Decalogue to Impact a Spain in Need of Christ
By Ignacio Rubio Guisasola
©August, 2003
These ten points that may also apply to other countries arise from three different sources. The first source is theology. That is to say, it is based on a biblical reflection about the type of church that we observe in the New Testament. In referring to the type of church, I am making allusion to the qualities, values and principals that ruled the life, structure and the characteristics of the early Church, and not necessarily to the its cultural aspects. The second source is practice. This arises from the observation of the Christian Church in Spain, its development, its struggles, its current reality and potential future and responds to a basic question: What type of church is needed in order to penetrate this country and bring the life and way of Christ to as many places as possible in Spain? The third source is sociology. The truth is that I’m not a sociologist, but I’m taking into account the cultural and social character of the Spanish.
Perhaps before continuing at least the term “church” should be defined, since depending on the point of view, it could have different meanings. By “church” I mean a group of disciples of Christ that form a spiritual family with the purpose of extending the Kingdom of God on Earth, and in the accomplishment of this task, as a community (and individuals) they search for and experience the presence of Christ (adoration), the brotherhood of Christ (communion), the power of Christ (transformation), and the purpose of Christ (extension).
This decalogue (and anti-decalogue) is not attempting to offend any church or person, and it takes note of the fact that God has used, uses and probably will use other forms of church than those which are being alluded to.
Decalogue of need
1. A church that can reproduce itself with ease and with out end, without depending on external factors.
2. A church that provides an experience with Jesus, both personally and within community, in the daily life of its members, who become true disciples.
3. A relational church that provides a relational framework to experience Christian life and community. A true spiritual family that gives life to other families.
4. A church that is able to endure persecution whenever it may come.
5. A church that doesn’t need professionals to guide it.
6. A church that truly puts into practice the priesthood (and ministry) of all believers.
7. A church in which those who guide are true servants that reproduce themselves in other servants through practical apprenticeship in daily life, being live examples, whose objective is to train each believer for the work of the ministry.
8. A church that is able to bring life to other religions/churches yet in the process does not need to put up its own flag or label.
9. A church that is salt and light in this country.
10. A church that is sufficiently small and apparently weak so that God could manifest his power in it and through it.
This Decalogue generates an anti-Decalogue.
1. A church that is complicated to reproduce, and if it does, has at the most one or two “daughters” en its entire life time, that depend on big budgets or facilities like buildings, personnel, sound systems, etc.
2. A church that generates a “Sunday Christian experience” of religious activities that are scarcely related to the real life of its members. A church that suffers from “meetingitis”, which is to say, that revolves around meetings where many listen and few participate.
3. A congregational and denominational church where few really know each other and its fundamental ties are doctrinal (denominational). A church that is not a family, but more like an organization, with little spontaneity but lots of programs, scarcely organic but largely mechanical.
4. A church that falls apart when its “leaders” fall apart. A church that because of its form, structure and focus, would barely be able to survive under persecution, much less make progress and multiply in such a situation.
5. A church that depends on professionals or “leaders” who are highly qualified to direct it. A church that needs people with titles, diplomas, doctorates or administrative abilities.
6. A church in which, because of its form and structure, there are few who really do the work of the ministry, while the majority are consumers with little or no opportunity to participate in ministry.
7. A church that raises up “leaders” (although they call them servants) with all the modern connotations of the word. A church in which those who lead are professionally prepared in seminaries (whose forms actually encapsulate little of the true needs of the church). Some leaders who would say “don’t imitate me, “don’t watch me”. A church that generates power struggles, that allows the building of the kingdoms of human leaders. A church that has robbed the ministry from each believer in order to put it in the hands of the few “ordained”.
8. A church that always has a last name, whose identity is based on its name, denomination, history, form and not simply in being the property of Christ. A church that wants to conquer other churches, groups or persons for its own name. A church that wants to plant its own flag in other territories, put up its own labels, and even in some cases to extend its own kingdom.
9. A church that is highly concerned by social recognition, of which its legal rights are predominant. A church that is exceedingly preoccupied in being accepted as “normal”, as “historic” thinking that it can thus achieve its goals, instead of being concerned with the profound transformation of its members and its communities, being able to share the heart, the message and the way of Jesus not only through its words but through its actions.
10. A church that is so big, so powerful, so rich, with such resources, with such prepared and charismatic leaders that it really doesn’t need the power of God to move it forward. That isn’t a community or family but a corporation or business. That is so stogy, organized and complicated that perhaps not even God may be able to transform and reform it.
By Ignacio Rubio Guisasola
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