BLOG 12.10.12: THE GOSPEL (AND THE CHURCH) “OUT OF CONTROL”

I need to raid the writings of Jacques Ellul once more in that, to my mind, he is a giant prophetic voice who needs to be heard as we move into a new generational culture, and into all of the ramifications of the cultures of post-modernism, of social media, and of all the demise of past patterns that are now upon us. My bottom line persuasion is that the church needs to reinvent itself for each new generational culture (I never saw that in a theology book!).

I may be infringing a bit on copyright laws, but in his classic The Subversion of Christianity Ellul argues that when you are dealing with the authentic New Testament message of Jesus Christ that it defies organization, i.e., “it cannot be organized” (p. 156). “We can have neither stability, routine, collective permanence, association, nor group cohesion if we want to live by revelation. We are told that the Holy Spirit constituted the church at Pentecost, and we like that. But when we are told that the Holy Spirit is like the wind that blows when and where it wills and we do not know where it comes from or where it is going, we do not like it. The church may say that it has the Holy Spirit, but if it does it betrays its truth and legitimacy. When we are told that the church consists of those whom God calls, we applaud, but who are they? Who can trace the boundaries? We can say that the church has a center, Jesus Christ, but it has no circumference. We can give assurance to none and exclude none.”

Or, in another vein, Ellul is not very high on professional clergy either: “When we are told that the church has ministers, and its life is organized around them, well and good. But at once we have to remember that these ministries are a gift of the Holy Spirit and not a permanent or organized thing. This leads us to invert the biblical movement. We set up pastoral positions or benefices with rectors and bishops, etc.” [Or: pastors and ‘reverends’]. “We then fill these posts with people we think are suitable. But this is the opposite of the movement presented in the Epistles, in which the Holy Spirit gives to the church people who have gifts of love or the word or teaching, and the church has to find a place for them even if it had not anticipated doing so. If, after a while, the Holy Spirit does not give someone who has the spirit of prophecy but gives someone who has the gift of miracles, then the church must change its form and habits. …God’s order is not organization or institution (cf. the difference between judges and kings)” (p. 157).

All right! Ellul is not safe, but you’ve got to admit that he is provocative, not to mention that he is pretty well on-target. He prophetically saw that the church has got to have a wineskin adequate for each new cultural reality if it is to be faithfully and fruitfully engaged in the mission of God in each emerging generational culture.

Mix that dose of Jacques Ellul in with Colossians 3:12-17 and it would be a heady bit of tonic for the church that is waiting for us around the corner of tomorrow.

To be continued …