markdroberts: guest bloggers

Denominations Provide "Previously-Invented" Wheels

One of my blog readers suggested a benefit of denominations that I might have neglected to mention, even though it's obvious when you think of it. She wrote:

I hate doing unnecessary work, and I think that denominations provide a good “How to Do It” Guide for starting a new church. Certainly as Presbyterians we have instructions on what church government should look like, what worship is about, what the qualifications for leaders are, etc. And we have a statement of our core beliefs. This frees people to get on with the business of ministry.

LY, Los Angeles, CA

I think this comment is right on. Consider, for example, what I was writing about yesterday. Churches often find themselves in the position of needing a pastor. Perhaps a pastor has retired or moved on to another call. Or maybe a church has opened a new associate position. Now what? Well, if a church is a part of a denomination, there is usually a clear answer to this question. In the PCUSA, a congregation gets together a search committee, although sometimes a process of vision-setting is required before the formation of the committee.

One of the previously-invented wheels that I've found helpful is a clear statement in the Book of Order of who is responsible for what in a Presbyterian church. Our leadership structure is a bit confusing to someone who isn't familiar with it. Congregations have relatively little authority in a Presbyterian church, other than to elect their leaders (elders and pastors). Almost all of the authority rests in what we call the Session, a board of actively-serving elders and the pastor (or pastors). Sessions usually range in size from a dozen to two dozen. According to the Book of Order, the Session has almost all authority in the Presbyterian church (budget, personnel, etc.). The pastor shares in this authority, but doesn't (or ought not) dominate the Session. According to the Book of Order, the pastor has sole authority over the content of worship (preaching, songs, readings, etc.), and that's about it.

In practice, of course, authority is often delegate and shared. Sessions delegate certain of their responsibilities to the staff. Pastors, at least wise ones, get plenty of input from their Sessions about the content of worship. But it's still very helpful that we don't need to figure out from scratch how our leadership should function. In fact, as long as we're a Presbyterian church, we aren't free to re-invent the rules. Thus we are free to focus on ministry, as LY sagely comments.

As I've watched the goings-on in many Presbyterian churches, it seems like we often get in trouble when we don't accept the previously-invented wheels offered to us. Pastors are famous for trying to dominate their elders. And sometimes elders are just as hard to work with as pastors. But when we accept the roles and responsibilities we've been given by our denomination, and when we agree to exercise our authority properly, churches can indeed focus on what really matters rather than getting tied up in power struggles.

Denominations Connect Churches and Pastors

One of the most obvious benefits of a denomination is the help it provides when a church needs a pastor or a pastor needs a church. It's no accident that I'm the pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church, since we're both part of the PCUSA. Likewise with thousands of pastors throughout the country.

Denominations differ in the ways they make connections between pastors and churches. Some operate with an episcopal model, in which a bishop (in Greek, episkopos) assigns a pastor to a church. Usually this happens with the agreement of both pastor and church, but the authority to make the assignment lies with the bishop or other similarly empowered denominational official. In other denominations, the congregation is more involved in the process. In the PCUSA, for example, a congregation seeking a pastor forms a search committee (officially, "Pastor Nominating Committee"). This committee works with the local governing body ("Presbytery"), which ultimately approves its recommendation. The congregation gets into the act only at the end, when it votes to call a candidate as a pastor. The bulk of the work of discernment is done by the search committee, which represents the congregation but works independently.

If a church in the PCUSA needs a pastor, there are official documents that are filed and official channels of communication that are opened. Search committees receive the dossiers of interested candidates from the national office in Louisville, Kentucky. But the informal networks within the denomination are far more effective than the official channels when it comes to connecting pastors and churches. Since I've been pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church, I've been involved in four searches for associate pastors. Every time we found our candidate through the recommendation of a friend who knew us and the candidate.

These kinds of relational networks also help non-denominational churches and pastors. Yet the independent church often has fewer connections to other churches than a denominational church. Ditto the independent pastor. I've watched as friends of mine who are not in denominations struggle to find churches in which to serve when it's time for them to move on.

I don't mean to suggest that denominational help ensures a positive result. It seems to me that pastor-church relationships in the PCUSA work out about 60% of the time. (By "work out" I mean "lead to mutually beneficial pastoral relationship that last more than five years.") Nevertheless, denominational support in this process is helpful, both to pastors and to churches.

Speaking of this process, it exemplifies a benefit of denominations that I'll discuss tomorrow.

