On numerous occasions over the past few years I have touched upon our identity as a Church of God movement. This is a recurring theme that seems to crop up regularly in our circles as we try to resolve our rich heritage and strong doctrinal convictions with the current reality of our impact and place within the larger Christian community. You can hardly participate in a Church of God gathering without this being discussed, either formally or informally, by our leaders and/or regular folk.
The matter of identity came up again in the most recent issue of Communion, the bi-monthly publication sent to ministers and lay leaders across North America. The feature article, "Rediscovering our Purpose", attempts to tackle the identity problem from the vantage point of purpose. General Director, Ronald Duncan, writes that when we lose our purpose "we lose focus, suffer apathy, and become ineffective". While not directly stating that this fully describes the Church of God today, Duncan does indicate that our "movement needs to discover afresh the power and dynamic drive of a biblical purpose for existence", and he shares several insights about the discovery process. The remainder of the March-April issue contains other articles about rediscovering our purpose, specifically related to such topics as global missions, higher education and worship. Certainly Dr. Duncan is well aware of the crisis we find ourselves in and has been the leading voice in recent years to move us forward in this regard.
I too am concerned about our identity. And, clarity of purpose is an essential part of it. But, I wonder if all the talk about identity and purpose is really strengthening us as a movement. Could it be that the incessant chatter on this topic just reinforces our low corporate self-esteem, and drives us further into discouragement and despair? In fact, it is evident in viewing the lifecycle of any organization that the preoccupation with identity issues usually occurs during times of decline. An organization or movement that has a clear sense of identity, purpose and direction possesses these naturally, because they are inherent within its very culture, not as a result of simply trying to define it.
Our own history demonstrates that identity comes as the result of strong leaders who rally people around a clear, God-inspired vision that is readily understood, articulated and practiced. As we institutionalized and lost our movement impulse we have struggled to define ourselves and our place within the larger church. We are also a much more diverse group of people than what originally emerged from our largely rural, Midwestern roots. In the process we have failed to find a more enduring identity than what was easily formed in the period of sociological and religious upheaval of the late nineteenth century. What is needed is a new, compelling vision that integrates our past, is in sync with present realities, and works toward a new picture of the future.
In a subsequent post I will propose some courses for our identity quest. In the meantime, what do you think about all this preoccupation with rediscovering our purpose?
The matter of identity came up again in the most recent issue of Communion, the bi-monthly publication sent to ministers and lay leaders across North America. The feature article, "Rediscovering our Purpose", attempts to tackle the identity problem from the vantage point of purpose. General Director, Ronald Duncan, writes that when we lose our purpose "we lose focus, suffer apathy, and become ineffective". While not directly stating that this fully describes the Church of God today, Duncan does indicate that our "movement needs to discover afresh the power and dynamic drive of a biblical purpose for existence", and he shares several insights about the discovery process. The remainder of the March-April issue contains other articles about rediscovering our purpose, specifically related to such topics as global missions, higher education and worship. Certainly Dr. Duncan is well aware of the crisis we find ourselves in and has been the leading voice in recent years to move us forward in this regard.
I too am concerned about our identity. And, clarity of purpose is an essential part of it. But, I wonder if all the talk about identity and purpose is really strengthening us as a movement. Could it be that the incessant chatter on this topic just reinforces our low corporate self-esteem, and drives us further into discouragement and despair? In fact, it is evident in viewing the lifecycle of any organization that the preoccupation with identity issues usually occurs during times of decline. An organization or movement that has a clear sense of identity, purpose and direction possesses these naturally, because they are inherent within its very culture, not as a result of simply trying to define it.
Our own history demonstrates that identity comes as the result of strong leaders who rally people around a clear, God-inspired vision that is readily understood, articulated and practiced. As we institutionalized and lost our movement impulse we have struggled to define ourselves and our place within the larger church. We are also a much more diverse group of people than what originally emerged from our largely rural, Midwestern roots. In the process we have failed to find a more enduring identity than what was easily formed in the period of sociological and religious upheaval of the late nineteenth century. What is needed is a new, compelling vision that integrates our past, is in sync with present realities, and works toward a new picture of the future.
