Thesis 15: Stop Trying to Fix Church

Thesis 15: Stop Trying to Fix Church

As it turns out, I’ve been deconstructing most of my life, though I haven’t until recently had an efficient, handy term for it. The Breaking Church Project is an extension of my deconstruction process: click here to learn a bit more about my background.

I’ve also been blessed to be a lifelong learner and voracious reader, so naturally my journey took me into the pages of dozens of books on theology and deconstruction. As with all literature, a few titles have been transformative (Pagan Christianity), some interesting if not terribly useful (The Pagan Christ), some really out there, and most, well, drivel and even harmful (no naming names for this one).

Reading about deconstruction is its own trip, too. Once I embraced the term, the Deconstruction LibraryTM opened its doors and in I went. At first, it was all about gorging myself on the words of my tribe, recognizing that I’m not alone and that my feelings and thoughts have merit. It was so gratifying to absorb so many voices that, in short, had been harmed by Church and were trying to articulate why and how that is, and how things can be better.

That last one is where I’ve hit a bit of a wall, I’m afraid. I’ve learned that deconstruction Christians can largely be put into two camps: changed leavers and changed stayers. Scores of thoughtful folks have left Church in a million different forms, from embracing Bedside Baptist to generating huge followings by including Atheist in their social media handles. And many more have stayed, heading back into their churches to try and enact change, again in innumerable variations on the theme.

The stayers are, in my view, the biggest problem. In every instance, the conclusions they reach are directed to fixing their churches, often with mindless Christianish platitudes (God helps those who help themselves! God is good, all the time!) layered with inspired extra-faith wisdom (Be the change you want to see!). They’re incredibly hopeful that their revelations and ideas are just what their sect needs to reinvent/fix/help itself.

Sadly, Church can’t get better. I realized very soon after labelling my journey that Church isn’t just broken, it’s rotten from spine to brain to fingertip. It doesn’t matter whether you’re charming snakes in Appalachia, genuflecting in Rome, or megachurching in Berlin. It’s all based on the broken, human-created model that quickly took over from the communal, Christ-led gatherings of the early church, and has become irredeemably violent, hateful, and abusive.

There’s nothing left to fix.

The leavers have the edge here. Simply put, they recognize that they can’t stay because the problems are just too great. The corruption is too widespread. The abuse is real, will always continue, and will be hidden and protected and preserved so that rich, powerful men can keep getting richer and more powerful. In these relationships, the vulnerable will always be the victim.

Or, if you’ll allow me to modify a biblical metaphor, Church is no longer Christ’s bride. Rather, Church took over husband duties in the 3rd-century, turned his people into submissive, abused, and fearful spouses, and has been unrepentantly abusing us (and everyone it touches) ever since. And yet, though battered, murdered, and raped, we keep going back again and again.

In marriage (or any relationship), the only effective answer to abuse is to get out of and dissolve the thing, throw that hateful partner away (hopefully to rot in prison for awhile), and to immerse ourselves in supportive, loving environs. Why should Church be any different?

Now, we are commanded to be the Church, and I want Christ’s church to thrive. But the model that’s been established for us in the Bible is no longer possible within the harmful institutions, cults, and theologies we’ve built. Our pastor-led, static, pop-concert-flavoured, money-driven, socially oppressive, politically idolatrous, and [insert your favourite unbiblical trait here] Church can do nothing other than blaspheme and commit heresy (if you believe in that Jesus dude, that is).

That’s bad.

The only solution is to burn it all down and start again (it even says so in the Bible), and yet I’ve never encountered this message in my learning. Why? Because we’re all stereotypical victims, in a sense. Christians have been conditioned to believe that our abusive partner can change, if we just give him another chance. We’re also invested (but some of my best friends are pastors and theologians!), and eyes of needles are fucking small for everyone, not just the wealthy merchants among us. Finally, we need to think of our kids, who've been chosen for better and more and safety.

I get it: change is hard, much less full-scale tearing and burning down. But that’s the only true transformation that can save Christ’s church, and will be the only approach you hear and read from me.

Don’t go back. Heal. Begin again.

Keywords: Stop Trying to Fix Church; Faith; Deconstruction; Religion; Christian; Christianity; Church; Sin; Corruption; Scandal; Bible; Abuse; God; Jesus; Stewardship