We live in a spiritually hungry, institutionally untrusting age. Millions of people claim to be spiritually focused, claiming belief in God and even acceptance of Jesus as the Christ, but not wanting any relationship with the church. Think of the flow of the church’s history. We began as a counter-cultural movement that was frequently considered a threat to the state. Then, roughly 500 years later, with Constantine, the church became a part of the state. There was a major split about 1,000 years after the church began between the East and the West. The result was the antecedents of the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church. After approximately another 500 years, the Protestant Reformation split the church further. Among many factors was the rise of nationalism and churches identified with their local states. Now, another 500 years later, millions of adherents to Christianity are separating themselves from the church as a stable institution.
I could name several dangers inherent in people trying to be faithful to Christ while separating themselves from the Body of Christ, but perhaps we also need to ask ourselves where God is in all this turbulence. The history reflected in Scripture is that God always remained faithful to the people God has called together but that faithfulness was often in unexpected forms. Denominations have been valuable but are clearly changing. Churches as structures are also scrambling to find a new form of faithfulness.
I don’t know what form the people of God will take in the future, but I do trust in the sovereignty of God and want to be open to God’s new creation as it evolves.
