Faith in Isolation (‘The Ekklesia is Changing’ Series)

I’ve been pondering the nature, purpose, and function of the ekklesia, the intimate manner in which a group of faith is to form, gather, and ‘live the Way’ together in community.  What follows is one such musing, ‘Faith in Isolation’. 

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“No man is an island.”

- John Donne, English Poet and Anglican Minister

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Jesus is the Vine but we, collectively, are His branches. (John 15:5)

Jesus is the Shepherd but we, collectively, are His sheep.  (John 10:11-18)

Jesus is the Head but we, collectively, are His body comprised of distinct part dependent on the whole. (Colossians 1:18)

Contemporary Western Christianity, heavily influenced by cultural and political forces, has a habit of emphasizing the individual at the expense of the whole.  Pulpits accentuate the need for individuals to ‘get saved’ when the Biblical narrative speaks as much, arguably more, about plural conversion (metanoia: a change of mind, thinking, or perception) households, communities, nations, and cultures.  Stated another way, the emphasis is on the relational, not the isolational. Yes, these collectives are comprised of individual people so please do not take my words apart from their context.  But the language of scripture has always been directed to a federal people, treated as one many-membered body that exists in connection and extension to the Source.  

Beginning as late as the Constantinian era, but arguably even earlier, a restructuring of the ekklesia was set in motion which directed worship away from small, intimate, authentic gatherings, to a large, organizational, institutional framework more akin to a performance than a collective expression of the Christ within each person.  Gone were the days of each member bringing an offering of praise, testimony, teaching, or exhortation to share amidst their brethren. (1 Corinthians 14:26)  This meaningful practice of the early church was replaced by a dichotomous division of the people into performers (‘clergy’) and spectators (‘laity’).  

Flowing from this same formalism came prescribed liturgies and structures of service that enforced rigid conformity across the faithful at the expense of spiritual ardor.  To one extent or another, this framework has continued to the present day.  While some of the rougher edges of old school Constantinianism may have been rounded and smoother by the Lutheran, Calvinist, and later Anabaptist, Holiness, Pentecostal, and Charismatic reformers, the structure itself remained largely unchanged.  Predictable orders of service, routines, terminology more akin to the Old Testament or the religions of Ancient Greece or Rome than the early church.  These are all integral parts of most churches today.  (Don’t believe me?  Then why do most churches have ‘altars’ when they simultaneously claim to believe that Jesus was the final sacrifice?!)

It is no wonder then that many who become disillusioned with institutional, organizational Christianity leave for greener, freer pastures.  But sadly most disconnect not only from the hierarchical system, but from gathering altogether.  In their understandable desire to escape what feels to them to be oppressive and sterile, they enter a place of spiritual isolation, consuming a wide array of Christ-oriented content on social media but absent the very element that makes the ekklesia the ekklesia: GATHERING.  

The Christian faith is not isolative, nor can it truly be lived in a vacuum.  It requires community.  It necessitates the mutual sharing of joys, sorrows, highs, and lows.  It involves mutual, healthy accountability and a shared vision.  

What then are saints to do?  Should they remain in systems that operate in contradiction to the foundation of Christ as (at least partially) revealed in the early church in order to ‘not forsake the assembling together’?  For many that option is tantamount to living in a perpetual state of hypocrisy, as if every performance of works-based religion they attend is a lie they are telling to themselves.  But if genuine Christianity necessitates community, I ask again, what are saints to do?

What I sense in my spirit is that just as the Jewish people were dispersed throughout the world in the diaspora only to eventually return to their homeland, a spiritual application of this is just now beginning which will see the isolated nomads pulled into newly formed ekklesias designed and functioning as originally intended.  They won’t rely on smoke machines, modulators, or lights to ‘set the mood’ but will be authentic believers and seekers freely embraced in small, thriving communities centered on the Love of God.  They will eat together, pray together, worship together, and most of all, live The Way together, involved in one another’s lives as family.  Their dress won’t matter. They may not have a building or set meeting place. They almost certainly will not be led by a professional ministerial class, but through the organic flow of the five-fold ministry gifts that govern in humility, service, and love. Titles will be deemphasized, with the focus shifting to how you can honor others rather than ensuring you receive your due. 

Oh yes, beloved. The ekklesia is CHANGING! Expect these gatherings to find full expression in keeping with modern technology. A hybrid of in-person and virtual encounters seems highly likely. And while local ekklesiae are yet forming, connect yourself with online groups for fellowship. No, it’s not the same thing as face-to-face engagement. But it’s infinitely better than the alternatives: hypocrisy or isolation. 

Brethren, we have not been this way before! What Father is doing in and through His people in this season of lavish grace awareness is what the creation has been groaning for! You are alive at the most exciting time in human history! Let’s choose to live this Love walk TOGETHER! 

More to come…