Being ‘under authority’. Is it what’s good for you?
A year or so ago, the group of adults I was with that evening were discussing whether a church should ‘have authority’ over us or not, and what that exactly meant. Strangely, it got rather heated. I found myself on the affirming side of the conversation while others I respected were less so. The other longtime believers were expressing their dissatisfaction with local church structures. The question was “why do you go to church?” We discussed what is a church and then what is the church? And the answers were varied, as you can imagine.
The fundamental issue is the freedom that faith in Christ gives (see John 8:32). But we also have authority, earthly authority, that we have to, well, obey. And this seems to be more difficult for our current culture to grasp. Further, I think it’s one of the main tripping points for young youth pastors who enter a church setting with people who are, well, human. Andy Stanley, in his book The 7 Checkpoints, discusses the issue:
“Much of our lives is influenced by how we respond to authority. How we respond to authority will have a direct effect on how we respond to initially our parents. How we respond to parental authority will have a direct effect on how we respond to the laws that govern this land and to the people that enforce laws. How we respond to the people and institutions that enforce the laws will determine our standing and influence in society.”
I recently discussed the church planting phenomenon with a very veteran youth ministry leader. This leader said that part of the issue, opinion perhaps, was the desire to be in charge of their own church system, to ‘do it right’ and not be under the push of parents, boards, committees, and a senior pastor.
I think we may be seeing an authority issue today. It’s nothing new. We all had to work through it. But we have to work through it. Stanley adds, “Attitude toward authority will ultimately impact their intimacy with God. It will also impact how much authority they are entrusted with in their lives.”
Ok, so back to talking about church authority:
I teach a course to adults that introduces them to the Christian faith. About 60% of the students have a strong church background, about 20% have a hit-or-miss history with the church while the other 20% (rough estimates, of course) have little or no background. Or, they’ve had a volatile relationship with local churches.
Western culture picks at our ability to be in true community. We want individualism, control, and options. Freedom! We drive for 45 minutes, past 17 churches closer to our home, to attend a church with a better youth program or a more dynamic speaker. Church can become more of a program than a community of local believers. That’s our culture.
I’m not sure it’s always wrong (I’m not down on large churches). But I’m not sure we’re always right either. I’m fascinated with and attracted to churches that are intentional missional communities.
While I’m a bit therapeutic in this post, ‘m also working through the role of church authority in a believer’s life. For me, I think it’s important that I’m accountable to a community of believers who exist as a church. It’s difficult to read Jesus’ commands to Peter in Matthew 16 and then read over Paul’s work with churches in his letters and then look at today’s programmatic approaches and think we have it right.
So, what’s your perspective on church authority?
