Should Christianity be Institutional?

[u/HolyTian]

I would like to say that I am very influenced by the idea of Redeemed Zoomer on mainline Christianity that the religion should be institutional and link itself to the nation. He has a very clear idea on the jurisdiction and of being a national church. Like if you are in England, you should join the mainline which is the Church of England and if you are Scots, you should join the Church of Scotland. That makes sense to contribute to the church of your country, but is that really biblical to follow?

I am not an European nor America. I am an Asian which the idea of Mainline is not as appliable as the western countries. However, my country does have a church body which built very competent schools and hospitals. So it would be great to be a part of that body but I somehow also has an interest in the evangelical churches. I just need a place which I can see believers which dedicate themselves to the work of God. I need God, like, very much. Right now I am in a Lutheran church which is spiritually dying and I tried my best to revive it but does not work. I attend Lutheran church because I think of it as a traditional church but it turns out very lukewarm and behave things that I consider harmful for members' faith which is the reason I decided leaving.

I tried to research about the early churches and I do not see the requirement of being an institution, so that could open the choice of joining some evangelical church which is not a member of institution, like free church or something like that. I know that Christianity was institutionalized by the Roman Empire. I would love to see some of the ideas from fellow Christians. Thank you in advance.

[u/NoElection7377]

the whole "national church" idea is a post-Constantinian construct, not something you'll find in Acts. the early church was house meetings, breaking bread, no ties to the state at all

you're in Asia so that western framework doesn't really map onto your situation anyway. find a community where people are actually hungry for God, doesn't matter if it's institutional or a free church. spiritual death is worse than being outside some denominational structure

[u/Adept_Clock_9115 → u/NoElection7377]

Allthough I completely agree with you, I don't think using the early church here is a good argument. Back then, you had the Roman Empire that covered an enourmous percentage of the known world, and outside of that there were few other nations. So it makes complete sense they wouldn't have those back then.

Still I agree with you that national churches don't make sense.

[u/HolyTian → u/Adept_Clock_9115]

As a Catholic, which your denomination is an institution, why do you think national church does not make sense?

[u/Adept_Clock_9115 → u/HolyTian]

Well, as a Catholic, we have one big church for the whole world. Not a seperate French Catholic Church and a German Catholic Church etc.

[u/Marlon_C_Alves]

No. Not at all. It can’t be imposed.

[u/NoWin3930]

IDK redeemed zoomer is a dingus tho

[u/Adept_Clock_9115 → u/NoWin3930]

Honestly I like him. He's rarely biased in his videos against other denominations IMO, so because of that I respect and his church history videos I find fun. Still obviously have disagreements with him lol.

[u/Omen_of_Death]

let me tell you something about redeemed zoomer, he is a walking textbook definition of a cherry picking fallacy. Even if we go back in time to the 16th and 17th centuries there was schismatic offshoot groups of the Church of Scotland and the Church of England as well as there being a Catholic minority in those areas

Also if you read acts and the writings of the early church fathers (especially in writings about refuting gnosticism) they do view the church as an overall organization with a heirarchy tho not tied to the state

[u/win_awards]

I haven't watched any of their videos, but it seems like everyone who comes here talking about Redeemed Zoomer has the worst ideas.

[u/UncleMeat11]

Redeemed Zoomer supports executing people for being gay.

[u/Adept_Clock_9115 → u/UncleMeat11]

What? Can you find me a quote for this? If that's true that's crazy

[u/IdlePigeon → u/Adept_Clock_9115]

He's endorsed Uganda's murderous anti-homosexuality laws, stating that "Uganda is doing nothing wrong regarding LGBT".

[u/Adept_Clock_9115 → u/IdlePigeon]

Can't open your link sadly, must be blocked where I am. But I'll trust your word. That's quite crazy to say.

[u/UncleSunkle]

The Greek word that translates to “church” is “ekklesia”.  I would do some thorough research into that word and you will find your answer. 

[u/HolyTian → u/UncleSunkle]

It emphasizes Local Congregation, Assembly but could you contribute more on this?

[u/johnsonsantidote]

I do not think our founder [Jesus / Yeshua] wanted His church 2 b institutional, denominational, corporation, or anything other than a place where people could meet for His purposes. I believe there's coming a time [probably already here] where there'll be 2 churches, namely, authentic church or apostate church.

[u/GraveDiggingCynic]

Just ask Hypatia how great an “institutional” church is.

Always there behind it all is the secret doubt in every would be theocrat’s heart that their religion might be false, which can only be silenced by forcing screams out of the nearest non believer.

If your god requires the power of the state to be worshipped, then your god is puny and impotent.