Church reform is the normal responsibility of those who love God, conference told
By Craig M. Kibler, The Layman Online, October 31, 2002
INDIANAPOLIS – “Too many Christians have the wrong assumption about church renewal and reform,” Diane Knippers told the first-ever gathering of renewing and confessing Christians in North America.
“They confuse the goal or the ideal with the normal. They think that the normal or typical state of Christ’s church is what it ought to be – unified, holy, courageous, peaceful, charitable, teaching truth at all levels. In case you haven’t noticed, the church isn’t typically like that.
“In fact,” she said, “the Biblical and historical evidence is that it has never been that way. … [Church reform] is the normal responsibility of those who love God. It is integral to God’s redemptive project We don’t reform the church so that we can get on with the other tasks – mission, evangelism, discipleship, seeking justice and righteousness. No, church reform is part of the task of the church.”
Knippers, the president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, D.C., spoke to nearly 700 people Oct. 26 during the historic Confessing The Faith Conference.
Citing membership statistics as one measure of the health of a church, she ran through a long list that showed the mainline Protestant churches in a state of continuing decline. Citing a recent study analyzing membership statistics from 1990 to 2000, she said the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America declined 2.2 percent, the Episcopal Church declined 5.3 percent, the American Baptist Church declined 5.7 percent, the United Methodist Church declined 6.7 percent, the Presbyterian Church (USA) declined 11.6 percent and the United Church of Christ declined “a whopping 14.8 percent.”
During the same time period, Knippers said the population of the United States increased by more 13 percent.
“Growing churches, by and large, were more conservative – Southern Baptists, Assemblies of God, the Roman Catholic Church, the Churches of Christ. The Presbyterian Church in America grew by 42 percent and the Wesleyan Church about 47 percent. The growing churches are attracting immigrants, younger people, the unchurched and, yes, some of the former members of our churches,” she said. “The bottom line is that the dwindling mainline is the increasingly irrelevant sideline.”
Knippers, saying that reformation is one of the ongoing tasks of the church, listed what she called six “emerging characteristics of contemporary reformation:”
- It is mature and diverse.
- It is ecumenical.
- It is profoundly theological.
- It addresses moral issues.
- It is global.
- It is generational.
She then reeled off some of the initiatives that the renewal and confessing organizations are involved in: missions, publishing, theological education, evangelism, micro-enterprise development, human rights advocacy and others.
“We are building marriages,” Knippers said, “defending the unborn and healing the sexually broken. We are changing the tenor and results at the assemblies and conventions and conferences of our denominations.
“We don’t need fewer reform groups, fewer renewal strategies, fewer committed leaders, fewer confessing movements,” she said. “We need more.”
Knippers then drew applause and a chorus of “Amens” when she said:
“Let’s be very clear about what we really desire, hope for, contend for and pray for. Let’s be really clear about what we need. Reformation is more than minor changes in church canon or adopting Biblically-based petitions or even electing church leaders. Our plight is too serious for that. We need revival. We yearn for another Great Awakening. The Holy Spirit doesn’t bring Great Awakenings to denominations. He brings them to cities, to regions and, please God, to our nations.”