PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

WHAT IS A TYPICAL CHURCH?

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

          Through a friend, Joe, I went to a meeting in which,  I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior in the Fall of 1951. This event had a dramatic impact on my life. After this I found myself doing things that I definitely would not have done before. My language was definitely cleaned up--so much so that my father (who was not then a Christian) noticed the change. Not only did my language cleanup, but I deliberately sought ways to speak before groups of people who are not Christian, and tell them about my relationship with Jesus Christ. Speaking before groups of people definitely was not what I would've done before.
Even now, public speaking after thousands of times, every Sunday, still comes with a challenge to overcome a shyness.
 There are many other things that showed a definite change. My relationship with the opposite sex certainly was part of this, but it also included my view of the world--my worldview.

          The relationship that I had with a Christian friend, Joe, and his wife, Evie, had much to do with stabilizing my life, and a mutual support in Christian living. I really bonded with Joe—he would often do some immature things, as a Christian, but he was just what I needed. He got me involved in the Bible, including memorizing scriptures--like the Navigators. I also begin engrossing myself in the study of in the Bible, and sharing my belief with my friends and the guys on the job (this was a heavy Dam construction job).

         Frankly, the church which I attended, which I would describe as an institutional church, had very little to do with my spiritual growth or even stabilizing my life as a Christian. I believe every church does have a group of elders who have some bearing in leading the church, whether or not they are officially recognized by the church or not. 

No doubt some will say that I'm going out in the weeds to say this, but I believe every church possesses a spirit that very likely comes from this group of leaders. I have some good friends in this church and I don't mean to be criticizing them, but the spirit I felt on Sunday morning didn't convey a warm friendly accepting spirit—not like I have experienced in other churches.  In fact, I (my spirit) always felt an odd uneasiness when I attended--like I might do something that was not acceptable or prescribed in this sacred building. Most of this comes  from tradition.

          In my experience, it is not true that every church is alike—in fact it's obvious they are not.  Even in biblical  times, in Revelations' there were 7 churches very much unlike.  Further, I believe every church possess a spirit that makes this difference. I have pastored seven different churches and each was different with a different spirit.

          When I say institutional church, I mean a church that follows much like the churches for almost 2000 years--not like the church of the Bible.  This model church, which Emperor Constantine instituted, was a building and that became sacred, and became the focus of the Christian's activity--which in fact became the church.  Just as the general public, as well as we ourselves, usually refer to church today. We can point out where our church is. It's on 12th Street and Liberty.
            
         So What? What difference does that make?

         There are major differences.  The Body of Christ does not reside at 12th and Liberty. While saying, "our" church may simply be a innocent statement of where we attend, often it means more.  To many if we contributed to building the building, then it does involve owning property, giving the contributing person a basis for the running of the church.  This raises an issue of wealthy contributors possessing more status--honor or authority because of their larger contributions.   


          

          Later, I attended and learned of churches that were far different- where you could detect a warm friendly spirit, and buildings have very little to do with church, although how the church (the Christian believers) regards the building does affect the spirit of the church. I know that as evangelicals we repeatedly say, "the church is the people not the building," but our actions rarely show it). ^ In this church of 60 years ago the pastor, H. A ., showed a definite interest in me and encouraged my witnessing to others. More than once, we would go out together, at his suggestion, to witness to some contact that I had on the heavy construction  job. My encounter with Pastor H was limited--I suspect some of the deacons (elders) may have advised him he was spending too much time with me. But , whatever the case, I knew he provided a greater degree of mature knowledge and authority that Joe never had.

          Fast-forward 60 years or more, I now look back on 9/10 of my life. I received a calling of God to be a minister of the Bible, and I have received confirmation of that calling. I have spent about eight years in school--six of those years in a school with a moto "if it's Bible you want then you want Multnomah!' and the school backs this up with a double major in Bible. Now 50 years or more later, I have served as a church pastor for at least 30 of those years or more. I am still engrossed in the study of the Bible and history, and , as I pass the "four score years" mark, I look forward to meeting my Savior and Lord in the next life. But I wonder about the church model of that we have followed.