The Hope of the World?

I'd been thinking it was time to release my brilliantly thought-out, definitive statement on the controversies dividing The Episcopal Church, a piece of such stunning clarity and theological perspicuity that all sides in these arguments would immediately realize the error of their party-line toeing ways and gather together around Christ as the true center of the church and let bygones be bygones. I, of course, realize that such a result is beyond unlikely, so I will save that conversation just a bit longer.

However, I did want to bring up something that at least has a little bit to do with our decision to stick things out with TEC, even here in the Diocese of Quincy (Special Synod to respond to General Convention in three weeks! Hooray!), come what may.

Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Community Church up in the 'burbs, the father of the contemporary megachurch movement (whose place of prominence has been usurped by book-seller Rick Warren), has said something to the effect that the local church is the hope of the world. I used to think there was a lot of truth in that statement, but I'm more and more convinced that there may not be much to such thinking after all.

See, I think the church in general, or the Church, if you will, has a worth infinitely more than the sum of its parts (individual parishes or local congregations). At its best, the Church, no matter the denominational flavor, has deeply understood and accepted this idea. Now, such thinking can definitely be taken to unhealthy extremes, and this has definitely happened at various times in the history of Christianity. But to me, the opposite extreme, complete isolation and "Lone Ranger" ecclesiology, is at least equally hazardous. When a church forgets and/or willfully breaks its ties with other churches in its tradition, it loses its distinctiveness.

Now, I'm not denying the crucial role individual congregations play in engaging the immediate culture of their specific physical location, but to say that the hope of the world lies in these local churches seems to diminish the importance of the mystical union between Christ and his Bride, the church universal. I would argue, and it would seem the New Testament writers at least would agree, that the hope of the world lies in the Church, not the church in your neighborhood (or region, but that's another rant for another time).

Maybe I'm overstating things (it would be far from the first time), but it's just something that concerns me sometimes.