More Food for Thought on the Institutional Church

I'm continuing my collection of thoughts on the institutionalized church and the way it affects our ability to be missional and build community. Found some interesting quotes from some interesting people:

"What other church is there besides institutional? There’s nobody who doesn’t have problems with the church, because there’s sin in the church. But there’s no other place to be a Christian except the church. There’s sin in the local bank. There’s sin in the grocery stores. I really don’t understand this naïve criticism of the institution. I really don’t get it. Frederick von Hugel said the institution of the church is like the bark on the tree. There’s no life in the bark. It’s dead wood. But it protects the life of the tree within. And the tree grows and grows. If you take the bark off, it’s prone to disease, dehydration, death. So, yes, the church is dead but it protects something alive. And when you try to have a church without bark, it doesn’t last long. It disappears, gets sick, and it’s prone to all kinds of disease, heresy, and narcissism."

-Eugene Peterson

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Bill Lollar in response to Peterson's picture of the Church:

"Institutional church = the one man is building for God, usually made of bricks, stones, or wood. Lots of programs and structure. Dependent upon man's resources to operate efficiently.

The Church = the one Christ is building, made up of living stones. Fluid, dynamic, easily reproducible. No buildings necessary (not even a house). Simple structure: brothers and sisters in Christ. Dependent only upon the Holy Spirit's work as relationships grow between believers and those who have yet come to faith.

The whole "tree/bark" analogy seems to miss the point, IMO. There's only one Church and Christ didn't tell us to slap some dead bark (structure) on top of it to make sure it wouldn't get diseased, or dehydrated, or die. Peterson's statement appears to put little confidence in Christ's ability to build, strengthen, and care for His own body, the Church." -end Lollar's comments