Libraries Special Collection link

Appalling Nature of Church

It has become common knowledge that many of the mainline denominations are flailing and in disrepair.  Many seem on the verge of collapse.  When you dig into the chaos that exists, it appears that the greatest contributor to  possible ruin is finances.

It makes me wonder how we have gotten ourselves into this place.  It does not matter whether it is Orthodox or Free Church denominations.  They are all closing doors because of finances.  How have we allowed CHURCH to become synonymous with corporate structure and ownership?

The nature of CHURCH is the "called out ones" of God.  Called out of the world, CHURCH is allegedly the community of people who have opened themselves to the indwelling of God's Spirit - we are TABERNACLES of God.

It is up to the creative ones to figure out how to disentangle the two concepts so that true CHURCH is challenged to go on and meet the conditions of a new way of gathering and so that whatever the shape of that gathering becomes, it does not commit the same crime of seeing buildings as CHURCH and programs as CHURCH.

The shrinking and withdraw of support from institutions in this country has been going on for a long time.  Big business and consumerism is the new culture we live in.  As this shift occurs, many grass roots movements are being challenged to go back to their origins and reclaim the vital link they have with living the vision and mission they espouse without the "luxury" of bricks and mortar.

I hope people are starting to think about what the core values of faith are all about.  What constitutes spiritual life and growth.  And, how to become community without the abundance of property and wealth.

The option will be for these collapsing denominations to scrap what they have and all run out and find another "thing" that is similar in shape and size to what they knew; or, to re-envision what we may have been missing in the call of God.  Listening to the call requires the abandon of a Prophets heart and a ruthless audacity to shout out when we have fallen away from our connection to the Father of lights.

Times ahead will be prophetic to say the least.  It may be too simple a response to look at the churches that survive and say what are they doing right?  The Churches that survive just have more money.  Now is the time to find out how CHURCH and "luxury" are distinct.  Let's not rebuild something that falls apart on our grandchildren because we mistook abundance as a sign from God that we had found the WAY.

It is time people start asking themselves how house churches, small groups, and communities find their ways into the changing shape of CHURCH.

TJM+

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  1. AlexisMay 6, 2010 at 4:37 AM

    Great post Tom,

    three possible ways to break the cycle - admittedly a bit radical but people do associate "church" with the building, the numbers attending (and through that the amount of money the "community" has) break the link, and creatively challenge people to re-think what it means to be an integral part of a body - a real body.

    1 - don't pay clergy
    2 - don't take a collection (the community should give its time & talent to the work of "the community"; a few candles, a bottle of wine, some bread and a epitrachelion ought to be hand made/brought in by members)
    3 - don't own a building, don't even have a permanent worship space.

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