The Institutionalized Church

If you have been following our website, or have attended our meetings, you may be aware of our use of the term “Institutionalized Church.” This is a new term to many, as it was to us until recently. Therefore, we felt it necessary to explain in a public manner what we mean by the use of this expression.

What is the Institutionalized Church?

Frank Viola provided a definition that is probably the best one that we have seen to date. He described it as:

A church that is created by human organization, chain-of-command styled leadership, and institutional programs. It's marked by a weekly order of worship (or mass) officiated by a pastor or priest. It's controlled by a top-down hierarchical organization and human social conventions (called "offices" or “positions”) that people fill. The institutional church has often been called "the traditional church," "the organized church," and "the audience church." Congregants watch a religious performance once or twice a week, and then retreat home to live their individual Christian lives.

Leadership is hierarchical in the institutional church, and Christians are divided into "clergy" and "laity" (or their equivalent-"pastor - people", “shepherd - sheep”, “minister - saint”).

When God's people assemble together on the same basis of the organizational principles that run General Motors and Microsoft, we call it an institutional church. But when God's people assemble together on the basis of the life of God, we call it an organic church.

Let’s look more closely at the definition of the word “institutionalized” as it applies to this discussion.

Institutionalized-

1. Established as normal: having become an established custom or an accepted part of the structure of a large organization or society because it has existed for so long; a belief in the merits of established customs and systems.

2. Dependent on the routine of institution: lacking the will or ability to think and act independently because of the influence of having spent a long time in a static, controlled environment.

With those expressions in mind, it should be clear that 99.9% of modern day churches fit within this description. It matters not if they are Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant or they consider themselves to be non-denominational; this description fits nearly every organized church of our day.

Please note: It is not sincere Christians within the institutionalized church with whom we take issue, but rather it is the unbiblical systems and structures of men that we oppose. We fully realize that, like we were at one time, many Christians are innocently caught up in the Institutionalized Church. We yet consider them to be our brothers and sisters in the Lord, some of whom we have tremendous love and respect. In taking our stand against the systems of religion, it has never been our intent to reflect negatively on the people who are trapped in these systems. As we have stated many times before, the problem generally is not with the people, but rather the problem lies within the system itself  (and occasionally with those at the head of the system).

The description of the Institutionalized Church does not describe the church we read about in the New Testament. Quite the contrary. That early church was a life giving church with all equal members having experienced a common salvation. It knew of no towered hierarchical structure. It was governed by only one Head, Jesus Christ. The New Testament church met daily in the temple and from house to house. Assembly meetings were open participatory in nature, with each believer participating according to their spiritual gifting.

The church itself, or any church system, was never meant to be exalted or worshipped. How prideful it is for the church to exalt herself! Only God is worthy of our worship. Sadly, many have allowed the Institutionalized Church to usurp the position and glory that only belongs to God! They are worshipping the man-made creation, rather than the Creator. It is not the institution that ought to inspire awe and worship, it is God with His presence and power!

The Church of God, the religious organization from which many of us have come away, taught that "Babylon" is the false church (every literal religious organization other than themselves) and that honest Christians should, and eventually would, "come out of her" (and join up with the organized Church of God).  With this teaching, Babylon is viewed as a literal church (a temporal place), rather than a religious spiritual condition or frame of mind. In reality, rather than religious organizations, Babylon is a confused state or condition in which many people are unknowingly trapped. Members of the Institutionalized Church are in a Babylonian frame of mind (drunk with her wine, i.e., her teachings and doctrines, her hieratical structures, her programs, her system, etc...) and they are unaware of it. They cannot see or think outside of their own religious system or traditions. So, while there are interdependencies between Babylon and the Institutionalized Church, they are not one in the same.

Once we see the Institutionalized Church for what it truly is, we are faced with a decision. We can either stay in it and conform to it's traditions, it's rigid structure and it's man-made influences, or we can break free. But breaking free is not an easy thing to do. It involves leaving behind people that you love dearly. That has been a very, very difficult thing for us to do, but Jesus said in Luke 14 that unless we forsake all and follow Him, we cannot be His disciples. It involves a process of having to think for ourselves and sort out the good from among the bad, truth from the err. To wake up from our long sleep and now have to sort through and separate the wheat from among the tares. It involves having to be deprogrammed from our way of thinking, and having to fully get the mind of Christ and to think as He does.

Thankfully, we are afforded the opportunity and privilege to do the will of God, and to rightly accomplish the vision and mission of God’s church. What is that mission? To expose this sinful world to the power and the presence of God! To introduce lost mankind to Jesus, rather than a rigid religious system. Jesus saves!

For those of us who have left the Institutionalized Church, the challenge facing us is whether or not we can take our accumulated experiences, convictions, and understanding of truth to a lost and dying world, without abandoning principle or righteousness.

Or will we respond to fears of: Who will fellowship us? What will the ministry and saints think of us? Will they approve of us? Will our friends still love us? Are they going to think we are “fanatics” or “radicals?” Will we in a moment of fear and uncertainty, return to the familiarity and security of the Institutionalized Church? Will we  welcome again the prison bars and restrictions of the dull spiritual life of an institutionalized Christian?

God forbid!

Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 

I have decided to follow Jesus!
I have decided to follow Jesus!
I have decided to follow Jesus!
No turning back, no turning back.

Though none go with me, still I will follow.
Though none go with me, still I will follow.
Though none go with me, still I will follow.
No turning back, no turning back.

Every bridge is burned behind me!
Every bridge is burned behind me!
Every bridge is burned behind me!
No turning back, no turning back.