It has been noted before in this column that the affinity groups — groups of like-minded people organized to promote particular causes — have had a positive effect in many respects. They have captured the imagination and allegiance of Presbyterians who had grown tired of and discouraged with the distance of officialdom from the grass roots. These groups have unleashed energies that otherwise might have lain dormant. Many of the great causes of the church subsumed under the Great Ends of the Church — that had atrophied through the neglect of the official structures — had life breathed into them with positive effect for the mission of Christ’s church.
On the other hand, such groups have garnered ever larger levels of commitment from natural leaders in the church and, in some cases, leaders have basically turned their backs on the church, calling it apostate, and devoting themselves totally to alternative expressions of the church.
Surely there can be some healthy balance. If the church had to depend solely on that which was officially commended and supported, the church would be much the less for it. On the other hand, when the lion’s share of money and effort go into these groups, the church suffers. For the individual only has so much time, money and energy to give.
We have so many such groups, movements, networks now — after a quarter-century of polity wars over human sexuality — that it’s safe to say that we’ve gone as far in that direction as we need to go.
What the church needs now is ministers and elders who will focus their energies on building up congregations, breathing new life into the ministries of larger expressions of the church, at the same time tying in with the rich and useful networks of activity that have grown up independently of the official structures and even beyond the denomination.
The challenge is to change the agenda from warfare to mission, breaking down the walls between “official” and “unofficial,” and allowing much more diversity in the recognized ways of doing mission.
For all concerned it will amount to giving up control. The shape of the denomination of the future will be very different from what it has been in the past. And even now it is quite different.
We’re only just beginning to realize how different — and what new opportunities await us.
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