Reimagining Church: Church Leadership

This is the part of the book where Frank Viola really shines. Here, he shows why the clergy is unscriptural and why we should go back to the original form of leadership in the church. I don’t have much to say on this chapter because it really is how I have felt about this topic for some time now. I wrote a little about this in my review of a similar chapter of Viola’s “Pagan Christianity” in my series called Servants That Became Rulers.

I can’t even see anymore why people allow the clergy to take positions for themselves that stop the body of Christ from functioning as God intended and we give them respect for it. The true strength of Viola’s teaching is in the area of the clergy and I think that we should all listen to what he has to say.

I thank Present Testimony Ministry for giving me a copy of this book for review and I truly think that everybody should read this if you haven’t already.

Reimagining Church: Church Unity

I really like what Frank Viola has to say about church unity in this chapter. Here are some of the highlights.

Viola accurately defines the Church as the body of Christ and that there is no other. There is none smaller and none bigger. He still confuses me a bit when he talks about the city church because I guess it just isn’t clicking for me that in a sense you are a member of the church in your city and in the church universal but that those are the same (and I’m still not entirely sure if he would consider himself a member of the “house church” that he attends but it seems that he doesn’t which I would agree with). Either way, he is still defining correctly that there is only one Church.

He also correctly states that we must accept one another on the same basis that we were accepted by Christ (that is by faith). We cannot reject others based on their ideas about other things. Christ accepted us when we believed (not when we accepted “orthodox” doctrine) and we must accept all others who believe.

Frank Viola really pulls no punches in the next section where he argues that a church that rejects others based on doctrine (or anything other than faith in Christ) is actually a sect and not a church. Although he does say that members of a sect can be members of the Church, he says that the two are not the same. He kinda confuses me on this one because it sounds like he is saying that if there are sectarians at a meeting than the meeting is sectarian and thus not a true meeting. I’m sure he could clear this up if given more space to do so but it seems that he is saying that the sins of the members can invalidate the meeting. I’m not so sure.

And just when you thought that Viola was done slaying sacred cows, he then proceeds to blame the disunity of the Church on the clergy/laity distinction and does so convincingly. He shows how the clergy took power for themselves and then needed to distinguish their teaching from others and then divided the church on theological grounds. He is absolutely right on this part. Denominations are formed to teach one way of being Christian and oppose others. The body was not meant to function this way. Disagreement is necessary and allowed when the focus of the church is on Jesus and not theology (or human leaders).

I also like how he writes about the organizational ecumenical movements that have taken place and how these are flawed. This is like when Protestant organizations and the Roman Catholic Church meet to talk about how to be unified across denominational lines. Although Frank does give them some credit, he rightly sees this as holding hands over a fence when you could just knock over the fence by practicing Christianity organically.

My favorite part of this chapter is the part about finding unity through doctrine. I wish that every member of the church of Christ (which is where I was brought up) would read this section. We cannot (and should not) have doctrinal unity. I also liked the part where he talks about a church of Christ and Pentecostal church that he helped unify by going organic and the tough time they had making this work. I can imagine how difficult this would be coming from the church of Christ. This section on unity through doctrine (and the chapter as a whole) are really worth the price of the book if you haven’t decided whether to buy it yet.

The last part of the chapter is really similar to the first chapter. It is about basing our church unity on the unity between the Father, Son, and Spirit. It is vital that we start to view things theologically instead of legally. We typically just look for a book, chapter, and verse and then just try to obey it without looking for the truth that God is trying to show us.

Servants That Became Rulers: Preacher Dress

The next aspect of the institutional church that I would like to draw attention to is the tradition of the pastor/preacher dressing up more than the congregation.  This is related to the last post, but I wanted to draw special attention to it.  Here are some reasons, I believe, the pastor/preacher (if you feel the need to have one) should dress like everyone else.

1. For the pastor/preacher to dress up shows an un-biblical distinction between “clergy” and “laity”:  In the Scriptures, all Christians are priests and there is no “clergy” or “laity”.  When the pastor/preacher dresses in more expensive clothing (or in robes), the congregation is made to feel lower than him.  This is unscriptural. 

2.  The myth of the “super-Christian”:  We have made a class of “super-Christians” that most Christians don’t feel they can live up to.  When the “clergy” dresses in special clothes, this just feeds the myth.  In actuality, the Church is made of people who have gifts given to them by the Holy Spirit.  We all have different functions in the body and no one part is greater than any other part.  The fame that the pastor/preacher takes for himself is undeserved and, most importantly, sinful for him to take.