John Ortbeg said recently, “The church is a living organism and an organism lives within an ecosystem.”
This would be a justifying realism for the recent departure of 500 Presbyterian (USA) congregations into a new denomination named ECO: Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians. A press release is here, and from the Presbyterian periodical Layman, here.
Ortberg is quoted further, “the goal is to build a spiritual ecosystem that in turn builds flourishing churches that make disciples of Jesus Christ.”
The realism applied is correct. And this is in fact the basis of any modern church growth and development solution and strategy, whether denominationally applied (denominational leaders analysis of local congregations), or with such globally researched and applied strategies as NCD. That is, what is the context, what is the system, is it healthy, if not what needs to be done to make it so.
ECO of Presbyterians is the latest to make it clear they believe the “spiritual ecosystem” defined as The Presbyterian Church (USA) is an unhealthy [ecosystem] because it is unbiblical, and therefore off-mission, off-purpose. Their decision collectively is that the spiritual ecosystem of PC USA cannot grow healthy organisms. The list of mainline departing groups having made the same decision is now second nature info to the media and to the mainline communities.
The question for those individual clergy and congregations who are otherwise soul-mates to those newly organized ecosystems made up of mainline nurtured Christians is whether their divine inspiration to remain in those mainline denominations is the Holy Spirit saying that such biblically healthy spiritual ecosystems can be maintained and grown within the failing ecosystem.
My personal call through the Holy Spirit is to be an Episcopal priest, and the parish I serve chose to continue to be an Episcopal parish. It is assumption to believe that the internal ecosystem argument (like a church within the church) is why the Holy Spirit has caused me to remain. There may be some other reason: martyrdom, witness, testimony, change agent, etc. So let’s not assume.
But the argument of creating an interior ecosystem (rather than just hoping the unhealthy one will just fade away) is compelling, and worth the prayer effort and discussion effort. I am up for that, as are so many others within the mainline denominations that also have discovered God’s call “to be.” Aside from that intrigue and hopefulness, I do also believe there is a pendulum, and that it is swinging slowly, and that was is left of the mainline denominations will be more conservative than liberal in terms of biblical authority faithfulness by 2040. About the time I am dead.
Here is what I am sure of: I am seeing the grace of God working in the lives of people through the Spirit gifted ministries, and the otherwise grace filled ministries in this parish. And so we will continue to make use of what God is giving to us for the building up of His Kingdom, which we understand will not necessarily mean the building up of the current ecosystem of the denomination to which we belong.
This section of Psalm 31, which was read recently in the Daily Office, affirms the idea and the true reality which gives validity to the science of economy and systems — but only because “through Him all things were made”. That is, God will manifest Himself within and/or without any church organization or organism even if it is dying:
21 Praise be to the Lord,
for he showed me the wonders of his love
when I was in a city under siege.
22 In my alarm I said,
“I am cut off from your sight!”
Yet you heard my cry for mercy
when I called to you for help.
Who will join me in making the cry for mercy, holding to the promise of God that He will hear, and show us the wonders of His love.
I see the decline of the Episcopal church as creating an opportunity for the Spirit to return and revive that what appears to be dead. I await the coming of that day of revival.
UP,
Bless the Lord.
I agree in principle, and in that agreement there should be prayer and planning. What question remains is whether this is a diminuation directed by the Lord, or the consequence of practice and faith (as it is across the mainlines), or something of both. And the only reason this would be important is to signal our proper response for revival, and to know how to argue whatever denial is presented by those in leadership who feel the need to be in denial.
rge+