In response to Tony's post, Managing the Kingdom...

I think I've posted here on this before. Institutions are problematic. They, like we - I am sure because they are made up of us - are ever turning to their own interests and preservation rather than the Lord which they were created to glorify and serve. Unless the Christian body is going to splinter into groups of no more than 10 to 15 people, though, we will continue to need institutions to facilitate our existence as the body and further our efforts to corporately do that which Christ is doing in the world.

Institutions create freedom to do ministry
I affirm that freeing people up to do ministry is important. Institutional structure will do exactly that when it is functioning. If the body can not create a policy or corporate understanding of how the building will be used, outside groups won't be able to find out how to use it, won't know how to get permission from the body to use it, or it will be poorly managed and needs of one ministry won't be met versus the needs of another. When the institution is healthy and functioning, though, there is a structure that provides for logistical needs of ministry and allows freedom for people to do ministry.

Where are the chairs?
Without it, every time we get together we have to answer the questions, "How do we get chairs in here so we have a place to sit" and, "Can't we put these three hundred chairs somewhere so we have a place for our youth group to meet," and "Wow that is a spectacular 30,000 foot facility, wouldn't it serve Jesus better if Alcoholics Anonymous could use it one of the six and a half days a week that it sits dormant?"

I am enumerating the benefits of the institution because your post might suggest that we would be better off without it. Perhaps you did not intend this.

Calling the institution back to its intended purpose
My call, as I began, has not been to eliminate the institution, but forever to call it back to that for which it was created. As Christ continues to call me to lay down my life and serve him over and against my own selfish wants and desires to cling to my life, so Christ calls institutions to exist for his service rather than for their own growth and gain.

They need to be permission giving rather than hording so they facilitate rather than stifle ministry. They need also to create structures that allow us to be the body in groups larger than fifteen people.

Well said, Bill. Well said.

Thanks, Bill.

As I've read further posts, I think you and Tony are offering important points on the same issue. I appreciate your defense of the institutional nature of churches as well as Tony's call for us to remember what the heck the institution is supposed to be about anyway. You're correct to say the institution is to serve Christ and that it can do so in an organized fashion. Bureaucracies do emerge, unfortunately, but I think faith in the Spirit who animates congregations should always draw us back and keep us in check when we go too far.

The thing is every organization, no matter what size, has institutional givens of who leads, who follows, and how decisions are made. Some organizations are merely clearer than others about these structures and how people operate within them. As organizations grow, I would argue that it becomes more important for these structures to be more articulated.

Tyler, I think that every group will develop shared expectations regarding how decisions are made and a plethora of other logistical questions. I would say that as the group gets larger, these expectations will naturally, and need to become more formalized. As they become more concrete and durable, they become an institution.

I agree with you that we both need institutions, and we need to call them back to that for which they were created, or allow the Spirit to re-animate them to the life for which they were created. I wrote more in the following post.