Institutionalized

Yesterday I resumed blogging after a long hiatus and my post stirred up some good comments on Facebook. I figured as long as I'm on a roll, why not keep going.

Many years ago a standard way of dealing with people who suffered from mental illness was to lock them away in an institution. The reasoning was society needed to be protected from them and they needed to be protected from themselves. It seemed the best way to do this was to lock them in a building with people of a similar disposition. Then experts monitored their behavior to assure they were kept harmless, docile and cooperative. In some cases (most cases) mood altering drugs were also necessary. Institutions of this sort were intended only for a certain population and were designed to meet the needs of those people. If you didn't fit the institution there was no need for you to be there.

Many years ago analytical types conducted extensive research and determined that most churches turn in on themselves somewhere between years 20 and 25 of their existence. The term the experts used to describe this phenomenon was that churches would become 'institutionalized'. It's a curious, yet descriptive, word choice. As witnessed time and time again, a church that is aging and has turned in on itself often exhibits these qualities:

• The purpose of their existence is to exist.
• Their rules are almost all focused on protecting their assets, property and status quo (who is allowed to use the kitchen/who controls the thermostats/who gets to use the building after filing the appropriate requests and usage fees/etc.)
• Biblical/Theological experts (pastors and professional church workers) monitor behavior and mete out discipline to those who step out of line.
• By and large participants are kept safe from society and only let out on rare, controlled field trips (like mission trips or 'Invite a Friend to Church Sundays')
• And society gets the message that the institution isn't really for them as the church, almost always inadvertently, puts up some pretty sturdy barriers to entry

Somewhere along the way every church loses its way. Instead of being what the church is meant to be it tries to accomplish all aspects of God's call in one place. Instead of doing one thing well it does everything poorly and ultimately becomes irrelevant and inconsequential. In my next post I'll share my thoughts on what church should and should not be doing. You might be surprised  by what I have to say.