A Divided Church #3

Adjective Churches

This is a third major category of thing that brings division in church today.

Think about how often we tell about a church by describing it as a "black" church or "charismatic" church. If it is predominantly made up of a minority group we will label it that way. (Hispanic church, Korean church, etc.)

We also often reference a church by the average income level of those who attend. This can especially be seen in a small town or rural setting. Everyone knows where the "rich" church is located and where the "poor" church is located.

We also describe churches as "urban," "suburban," or "rural."

Obviously the previous are adjectives to the noun: church, but I think the problem arises when we hold more tightly to the adjective (descriptors) than we do the noun (church). For example, if we are a part of a "Hispanic" church and we may be prone to reject non-Hispanics in light of the fact they take away our identiy as a "Hispanic" church. We may reject rich people in favor of holding to our goal of being a "homeless/poor" mission church. We may reject people who could change our adjective. (Interesting topic of a possible future blog would be about rejecting people because they would change our noun... church.)

At our KY District Assembly last week the General Superintendent, Dr. Warrick, preached about claiming to be a Christian teacher. The problem, he said, was that we need to be a teaching Christian rather than a Christian teacher. Now, you could say that is all semantics, or you could recognize that the noun is different and the noun is the foundation the adjective rests upon. The noun is what is most important!

For the record, I think it is great to be a Cuban church, a redneck church, a holiness church, an upper-middle class church, or any other kind of church. The problem arises when we value our adjective (descriptor) over our noun (church). That brings division!