In a subsequent post I will propose some courses for our identity quest. In the meantime, what do you think about all this preoccupation with rediscovering our purpose?
8 comments:
Excellent thoughts, Lloyd.
Randy Spence
Interesting post Lloyd. I think I agree with you that all the talk about not knowing who the CHOG is could be part of the problem.
glad to see you finally returning to this theme. (I find your post suggestive of something more productive. I do not believe the answer is to be found in our corporate identity (aka Anderson and "transforming the Culture" et al).That is too much like the current crisis in at Vatican. The answer is returning to the kingdom identity that Jesus introduced and local congregations being that corporate and communal identity as opposed to so much individualism.
Am anxious to hear more from you...
Lloyd,
I think you're right on the money here. In his History of the Church of God course at the AU seminary, Dr. Merle Strege said similar things about the lack of establishment of a new identity in the mid-20th century, once institutionalization set in.
If we have no clear identity, and if it will do us no good to dwell on our lack of a clear identity, then either (a) the new, compelling identity must come quickly or (b) the movement will slowly grind to a halt. Maybe there's a middle option, but I think we need to be realistic about the possibility (and meaning and ramifications) of the latter.
--David Aukerman
Brother Lloyd,
I enjoyed your commentary on the “identity crisis” in the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana). I think you’re getting really close to the issue. The real problem, as I see it, is that we aren’t supposed to have an identity except to be the people of God. Our identity as the church of God is to be the people of God along with every other believer in the world, regardless of what name they have over the door of their church, and to work together with all other believers to make every person on earth a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we try to have an identity other than that, we cease to be the true church of God.
D. S. Warner’s view of the church may not have been perfect, but he “saw the church” as the body of Christ, whose main purpose is to be the body of Christ by being his witnesses and making disciples in every culture, in every era—disciples that will continue to do the same as long as the world stands. We sometimes do other things, but everything we do, publishing, education, etc., should tie in with that central purpose.
Our identity is tied to the Lord Jesus Christ and his purpose. If we have an identity other than that we have lost our true identity.
Rick,
You make a strong theological point - that the Church of God is designed to draw Christian groups together across denominational boundaries, for division among believers is not what Christ intended. And that is a good beginning point for all the activities in which we engage. However, I believe the practical question remains: why have central offices and missionaries (for instance) that are separate from other church groups, when our goal is to be united with other church groups? If we are going to have our own church structure, then we had better have a pretty clear reason of why we exist. Given our collective history and our theological orientation, what is it that the Church of God is being called to offer to a lost and dying world today?
To me, the various denominations are no worse than having more than one church. Would we want to only have one congregation for the whole world? I know that's absurd, but we can be unified even though we have different churches, denominations or movements. Our unity is in Christ, not in our institutions or congregations.
Back in the seventies we tried the ecumenical movement that was based on merging churches instead of the unity of Christ. That didn't work and shouldn't. We don't need institutional unity. We need family unity as the body of Christ. That's all that matters.
Often our differences are as much about culture or background or personal preference and there is nothing wrong with any of that as long as we don't let the differences divide us. As long as we're all doing what we're supposed to be doing it doesn't matter whether or not we're all in the same institutional group.
Warner preached spiritual unity, but our conservative branch made it about institutional unity by trying to push everyone into the Church of God,(Anderson, Indiana) while our less conservative branch seems to want us to dissolve our fellowship and cease to exist as a people of God. All we should care about is truly being the body of Christ. I like the name church of God, but I also like the Baptists and Methodists, Episcopals and Catholics. We are all one in Christ if He is our Lord and that has nothing to do with which institution we belong to.
I see your point, Rick. Your distinction between the conservative and less conservative branches of the Church of God is very interesting, one I hadn't recognized before. Thanks for sharing... I think you're right on the money.
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