Question Submitted: Can a local church be cohesive, maintain scriptural commands, and be sustained through several generations without rules?
There is a saying among psychologists, “What gets rewarded gets repeated.” I have found that to be true in teaching school, parenting, and getting my wife to rub my back.
I believe it is true of church, as well.
What gets rewarded, in church, gets repeated.
Someone who leads songs well, after you affirm his skill, begins to thoroughly enjoy leading songs, if he hadn’t already. The new preacher up front, who speaks with trepidation, grows in confidence if at least one person recognizes his efforts and potential.
Rewards are powerful ways to move people in a direction you want them to go. Discipline ought to be used like salt: a little bit really brings the flavor out, but too much totally destroys the meal. Disciplines need to accompany rewards, otherwise the rewards mean nothing. But in an atmosphere run by discipline, all desire to grow fades away.
If you want something repeated, reward it!
But, if you don’t want it repeated, don’t reward it.
I wonder, sometimes, how much of the wrong thing gets rewarded when we create rules or standards (even “guidelines”) for church. Some of the people most bent on breaking rules, in my experience, come from churches most set on having rules. And most of these rules come because people are doing something the church doesn’t want done. Simply giving it attention is a form of reward. So, when a church makes a new rule because of something that is going on, that activity (and the motive behind the activity) is actually being rewarded; not disciplined.
Creating a rule about something is not discipline; it’s giving something attention. Discipline may be what you do if someone breaks the rule. But the rule, itself, is not discipline. It merely brings attention to the latest activity the church doesn’t approve of. And since an activity that isn’t approved of is being rewarded, a similar activity is likely soon to follow.
And that’s what I tend to see in churches with many rules.
Many people comply, alright. But over time, most usually quit following the rules. When it comes to Sunday mornings, communion, and getting married, people make sure they’re up to speed on keeping rules. But behind the scenes, in the context of everyday life, rules no longer matter so much.
So, the church keeps making more rules.
What if we dropped the rules? What if we no longer had a list of standards one had to agree with before they could become a member? Can a local church be cohesive, maintain scriptural commands, and be sustained through several generations without rules?
In other words, it seems that in order to have unity of mind and heart, stick close to Scripture, and pass on our faith to the next generation we need to have these rules.
Or do we?
In the book of Colossians, Paul asks the church,
If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (Col. 2:20-23)
The rules and regulations, standards and “guidelines” for church, have an appearance of wisdom. A church with rules certainly appears to be more godly than other churches. The people look holier than the rest of the world. But these rules have absolutely no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
I can personally think of more stories, right now, of men who go to church on Sunday wearing a plain suit but molest their daughters at home Monday-Saturday or are secretly engaged in another relationship outside of their marriage, then men who don’t go to church wearing a plain suit yet do the same things. Not that men in plain suits are more immoral than other men. This kind of sin abounds in our culture, and my point isn’t to excessively judge men in plain suits. My point is simply to point out that where it matters most, the rules didn’t matter.
A man given to lust always finds a way around rules.
Furthermore, if he can find a way around rules, while maintaining them on the outside, he can more powerfully give in to his lusts.
So, what are we to do with rules? Let me end by making a few simple observations.
First of all, Paul goes on to explain, in Colossians 3, what does stop indulgence in the flesh: putting to death what is earthly (3:5) and putting on love (and all it entails, 3:12-14).
It seems to me the question “can a church last without rules” begs the question “what is the church?” In other words, if the church is a group of people gathered around a specific idea for life, wanting to pass on a specific lifestyle, then “No. It probably can’t last without rules.”
But is that what the Church of Christ is?
Paul began Colossians 2 by reminding the church to walk in Christ, as they have received Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith (2:6-7). The Christian faith is not a lifestyle; it is a relationship. And certainly, this relationship affects our lifestyles. But not in a way one can carbon-copy how it looks so everybody else knows exactly what to do.
If the church of Christ is going to last from generation to generation, we need to pass on relationship with Jesus Christ.
I think our tendency is to create a lifestyle, through rules, that may, in fact, result from a close relationship with Christ in hopes that our people ultimately do gain a close relationship with Him. But then we often neglect simple, exegetical teachings on issues that matter. The result, as we should expect, is that any practice seeking to apply those teachings gets discarded because people have no foundation (other than the church rule-book) for practicing them.
I do not believe this is an effective way to pass on our faith.
But let me make one more observation, before we run from here condemning any church with rules.
If our focus goes to not having rules, we are no more focused on Christ than those who think we need rules. In other words, I’m not sure the goal should be so much figuring out whether or not to have rules, as it should be focusing on Jesus.
We should faithfully teach the Gospel. We must understand and explain how the world fell into chaos, and how God is bringing it all back into order. We need to study His design for creation, sexuality, marriage, family, money, missions—you name it—and teach that. Because by taking away rules, many will let things go. Many may even go the ways of the world. But that merely exposes where those people were at even with the rules.
One can only walk in the way of Christ as His mind and heart are transformed by the Truth of Christ.
So, if you’re in a church with many rules, I am unconvinced you should leave it just because you don’t want rules. Furthermore, if you are thinking of joining a new church, be careful about joining those set on “not having rules.”
They may be missing Jesus as much as anyone else.
Instead, I would suggest getting clear on the vision of your church (or the church you’re considering). Is it a vision you can affirm and support? If not, it may be time to graciously move on. If so, it may be time to see if you can let the rule part of church set in the peripheral for now, as you see if you can help bring a focus back on Jesus and His Truth.
I realize this doesn’t solve all the problems or answer all the questions. We may in fact find more problems that we need to address and more questions we need answered. But I believe this is, indeed, a good place to start.
What are your thoughts? Can a church last without rules? Share in the comments below.
