So much energy has been spent wrestling with the church and institutionalization. Institutionalization happens when reified social constructs become untouchable. What is then often needed is some form of prophetic deconstruction of that social construct – enabling us to see again that people very-much-like-us (knowingly or unknowingly) crafted that social construct, freeing us to shape or reshape that institution.
One of my growing concerns is what I have recently termed, the “Missionalization of the church.” And of it seems that conservative Protestantism is especially susceptible to missionalization.
Missionalization makes almost impossible indigenous gospel embodiment. Missionalization reifies one (or more) culture’s life-giving encounter with Christ making it THE gospel to be shared with all. Thus a missionalized person or Christ-community is more like to proclaim than serve, more likely to teach than be taught, more likely to pursue growth than the Cross.
Missionalization may be as much of an enemy of God’s relational reign as institutionalization is an enemy.
peace, dwight
