Editor's Section




Christian Structure

We will take a more abstract view of structure in this discussion. From our understanding of reification and the way geometry is used, particularly by males, to form the moulds into which we find ourselves pressed and also to generate the thinking tools they want us to use, we know that physical structures can have powerfully negative effects.

This illustration is also used in but it is worth repeating here. I visited a friend in the United States. He and I had shared a flat with two others during our theological seminary years. Now he is the pastor of a church. His daughter at the time of this visit was eleven years old. She had attended a Christian school for a few years, a school operated by a charismatic protestant denomination known for the strong control of its male clergy over its programs. I was impressed with the girl's maturity as a Christian. While I was visiting she took her parents aside and told them she had been praying and she was sure the Lord wanted her to continue going to that school.

I spoke to her and asked her how things were at the school. She immediately told me of an incident that was bothering her and the other students. One of the boys had been going to school with his uniform shirt not tucked in. This seems to be a fashion with school uniforms, at least we see it a lot in England. The teacher had told the boy to tuck in his shirt. The boy complied. Next day the boy returned with his shirt hanging out. The teacher told the boy to tuck in his shirt. The boy complied. The third day the boy again had his shirt hanging out. The teacher gave him a detention.

Why was this a problem, I asked my friend's daughter. Because the teacher had not said there would be a punishment. I pressed the issue and the girl then went on to tell me that this was the way the school treated the students. It all seemed arbitrary and made up on the spur of the moment.

Now, I suppose from the point of view of the school's board this would have seemed like a simple discipline problem neatly nipped in the bud. But from the girl's point of view, and from the point of view of the other students as well, it was a justice issue. And a serious issue.

My thought was that justice in this context is one of the most important things a school can teach. And the school had missed it entirely.

My solution? Put the eleven year old girl on the school board. And listen to her.

This, I think, is the biblical approach to structure. There are three pieces of scripture that lead me to this view.

The first is Acts 2:17, 18: "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy".

This is a quote from the prophet Joel 2:28, 29Joel 2:28, 29 (NIV)

And afterwards, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

your old men will dream dreams,

your young men will see visions.

Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my spirit in those days..

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In the majority of church and Christian experience and interpretation it is the result of the coming of the Spirit that gets the attention. I think this is because of our inherited dualism. I.e. we have the buildings and now we have to do something spiritual in them, particularly when professional clergy have to keep members coming inside.

Let's shift our focus and look instead on the people mentioned in this pivotal scripture. It was A.J. Gordon, founder of Gordon Divinity School (which later joined with Conwell School of Theology to become Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary), who wrote an article at the end of the nineteenth century about women. Old A.J. was ahead of his time and, sadly, it seems also ahead of our time. He called this quotation from Joel the constitution of the Christian church.

In the era of the Spirit (which is now) God empowers equally all people. We can draw up numerous continuums from this and describe the continuums by their end points, merismusMERISMUS

An ancient Sumerian literary device by which a continuum is described poetically by its end points. As in Genesis: "the evening and the morning were the first day". Merismus has come down to us and today we can see it in our traditional wedding vows - "in sickness and in health"; "for richer, for poorer".

And to complete the meaning, we should probably add "and everything in between".

 style.

Old and young. Male and female. All people - able and disabled, white and black, clean background to criminal background, housed and homeless and so on.

Our suggestion: Ensure the governing structure of any Christian organization has this representation. This is the initial conditions. Let's get them right.

The second is our friend Romans 12:2 from which we remind ourselves that we must not mould press people but assist them to renew their minds so they can get moving with their personal metamorphosis.

The third is going to be a tough one for many Christians and certainly for many clergy. It is the instruction the Lord himself gave to the Pharisee in Luke 14:13. 'But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.'

Thought Experiment: Who are our poor, crippled, lame and blind?

This is both our feedback loop and our test. Who do we invite into our homes? Who could we invite into our homes? Peel away the traditional anti-Semitic overlay we typically place on this and other passages relating to the male clergy of Israel in Jesus' time and think generally in terms of male clergy. Got a lovely pastor or vicar? Who does he invite into his home? Who would you allow him to invite into his home?

We have noted that the interest in complex systems lies not in the middle but at the periphery. And it is the peripheral people who will tell us how we are doing. Put them in the loop biblically and glean the benefits big time.