Preface

We believe all secondary authority is derived from the authority of the scriptures and is therefore subject to reform when compared to the teaching of the Bible. We also agree with the consensus of the historic church in basic theology. True Christians throughout history have sought to build their lives on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus as the chief cornerstone (Eph 2:20).

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to discuss "organized religion." We often hear it said that Christianity is an organized religion. Why?

Introduction

Wikipedia says, "Organized religion, also known as institutional religion, is religion in which belief systems and rituals are systematically arranged and formally established, typically by an official doctrine (or dogma), a hierarchical or bureaucratic leadership structure, and a codification of proper and improper behavior." ^1.organized  

Many people talk about "organized religion" and how they like or dislike it. But what do they mean by it? Do they mean they like or don't like the formality and hierarchy in religion? Or do they mean they don't like religion at all? The term is rather vague. We think there is an element of truth and value in the term but also a lot of potential confusion. What is behind this frequently used term?

What do we mean by "Organized Religion"?

The term "organized religion" seems to be a modern trend. We associate it with what we are calling traditional church. Based on our research, the early church did not fit this idea of "organized religion." ^4.wadsworth   The early church was simple and organic. They met in homes and Jesus was their leader (master). They had elders, but these elders were told to act like servants. The elders were given an example of working with their hands to help the weak (Acts 20:35). The early church seems to be more loosely organized.

Modern-day Christians get many ideas about church and how to live from their cultural context. Modern Christians are generally not concerned with following the traditions of the 1st-century apostles. Many Christians follow their leaders and do not even know about the other trend that is found in the biblical evidence. Churches these days are usually perfectly fine with being classified as "organized religion." ^{3.pollingtrends}  

But if we listen to the criticism of unbelievers we may get some insight. If we test the "organized religion" idea with how Jesus and the apostles began the church, we may be in for a surprise. Have we largely inherited our ways from our surrounding culture? Are we content with our ways even if we can't find them supported in the Bible? Do we care about following the ways of the apostles?

Christianity is usually classified as an "organized religion." Wikipedia says it like this,

The Abrahamic religions are all largely considered organized (including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and the Baha'i Faith). Sikhism is also generally considered to be an organized religion. ^1.organized  

The confusing thing is that according to my reading of the Bible, the Christian faith is very simple. You don't need "organized religion." When I first read the Bible and learned about God, I did not attend church in the usual manner at all. I attended meetings at a boarding school. I attended meetings with missionaries 300 miles away "at home." But while at boarding school, where I was discovering God most clearly, there was no traditional church, no sermons, and no pastor. In my experience, the years that followed had a lot more of the traditional church system, but not any more of the authentic beauty of the Christian faith. In fact, my memories of a Christian community without the traditional church were more meaningful spiritually than most of my experience with "organized religion." Our modern church traditions often get in the way of the meaningful one-another Christian community experience that we see in the early church. The Christian faith is fundamentally belief-based within a community of Christians under the One Teacher. We could say Christianity is "loosely organized."

Ever since the time of Constantine, around 300 AD, the church has been into this unhealthy "organized religion." The Reformation in the 1500s was important, but the Reformation did not address what we are talking about. In this article, we will not dig into Christian history or the modern church situation. We mainly want to bring attention to how the secular mind sees Christianity. We have to agree with the secular criticism that Christianity is generally tied to "organized religion." The church has become comfortable with the institutional and the formal. We have professional pastors even as they write about not being professional. We have structure and ceremony all centered on the stage.

If there is any way that Christianity can be called "organized religion" it is only in the centrality of our One Teacher. We are subject to our One Teacher, Christ Jesus (Matthew 23:8). We follow an "official doctrine" and "codification of proper behavior", as revealed in the Bible (God's Word). Proper doctrine and right behavior are important to Christianity. But calling this "organized religion" seems like a stretch. We might call it "loosely organized." At the human level, within the church, there need be no strict hierarchy. In "organized religion", there is hierarchy. In true biblical Christianity, leaders are servants and behave with the humility of children (in the best sense).

Wikipedia describes some religions as not organized, or only loosely so, such as "Eastern religions", "African traditions", Native American religions, etc. ^1.organized  

We do not accept this assessment. True Christianity is no more "organized" than these religions as we understand it. Modern Christianity, however, is completely different. We see the early church as loosely organized and modern church as "organized religion." If you follow the apostles and their way of doing things, we think Christianity is not very organized except in obedience to the teaching (The New Testament). Order is good, but obsession with a control-based order can become bad. The New Testament Christianity as seen from the other trend perspective is very different. The early church was careful to follow Jesus, but very informal. Three thousand became members in one day. They were all baptized too. They met in homes. This all sounds very informal. Jesus says, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." (Matt 18:20)

Living with "Organized Religion"

Unfortunately, since most churches are into "organized religion", we must attend one of these modern churches to be with our friends. We must associate with our Christian friends, even if they think very differently. We participate because they are our friends. We agree on the most important things.

