Troublesome Topic: The Biggest Problems with Institutionalized Churches

In my other lessons I have tried to simply show what I consider a better way. However, here are two issues I feel I must touch on because they are key issues, and I don’t think I can make this sound pretty. A comparison of Institutionalized “churches” and house churches will show positives and negatives for each, especially when looking at physical and earthly realities. Institutionalized “churches” are doing many things well and I consider many pastors my friends and brothers. They are not sinning by pastoring an institutionalized “church.”

But there are two things I cannot stomach – membership and credentialing of ministers.

Membership

I have pastored a denominational “church” twice and each time I struggled a great deal with the issue of church membership. Every time a pastor accepts new members, he makes a point of clarifying that church membership does not mean that one is saved and going to heaven. But in reality, no amount of explaining can change the perception in many people’s minds to the effect that being a church member must be proof of one’s readiness for heaven. The logic goes like this: “The church represents God here on earth, right? The Church is God’s family, Christ’s body, right? The church is made up of believers in Jesus who are going to heaven, right? So how can you say that church membership gives me zero advantage when it comes to being accepted into heaven?” Why do people who do not have any meaningful connection to a local “church” seek to have a church wedding? They do so because it seems to legitimize their marriage. The church speaks for God so getting married in a church building should place God’s stamp of approval on that marriage, right?

That is one side of the coin. The other side is that we all know people who were members of some “church” somewhere and yet their lives glorified the Devil instead of glorifying God. Part of our brain knows that becoming a church member does nothing to change what is inside of us. But another part of our brain places importance on church membership.

The Bible never even hints at what we call “church membership.” Being a member of God’s true church is the only thing that matters. No human is able to see what is in my heart and accurately determine if I am going to heaven. If church membership as we know it gets in the way or causes confusion, I don’t want any part of it.

Credentialing

The problem with credentialling of ministers is similar to that of membership – we cannot see the heart so we don’t know if someone will be a good spiritual leader or not. Also, people can start out good and be diverted onto the wrong path. These things were also true in New Testament times. The difference is that we place an official stamp of approval on someone by credentialling him as a minister. This also raises ministers above others while the Bible teaches the priesthood of all believers.

But you may ask, “Do we really want anyone and everyone to be able to lead a group of believers? That could lead to chaos, heresy and abuse of power.” You are partially right, but that seems to be a risk God was willing to take. Denominations and ministry organizations try their best to avoid those problems, but the tendency is for such organizations to get further and further from God’s will and eventually they are promoting sanctioned chaos, heresy and abuse of power. They supposedly still represent God and His kingdom but at the same time they formally approve all the wrong things. God chose to take the risk of focusing on family units and placing the leadership in the hands of fathers.

Only God can approve and confirm the ministry of one of His servants. God’s credentialing process is the only one I care about anymore. How does He confirm someone’s ministry? Through spiritual growth in the minister and God-glorifying results in others. What’s more, God’s affirmation of a minister only lasts as long as that minister is faithfully following God; if he veers from the path, he has lost God’s approval.