“Irish Christianity was geographically beyond the reach of Rome’s ability to shape and control, so a distinctively Celtic approach to doing church and living out the Christian life and witness emerged.”
George G. Hunter III
There is a firmly established real and imagined notion of “church”: A building, housing an organization led by religious professionals who oversee worship services and other programs. Church, to most, is a place and an event. My own calling, and the ministry that I help to direct, assumes that this established church is not the only way to do or be a church. I share the above quote from “The Celtic Way of Evangelism” as a reminder that trying to do church differently is not a new or unusual endeavor, but rather part of the ongoing renewal of the church in history. My own Methodist tradition offers yet another historical example of Jesus followers who, even in the midst of an established and assumed Christian model, start something both effective and undeniably different.
I wanted to share parallels between the current forms of alternative church I see being formed (even within traditional churches) and the ways George Hunter observes Celtic Christianity differing from the established Roman tradition.
- More of a movement than an institution: What does this look like? Generally movements feel more organic, authentic, and energized whereas institutions are more calculated, managed, and stable. Both institutions and movements can co-exist and offer benefits and liabilities. But at this moment, the institutional church is declining while the church as a movement is emerging.
- Features laity more than clergy in ministry: I truly believe the future of the church is in empowering lay-people to live out their God-given purpose, which usually leads them beyond programs, committees, and organizational management. The role of clergy is to train, support, and equip the lay people to do the work of the church, particularly beyond its walls.
- More imaginative and less cerebral: The last three hundred years of western enlightenment thinking has built a model for the church that turned faith into truth claims, the bible into a book of rules, and the church into a moral police. We need churches that embrace mystery, that form us to love God with not only our left brains but with our bodies and hearts as well, and that empower us to both discern the work of and participate with a loving and active God.
- Emphasizes immanence and providence of the triune God more than God’s transcendence: So many Christians do not feel they know how to relate to God in their everyday activities, relationships, decisions, and events. We need models of church that form us to walk with the guidance and courage of the Spirit in our daily lives, not just faith that gives us assurance through a far-off and often distant hope.
In order for these values and themes to take root and result in a different model of the Christian faith there had to be space and freedom. Space where the control mechanisms of the institution could not snuff out the embers of a new flame, and freedom to experiment, fail, iterate, and develop new practices and systems. For Celtic Christianity, this was afforded through geographical separation and contextual sensitivity. But in a globally connected moment like our own, space and freedom will have to be granted willfully by the established model. Local churches will have to create space and permission for new things to develop. Larger church bodies will have to appoint leaders to explore and experiment. Existing church systems will need to release and support some of their most called and gifted lay people to embark on efforts that will not directly benefit their organizations.
There is no doubt in my mind that God is doing a new thing with the church. I see it springing up all around us. Will that new thing find space and freedom among the ashes of a stubborn established system that refused to change? Or will it find sanctuary and support in an established model that, with God’s help, moves from anxious self-preservation to self-giving love?