But we have concerns about the downsides of "organized religion." We think "organized religion" can be harmful to the younger generation, the older generation, and how the unbelievers view the church. We think the situation is dire, but we find very little interest among our friends.

More About "Organized Religion"

Aside from Wikipedia, what do we mean by "organized religion?" We think of "organized religion" as promoting these kinds of ideas and having these characteristics,

• A clergy/laity distinction
• An ordained clergy
• A building is a high-priority
• A regular sermon is expected
• A structured "service" (bulletin, etc)
• A leadership hierarchy (senior pastor, etc)
• IRS 501(c)(3) participation
• Formal membership
• etc.

We see these ideas in what we call the traditional church.

David Servant explains the traditional/simple church model like this,

The institutional church around the world supports its pastors for the most part (and even in poor nations), but it seems that many house churches around the world, especially those in the West, do not. This, I believe, is due in part to the fact that many people's motives in the Western world for joining house churches is that they are really rebels at heart, and they are looking for and have found the least demanding form of Christianity that is available on the planet. They say they joined a house church because they wanted to escape the bondage of the institutional church, but they really wanted to escape any degree of commitment to Christ. davidservant.com/paying-elders/

This may be true of many Christians joining house churches, but it also seems to miss the point if one is seeking an authentic highly relational experience of church that is as close as possible to the early church. The purpose of the other trend is to follow the apostles, not to make Christianity less demanding. Our response to this criticism is that you don't understand some of us who desire to follow the apostles. Ephesians 4:2 reminds us to keep "humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love" in everything we do.

Why We Attend "Organized" Services?

As Christians, we know community is important and we know the encouragement to meet together regularly. Hebrews 10:25 says,

"not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

But this does not mean formal church experiences. Why do we attend traditional "worship services" when we do not fully support the "organized religion" practices of almost all modern churches around us? Why would we join "organized religion?" Why would we join with Christians who are so different? Because we are one with them. We are all part of the "body of Christ." Even if they do not fully accept us, sometimes, we know we are of one kind. We cannot find enough other Christians interested in the simple early church ways, so we join them because we are part of the same people. We believe it is more important to associate with Christians even if we don't agree on everything. We are quite sure that Jesus was not into "organized religion" and he would change things if he were here. We are quite sure the apostles would not support modern "organized religion." But we set some things aside and join with other Christians in town because we are one with them in the essentials.

Secular Opinions about "Organized Religion"

The secular perspectives about Christianity are very harsh. Non-Christians often have scathing rebukes. But sometimes a non-Christian brings some truth to the table in their harsh critiques. They generally despise "organized religion." But we see some truth in the secular attack when it comes to Christianity being an "organized religion." Their critique concerns us because we see some of the same problems today. Yet, at the same time, we do not see Jesus promoting "organized religion." We do not see it as the way of the apostles. So we are concerned with the Christians who strongly support "organized religion" ^2.supporting   and resist the other trend.

Jesus, The Apostles and "Organized Religion"

Jesus and his apostles laid a foundation for the church. These ways can be seen if you carefully read about the early church. The apostles founded a church based on Jesus Christ, and it was not like the modern Christian "organized religion." Generally, Jesus was against the "organized religion" of his day. And the church that began in Acts, was quite informal. When there was success, it says 3000 were added to the church. Just imagine the difference between 3000 becoming members in one day compared with the modern process. Jesus spoke to the "Scribes" and "Teachers of the Law" about their "traditions of the elders." The problem was that they set aside God's Word to honor their traditions. It seems today that no one can see this connection. Almost all the Christians we would discuss this with would be offended by the association. We are inclined to think the Pharisees were evil but our modern traditions as innocent. But we are suggesting that we should give more careful attention to honoring the ways and traditions of the apostles. We think we should want to follow their way more than our way. The apostles set up the first churches with God-inspired designs. We have added our modern ideas. Unfortunately, there is a great offense if we discuss how we may have mutated and modified the design of Jesus for how the church should behave.