Denominations Provide Useful Labels

A couple of my readers zeroed in on the usefulness of denominations when it comes to identifying distinctive qualities of a church. Here's what they wrote:

One aspect of denominations which deserves more attention is the idea of a name.  Of course, the very word "denomination" has its source in the idea of a different name, and the only other common use of the word is for money, that is, denominations of currency.  The way we use the word seems to be limited to Christianity; I've never read of Shia or Sunni as denominations of Islam.  Further, there are arguments at the edges of Christianity, such as the Mormons, who might like to be called a denomination, although I do not recognize them as such.

The concept of a "name" is actually fairly useful.  Martin Luther detested the name "Lutheran," but that has not stopped like-minded theologians from proudly taking it on.  It was, though, originally an epithet, as you can see in Pascal's Provincial Letters, for example.  The ancients put great stock in names, and for good reason.  We have very strong psychological and spiritual ties to the names we have taken on or those given to us.  It is for this reason that your self-dissolving associations would surely fail.  Who gets to keep the name?  Surely both sides in the Episcopal polarization see themselves as the "true Anglicans" and the others as those who have lost the right to the name.

Names are important because they make it easy to categorize people and organizations.  It is a primary human need to simplify the world; it would be interesting to see how the early church developed its sense of identity, and how names were important to it.  The fact that Luke gives the origin of the "Christian" moniker seems highly significant to me.  To surrender the name is to admit that one has changed; even for those of us who acknowledge gradual change as a good thing, few want to think of themselves as having vacillated so far from earlier positions that the name no longer applies.

• E.G. Fredricksburg, TX

Although people do not like to be “labeled” because everyone wants to be unique – we are all very interested in having labels on our food:  We want to know what we are getting!  If there is an item to which we are allergic, we’ll avoid it.  If we find something that the doctor has ordered, we’ll want to include it in our diet.

This is why denominational “distinctives” work – since the phrase “Christian” has such a varied scale of expression – if you happen to be looking for something more particular, you’d like to know about it up front on the label.

Historic churches have outlined their doctrines and polity in historic creeds.  When people were more familiar with these specific histories, it made it easier to choose a church when moving to a new town or while on vacation.  If for some reason you wanted to attend a church on a Sunday while on a trip, and couldn’t find the type of church you desired, at least you would understand the differences.  Since you would know, “Where they were coming from,” you would not need be exercised over a practice or teaching with which you did not agree.

• Kent Moorlach, Irvine, CA. See communionpres.org

I agree with both of these folks in principle. Denominational labels should help folks to know what makes a church distinctive. Unfortunately, in practice, these labels are often less than helpful, especially when it comes to the mainline denominations. These denominations tend to allow for a wide range of theological and stylistic diversity. So a PCUSA church in one location might be theologically evangelical with worship led by a praise band, while in another place a PCUSA might be very liberal with a traditional choir/organ set up. If a church is part of the PCUSA, mostly this tells you something about the church's historical and family ties. I only wish things could be clearer.

Denominations Contribute to the Global Mission of Christ

Several of my readers wrote to commend the work of denominations in global mission. Here are some of their comments:

Denominations historically have been the most efficient way of taking the Whole Gospel to the Whole World.  Indeed, His Spirit is now using “foreign” disciples in the “third world” to whom denominational missionaries first introduced the Gospel, to hold us in the “first world” accountable. Praise God!  

D.S. San Clemente, CA  

Denominations are places were churches together can do better (value added places?) together in the Missio Dei.  

Dave Moody, Sparta, IL, blog 137

Opportunity for collective action/mission/ministry—training and supporting pastors and other leaders, doing mission, providing resources for congregations and individuals to grow spiritually and act out their own service for God, etc.  

S.A.  

If you look back at the effort to reach the world with the gospel, surely denominations figure prominently in this effort. This is not the sort of thing a single church can do, unless it is very large and has significant resources. But a group of churches, banded together for a long period of time, can muster the resources and the people to reach across the globe for Christ.

Of course, today, there are many non-denominational mission agencies. So I wouldn't say that denominations are essential to the work of world evangelization. They certainly can help, however.

The Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church USA has a wonderful section on the mission of the church. Here is an excerpt (from G-3.0300):

  The Church is called to be Christ’s faithful evangelist  

(1) going into the world, making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all he has commanded;    

(2) demonstrating by the love of its members for one another and by the quality of its common life the new reality in Christ; sharing in worship, fellowship, and nurture, practicing a deepened life of prayer and service under the guidance of the Holy Spirit;

(3) participating in God’s activity in the world through its life for others by

(a) healing and reconciling and binding up wounds,       

(b) ministering to the needs of the poor, the sick, the lonely, and the powerless,

(c) engaging in the struggle to free people from sin, fear, oppression, hunger, and injustice,       

(d) giving itself and its substance to the service of those who suffer,

(e) sharing with Christ in the establishing of his just, peaceable, and loving rule in the world.