N.T. Wright on the Church
In his book Simply Christian, N.T. Wright spends a chapter discussing the church as it should be. I think he hits on some very true insights especially with the wave of people today who believe that social justice replaces the ministry of the church and that house churches are the extent of Christian fellowship and community that we need.
“…it is as impossible, unnecessary, and undesirable to be a Christian all by yourself as it is to be a newborn baby all by yourself. The church is first and foremeost a community, a collection of people who belong to one another because they belong to God, the God we know in and through Jesus. (210)”
“But ideally every Christian should belong to a group that is small enough for individuals to get to know and care for each other, and particulalry to pray in meaningful depth for one another, and also to a fellowship large enough to contain a wide variety in its membership, styles of worship, and kingdom-activity. The smaller the local community, the more important it is to be powerfully linked to a larger unit. The larger the regular gathering…the more important it is for each member to belong also to a smaller group. (212)”
This is the personal blog of Jeremy Jernigan. Husband, father, teaching pastor, and student of truth.
I’ve read this book and in theory I wouldn’t disagree with Wright’s quotes above, but I think the key word in that quote is “ideally”. It would be interesting to get some sort of concrete examples for what Wright is suggesting.
I don’t take Wright’s words as a suggestion that an independent house church model is insufficient. Obviously, it’s good for different types of communities to connect for the reasons above, but more times than not, smaller communities need some independence from larger ones while the larger churches tend to need some sort of tangible influence or control over what’s happening in the smaller communities they would be connected with. Not that it couldn’t be beneficial, but depending on the kind of “link”, this concept can be full of problems, especially in relationships between progressive and traditional communities.
It seems that you are taking Wright’s suggestions here to drive home the point that a small, independent house church model is not sufficient. Is that the case?
My point is that we need both. I see people go to extremes on each side and I think that they are missing out on something. Many people I know just meet as a small group and think that it is true community but if you choose every person who is in your group than there usually isn’t a lot of diversity or healthy friction. On the other hand, if you sit in the seats at a megachurch and never connect to a smaller group within that church I think you are missing something as well.
What I think Wright is suggesting is how to balance both sides. I’m not exactly sure how to do that but I think that somewhere in there is the secret to true community and fellowship.
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