We see the apostle Paul caring about how people should behave "in all the churches", with how women wore their hair, or how men or women spoke up in the main assembly, etc. There were many details of behavior that show there was some design. We would do well to study the instructions, obey the instructions, and try to discern how to apply the provided guidance to our modern context. Unfortunately, we are so distant from respecting the ways and patterns of how the apostles suggested church should work that we can pretty much give up. The general idea is that we should focus on the spiritual stuff and not worry about the ecclesiology stuff. We should care about the "gospel" and "grace" but not get too bothered about Paul's instruction in 1 Corinthians because they were a problem church. The end result is that our modern traditions take over. The commands of the apostles and the traditions of the apostles are put on the back burner as secondary issues. "You don't mean that you think we are in sin", someone might say. "Don't tell me you actually think we should do church like they did 2000 years ago in a completely different culture." The attitude is very much on the side of let it go. Don't bother us. We like how we have it. But it is most clearly "organized religion." The unbelievers see through the deception and do not find the modern Christian "religion" attractive.

We believe today we have the same kind of problem of our traditions competing with God's will. In the Bible, we know authoritatively that the Pharisees were wrong. It takes a lot more wisdom to see our modern-day failures. We tend to believe what we have been doing for years is perfectly fine.

Our desire is to question some of our modern traditions if they go against the teachings and traditions of the apostles. Not all of our traditions are necessarily bad. The problem is when we set aside God's Word because of our seemingly "innocent" traditions.

Secular Views of Organized Religion

The secular person looks at Christianity with scorn as they see people following "religious" duties "going to church" and performing their "religion." Here is an extremely secular perspective:

youtube.com/OrganizedReligion

They think they are so smart. They say "Darwin" solved the issue of the explanation of biological life on earth. This is so far from the truth, but these guys seem to actually believe the lie. If they don't really believe the lie, they are certainly becoming popular in teaching these crazy ideas. No, you can see on our front page how this line of thinking is foolish. The more advanced discoveries in Biological origins (thinking of James Tour and John Sanford, etc) have shown how stupid these popular scientists are. Darwin was so much in the dark. He had no clue about the biological complexities that are now being discovered. The complexity is well beyond just DNA. The junk DNA phase of science is still being hidden from the common man. Many people still operate under the deceptions of previous science "lies." The Devil seems to be mad at work deceiving the world. The sad thing is when Christians start following this same defunct kind of science and dismiss the more careful God-honoring science that knows its limits.

But aside from the scientific perspective, the secular mind also looks at organized religion as evidence that Christianity is not true because it gradually reverts to the same kind of religion that Jesus harshly criticized. Organized religion tends to hide people from experiencing Jesus in a community with interactive involvement in people's lives. Organized religion tends to professionalize the clergy and focus on temples. The non-Christian sees this behavior as something ritualistic rather than real. They gain more confidence that Christianity is not true when Christians can't get along or when their religion becomes formal, liturgical, and formulaic.

This Gallup poll shows the opinion of "organized religion." We do not go too strongly by any of these secular opinions (like Wikipedia) or polling opinions. But after a while, you probably should wonder when the trends are strong and consistent.

gallup.com/organized-religion

Christian Views on Organized Religion

Most Christians are very supportive of organized religion. If you ever criticize the idea there is usually strong support for their church, their denomination, their pastor, their church's way of doing things, etc. They know they are following the organized way of performing their religion, but they would not want to have it any other way. If you ask them about how and why the early church did not follow the organized religion way, they will excuse our modern traditions. The average Christian will be very bothered if you question their church traditions.

These articles go into more depth on the other kind of church that we think is what the Bible shows. Modern church life does not usually want this. Most Christians would rather sit in the pew in a passive consumer mode. The Christian way of living taught by the apostles in the early church is too much for the average modern Christian.

oneanotherchurch
earlychurch
othertrend
relational church

We believe God wants all Christians to pursue a good church life experience and participate in a meaningful community, but we may not find it. If we do not find it in our city/town/village, we should not stop attending church with other Christians. In fact, we need to be careful not to get too distracted by this issue. This is an important issue that can negatively affect both the Christians participating in an assembly and the opinion of the secular person observing. But the Christian community is very imperfect and will be a reflection of all the flawed people participating. Even in the days of the apostles, there were great issues. We should expect nothing less. But it is a beautiful thing to see Christians getting along in harmony and following what the Bible says. Following the Bible as an isolated person does not work. Following the modern teaching that may not care about the apostles does not help. We need both.

Most fundamentally we need to obey God rather than man. But God says we should not forsake the assembling together with other Christians. We cannot live the Christian life properly in isolation. If you only know of a traditional church near you, by all means, attend! If you know of an early church-style meeting that does not care about men/women roles (the modern gender debate), you are probably much better off staying at a complementarian traditional church. If you know of a better church in town, it doesn't mean you should leave where you are to keep trying to find the perfect church. Instead, we need to pursue God's ways. We need to try to obey what the apostles taught us. We need to be patient with other Christians whom we don't agree with. Perhaps they will have ideas that we need to learn.

FOOTNOTES