THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 3, 1994 TAG: 9409020088
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Betsy Wright
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
FOR THE PAST three weeks, this column has been obsessed with one issue: Do we need the institution of the church? In back-to-back guest columns, computer consultant David Smiley took the ``No, get rid of it,'' stand, while ODU campus minister the Rev. Joan H. Wooten said ``Yes, keep it.'' Last week, readers gave their input, the wide majority agreeing with Wooten.
Now it's my turn.
Why is this such an important issue for people of faith? At some time or other, most people will worship as a community, and these communities of faith are usually part of, or are in and of themselves, institutions. Even though this issue was approached from a Christian perspective, the greater issue of religion and institutionalism affects all people of all faiths.
After much thought, prayer and study, I am still not convinced that the institution is the problem. Institutions - whether you're talking about the church, or the government or education - are neutral things. It is the people within the institutions who make them either good or bad. An institution is only as honest or dishonest, as efficient or chaotic, as generous or greedy, as moral or immoral as its participants. Usually - like people - institutions are a smattering of all those characteristics.
Humans have a need for community. In his book, ``What People Expect From Church,'' the Rev. Robert L. Randall says the church is simply ``a gathered crowd around Jesus . . . We are nothing more sophisticated than a crowd hungering for wholeness.''
Randall says we need the actual visible presence of church members gathered in worship, service and fellowship.
``In this crowd,'' Randall writes, ``we can feel ourselves cared for and understood. When the crowd is gathered, the voice of Jesus is heard and we come to understand more fully. With the crowd we know securely that we belong. Surrounded by the crowd our spirit is infused with hope.''
I agree. What I also see in humans is, however, a real diversity in the size of the crowd they choose.
Years ago, when my first husband, Stock, was ill with Lou Gehrig's disease, we attended Rock Church in Virginia Beach. He adored that church not just for the dynamite preaching and the knock-your-socks-off music, but also for its bigness. This guy believed that God is big, so you'd better worship him in a big way.
While I certainly gained much from that experience and met some wonderful people there, as soon as Stock died I began searching for a different kind of church . . . sort of ``the little brown church in the dell.''
In July 1988, after two years of church shopping, I walked into Oak Grove United Methodist Church in Chesapeake and found my spiritual home. Oak Grove is as different from Rock Church as night from day. ``The Rock'' seats 2,000 comfortably. Oak Grove is packed with 250. Nevertheless, something in my soul says, ``Aaaahhhh, I'm home,'' every time I pass through Oak Grove's doors.
Do I for a minute believe that Oak Grove is better than Rock Church? No. What I know is that some folks like big, others like small, and still others like their communities of faith to be as tiny as 12 or less. I believe God honors them all with his presence.
What I also know is that as soon as a church becomes larger than 12, things begin to get a little complicated. The more people you have, the more needs you have to meet. Meeting these needs requires organization, programming, money and staff. It requires an institution.
Is the current institution perfect? Heck, no! Does it need an overhaul? In some areas, yes. Like all things we humans have touched, some parts are very good, others are downright awful. The church needs to work on the awful stuff another Issue of Faith.
I believe we need the David Smiley's of the world to keep pricking our self-righteousness and our feelings of self-importance. It is men and women like David Smiley who backhand us into reality checks.
``Snap out of it,'' they scream at us. ``Snap out of your sin and your complacency and your pettiness.''
The church needs to listen to the cries of the David Smileys of the world. Then we need to respond with the patience of the Joan Wootens of the world. In both, there is love. In both, Christ can be found. MEMO: Every other week, Betsy Mathews Wright publishes responses to her
opinion column. Send responses to Issues of Faith, The Virginian-Pilot,
150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510; call (804) 446-2273; FAX
(804) 436-2798; or send e-mail to bmw(AT)infi.net. Deadline is Tuesday
before publication. You must include name, city and phone number.
by CNB