by Gardner Hall<\/p>\n
When young disciples ask, “What is institutionalism?” …<\/p>\n
How should we answer them? A simple definition is that institutionalism is seeing God’s church as a network of congregations with its traditions and organizations. Biblically, God’s church is His saved people whose names are written in heaven (Hebrews 12:23). Only He knows who they are.<\/p>\n
The historical divisions over institutionalism in the 1950s had to do with whether congregations should financially support organizations and projects associated with the network – at first orphanages and national radio broadcasts – later, colleges, clinics, ranches, camps, and other brotherhood establishments. Many church networks in Latin America and Africa formed national organizations that exert considerable influence today. Apologists for church-supported institutions considered many who opposed them to be pharisaical, binding laws on congregations, especially on the use of their funds, that are not in the scriptures. They called them “antis” and considered them disloyal. The controversy’s heat and smoke often covered the fundamental underlying issue:\u00a0 What is God’s church?<\/p>\n
Whatever the strengths and weaknesses of the positions of known disciples in the 1950s and 1960s (certainly, there were questionable attitudes on both sides), the fundamental question remains – How do we see “church,” especially Christ’s church?<\/p>\n
Even among congregations known historically as “noninstitutional,” the first organizational concept, #1, still rears its head. It’s so hard to erase it! It’s easy to see “church” as a network of congregations roughly defined by church directories and even by schools, bookstores, and publications we like. That concept is constitutionalism, whether church funds are involved or not.<\/p>\n
Of course, there are some known brethren with whom we are more comfortable because of shared positions on various important issues. That’s inevitable. The challenge is to avoid equating that group (that “fellowship,” if you will) with Christ’s church. It’s hard to leave the determination of which specific individuals are saved and, therefore, in Christ’s universal body in God’s hands. And yet, that’s his business and his alone! Only he knows how far he will extend his mercy.<\/p>\n
Our concern should be following Jesus, accepting only the authority of his word, while meeting with others locally with whom we can work and worship without violating our conscience. As we do so, we should lovingly engage those with whom we have differences because many of those divergences are vital, having to do with distancing ourselves from Christ and his simplicity. We should especially appreciate and seek contact with fellow baptized believers willing to communicate with us despite differences. But we should never forget God’s mercy in the process.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Gardner Hall When young disciples ask, “What is institutionalism?” … How should we answer them? A simple definition is that institutionalism is seeing God’s church as a network of congregations with its traditions and organizations. Biblically, God’s church is His saved people whose names are written in heaven (Hebrews 12:23). Only He knows who…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[448,1508],"class_list":["post-66288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church","tag-institutionalism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6725,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/institutionalism-a-virulent-cancer\/","url_meta":{"origin":66288,"position":0},"title":"Institutionalism: A Virulent Cancer","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Harry W. Pickup, Jr. via\u00a0The Gospel Guardian, 24 September 1964 Any error which touches either the nature of God or the nature of the Church is most fundamental and basic. Institutionalism is such an error because it touches the nature of the Church. The supposed conversion of Emperor Constantine,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29230,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-for-an-institution-to-ask-for-donations\/","url_meta":{"origin":66288,"position":1},"title":"Is it wrong for an institution to ask for donations?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, Is it okay for organizations such as GBN TV to ask for donations publicly? Is anything wrong with this? This organization is run by members of the Lord's church. I do not think anything is wrong with this, but I do think it would be wrong if the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69794,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-for-a-church-to-support-a-bible-school\/","url_meta":{"origin":66288,"position":2},"title":"Is it right for a church to support a Bible school?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings to you, Brother Hamilton; I trust you have been in good health. I need your guidance on these issues: Is it a sin for the church to financially support Bible schools? The church sometimes requests Bible school students to help carry out a massive evangelism campaign. How can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19223,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-those-who-teach-institutionalism-or-liberalism-be-called-brethren\/","url_meta":{"origin":66288,"position":3},"title":"Can those who teach institutionalism or liberalism be called brethren?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can you please help me? I am a preacher of the gospel who is striving to teach and practice the truth. I respect the God-given work of the church and I do have a problem with churches doing what is not authorized in the Bible as far as using\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69158,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-link-to-wvbs-or-gbn\/","url_meta":{"origin":66288,"position":4},"title":"Is it wrong to link to WVBS or GBN?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it wrong for a church to link to WVBS or GBN on its website? I'm unsure if it's right or wrong, but I'd at least like your thoughts, if you don't mind. Thanks. Answers: World Video Bible School (WVBS) and Gospel Broadcasting Network (GBN) solicit funding from individuals\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70122,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/institutionalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":66288,"position":5},"title":"Institutionalism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chris Reeves Truth Magazine August 2024 Christians today who were not raised during the institutional battles among brethren in the 1950s and 1960s would do well to learn the issues that divide us today. Having learned these issues,\u00a0they can then teach others the truth concerning the work and organization\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66288\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}