Have you ever heard someone say, "I believe in
God—I’m a spiritual person, I just don’t like organized religion?” Ever heard that or something like that? I have heard professing Christians say, “I
believe in Jesus—I’m a Christian, I’m just not a fan of organized
religion.”
I had a friend I grew up with in church who got to
the point where he was extremely critical of any sort of organization in the
church. He and a group of his friends decided to form their own group (which, by the way, sounds somewhat organized.) They did not meet in a building--they did not have a
pastor, did not have music, or adult bible
studies or kids ministry. They would just allow the meetings to
go how the Holy Spirit led them to go. Some meetings would last 30 minutes and others would go up to two hours. Sometimes they would spend
the majority of their time praying, at other times
they would sing. At times, people at random, when they felt led, would teach. But their goal was to not plan or organize
anything because they believed that anything organized was worldly and
unspiritual. They believed that anything
in a system could not be of God.
One of my issues with this approach (and I have a
few), is the argument that says formal
organization is not from God—that it is ungodly.
I take issue with this and the reason why is because we learn from
Scripture that our God is extremely organized.
He has created all that is and has ordered it a certain way.
When you read the creation account in Genesis 1, you see that God is very orderly. We are told in v. 21 that He created every living creature that moves, according to their kinds. He created all these different species and made them in such a way that scientists can group them together by their physical features. He is so organized that he brings the sun out each morning and the moon each evening (or keeps the earth revolving). Everything goes on all the time as it should because our God is so organized.
When you read the creation account in Genesis 1, you see that God is very orderly. We are told in v. 21 that He created every living creature that moves, according to their kinds. He created all these different species and made them in such a way that scientists can group them together by their physical features. He is so organized that he brings the sun out each morning and the moon each evening (or keeps the earth revolving). Everything goes on all the time as it should because our God is so organized.
We see that He is organized
in the way he has created and sustains
us. Think about our bodies. God gave us bodies that are extremely organized in the
way they function. Now, because
of the fall, we do at times experience malfunction in parts of our body, but our
bodies were created to function and keep functioning
in a very predictable and organized way.
Think about God’s word. Is it organized? Yeah.
We learn in His word that he has chosen to use his people to write
orderly accounts about who He is and all He has said and done throughout history. Remember Luke tells Theophilus at the first of His Gospel, it seemed good to me to write an orderly account for you.
So God’s Word is orderly. And not only do we see that He is organized in creation and in His Word, but also in His
church. Remember he inspired Paul to write
these words in 1 Corinthians 12,
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and
all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks,
slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
(VERSE
18) God arranged the members in the body, each
one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where
would the body be? 20 As it is, there are
many parts, yet one body.
You see, God desires for
His church to be organized—one body with many parts arranged to function together in a cohesive and
organized way.
Now there are some who take this to the extreme. Just like my friend's church was one extreme, there are others on the complete opposite end who say that the church is an organization and must be run like business and the pastor functions as a CEO. They develop these complex organizational charts with various boards and committees and sub committees that oversee and monitor every little detail of church life and they provide five to six page job descriptions for everybody on staff and four times a year they have performance reviews. And though they factor in the work of the Holy Spirit, He must work within this complex yet organized system.
Now there are some who take this to the extreme. Just like my friend's church was one extreme, there are others on the complete opposite end who say that the church is an organization and must be run like business and the pastor functions as a CEO. They develop these complex organizational charts with various boards and committees and sub committees that oversee and monitor every little detail of church life and they provide five to six page job descriptions for everybody on staff and four times a year they have performance reviews. And though they factor in the work of the Holy Spirit, He must work within this complex yet organized system.
That’s the other extreme. Both I believe are wrong. You see the church is not an organization,
it is an organism. Now it is to be an
organized organism—but it is an organism. This is Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians 12.
The church is a body—it is an organism that it is
alive—living, breathing, growing and
maturing because it is made up of believers who are alive, not just physically
but spiritually. They are living,
breathing, growing and maturing in Christ.
And it is an organized organism with many parts functioning as one body,
with one Spirit, under one head, with one mission—to make Christ know and
advance God’s Gospel everywhere.
And for the church to do this—to function as one
body with many parts under one head with one mission, the church must be organized. The church must
develop ministries to equip God’s people to function effectively in this way. The church must have a designated place to
meet and set times to do so and have capable and gifted people in leadership positions
in these ministries to help them succeed. The church must be organized to impact the
world for Christ.
For more on church organization, click HERE and listen to "ORGANIZED TO IMPACT THE WORLD."
