Before we begin, it's important that we get our terms right. When some people say "institutional church", what they really mean is the "corporation church"-- the church-as-a-business that operates for profit and self-preservation. I would offer no defense for such a church. But I would suggest a caution to you: while there may be pastors who have become more like shopkeepers than shepherds, I want you to understand the seriousness of the allegation you are making when you denounce a church as being nothing more than a corporation. You are making a claim that cuts to the heart and motives of pastors and people you may not know, suggesting that they are mercenaries who care nothing for God and His work. There may be cases where that is true, but you cannot know for sure. Which leads me to another point of clarification: it is impossible to deal honestly in generalities. I could not possibly defend every church, nor could you condemn every church that fits a particular bill (too large, too small, too stagnant, etc.).
That being said, let's begin. Here are four reasons to defend the so-called "institutional church":
1. Place Matters
There is this saying that the church is not a building. Of course, we understand the point-- that WE, the redeemed, the "called out ones", are the Church. But this over-emphasized distinction can seem a little foolish. It's like lecturing your kids about how your family is not a home. Certainly a family can survive without a home and a family is still a family even when children go away to college or are displaced by trouble and hardship. But a home is part of the fabric of a family. It is where the family gathers after work and school; it is where they cook and eat, carry out their chores, sit and talk, and, for better or worse, make memories. In fact, if you've had the good fortune of growing up in the same home, you understand that over time the distinction between "home" and "family" becomes academic. If you've been away from home and you return for a holiday or for the summer, the familiarity of furniture and rooms and aromas remind you of everything about your family. Home is not just where the heart is; it's where the family lives.
Jesus frequently pointed people to the Temple after interacting with them. The Apostles of the Early Church met with Jewish believers on Solomon's Porch, the East wing of the Temple. When Paul traveled, he often made a bee line for the synagogue, knowing he could find God-worshippers there. Why? Place matters. A church without a place is like a family without a home: it can be done, but the two are better together. The Church is not a building, but what is the "gathering of the called out ones" without a gathering place?
2. Ritual Matters
For all the knocks on "dead tradition" and boring ritual, rituals make up our everyday life; they are what keep our teeth from falling out, our personal hygiene in tact, and our oil changed roughly every 3000 miles. Life is full of things we do out of habit because we believe in the long term value of an activity. Ritual is a way to reinforce desire.
Ritual is also a way to preserve meaning. We celebrate birthdays to remind ourselves how precious life is and how quickly it passes. We celebrate when two people pledge their lives to one another in holy matrimony. And we pass out on the couch after stuffing ourselves with turkey and mashed potatoes, while the Detroit Lions lose another Thanksgiving Day game. (Not sure about the meaning that preserves, but it's a fabulous ritual!) For the ancient Jews, their year was full of festivals and special days that God ordained as a way of preserving meaning, of reminding them of who He was and what He had done for them and what He wanted them to be.
And so we do the same in church. The Early Church quickly fell into rhythm and Luke records the ritual they practiced: breaking bread, prayer, eating meals in each others' homes, of which the Eucharist was a part. Secular historical records describe the early Christians as a strange group who gathered before sunrise on Sunday to "sing hymns to Christ as if to a god."
3. Creed Matters
It feels good to say that you're not against anybody and anything, that you define your life simply by the things you are "for", but it doesn't have any practical meaning. If you're for Jesus, you're against your own selfish ways. If you're for the Divinity of Christ, you're against anything that says he was just a man. To say one, all-encompassing "Yes" is to say a thousand smaller "No"s.
Interestingly enough, Paul, John, and Peter spent a fair amount of space in their letters addressing false teachers. You would think they had enough problems on their hands with persecution from the Romans and castigation from the Jews. You would think they would take the warmth of friendship wherever they could find it. But no. Some are to be cast out of the church, shunned from homes, disassociated with. This flies in the face of that popular yet naive defense many a modern writer or author has offered when his doctrine is scrutinized: "People are dying without Jesus, and you're questioning my doctrine?" The Apostles would answer, "Yes, as a matter of fact, we are."
It's good and fine to start with an informal gathering of believers, but soon enough you'll have to decide what you believe and come to terms with it. Creed matters. And it mattered as early as Acts 2, where they followed in "the Apostles doctrine." The Church, from the outset, had some things they held onto unswervingly.
4. Structure Matters
Whether the authority is forced or relationally granted, all things on earth have structure. Having said that, I should say that all structures are flawed. The Church is not exempt. Instead of living to demonstrate (in N.T. Wright's phrase) the power of love, we persist in the love of power. Nevertheless, structure formed quickly in the 1st Century Church. Early in the Book of Acts, Deacons are appointed to help with their service project. On numerous occasions, Paul defends his apostleship because his leadership mattered. He also wrote to Timothy about how to appoint Elders and Deacons. While we are not completely sure of how the structure worked, we know that it was loosely in place. Paul also wrote of the necessity of order within a church service, and gave detailed criteria to Timothy on how to determine which widows should get assistance from the church. Sounds like systems and structures to me. Flawed as they are, structures are like the banks of a river: the are designed to protect the life of the church. Certainly they can get in the way and end up choking the life out of it. But then it is time to reform the structures not to try to do without them.In conclusion...
So, if you have a place, a ritual, a creed, and a structure, you are part of an institutional church. It may be exclusive or open to the public. It may be informal or a suit and tie affair. It may be in a home or in a large hall. But if it is a gathering of God's people in a place, with ritual and creed and structure, you are the institutional church, and to speak against it is to cut off your nose to spite your face.
Now, there are some that have been busy writing books and blogs decrying the evils of the "Institutional Church", and the critique is tired and old. It reeks a little of adolescence. And if you won't hear it from me, then listen to the words of a seasoned old man that I have used before:
“What other church is there besides institutional? There’s nobody who doesn’t have problems with the church, because there’s sin in the church. But there’s no other place to be a Christian except the church...I really don’t understand this naïve criticism of the institution. I really don’t get it. Frederick von Hugel said the institution of the church is like the bark on the tree. There’s no life in the bark. It’s dead wood. But it protects the life of the tree within. And the tree grows and grows. If you take the bark off, it’s prone to disease, dehydration, death. So, yes, the church is dead but it protects something alive. And when you try to have a church without bark, it doesn’t last long. It disappears, gets sick, and it’s prone to all kinds of disease, heresy, and narcissism.” -Eugene Peterson
