What is the Organic Church?
Frank Viola and George Barna Take on the Modern Church
When it comes to structure and practice, most Christian churches have it all wrong – at least that's what Frank Viola and George Barna argue in Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of our Church Practices. According to Viola, Barna, and what's called the "organic church" movement, churches that follow scripted orders of worship in their services, pay clergy, and/or erect buildings with pulpits and chairs are more "Pagan" than Christian.
Advocates for the "organic church" argue that the structure of the early church and modern church are very different. They say the early church was characterized by open participation and leadership by the Holy Spirit, whereas the modern church is too scripted, too hierarchical, and completely outside what Jesus intended.
What is the "Organic Church" Movement?
Frank Viola, one of the leading advocates for the organic church (or "house church") movement, describes the organic church as a "church that is born out of spiritual life instead of...human institutions" and which is characterized by "Spirit-led, open-participatory meetings and non-hierarchical leadership." (Viola, Frank and Barna, George. Pagan Christianity? Exploring the Roots of our Church Practices. Tyndale, 2008).
In Pagan Christianity?, Viola described an organic church meeting he recently attended as an example of what one might expect. He writes: "We met in a large living room. In the meeting, every member shared his or her experience with the Lord that week....The meeting was so full of life that there were no pauses and no silence. We heard from our Lord from every member of the body in that room." (Viola and Barna).
Those who have attended house church meetings describe experiences in which some people sing, others read poems, some offer a brief devotional or sermonette, and so forth. In many cases, chairs are set in a circle with everyone facing inward. There is no pulpit. And there is no organized agenda.
For Viola, this type of open-participatory meeting is church in its "purest" and "uncorrupted" form. House church proponents argue that the overwhelming majority of church services today have long since been corrupted and claim they bear little resemblance to what was happening in the book of Acts.
Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican church services are perhaps the most formal of all worship services today. And historians generally agree (as do Viola and Barna of course) that many of their formal, liturgical practices stem from either Pagan origins or pre-Christian Jewish practices.
Yet Viola and Barna don't just criticize Catholic church services. They go after Protestant and mainstream evangelical churches as well. To house church advocates, the whole idea of a scripted song service, oratorical sermon, and "altar call" or invitation is bad news for the kingdom of God.
According to Viola and Barna, the "Protestant order of worship represses mutual participation and the growth of Christian community." Such scripted services, they say, "put a choke hold on the functioning of the body of Christ by silencing its members." (Viola and Barna).
Does the Bible Endorse the Organic Church?
Few Christians would dispute the call for a dynamic church, in which every member serves and is led by the Holy Spirit. To the extent that Pagan Christianity? shatters the "passive laity / professional clergy" model, Viola and Barna have made a solid contribution. Each church should be characterized by full participation in the work of the ministry and should be led by the Spirit.
To argue, however, that worship services should be completely open, with no leadership or agenda, is plainly inconsistent with Paul's exhortation in I Corinthians 14, in which he calls explicitly for order. What's more, the Bible is full of examples of how God worked through order and planning and Paul's pastoral epistles make clear the central role that pastors are to play as they preach and teach.
Pagan Christianity? is a compelling read. Though it's based on selective scholarship and many of its conclusions over-reach, the average Christian reader will learn a lot about early church history and the rise of certain church trends.
That many Christian congregations and denominations have, over the centuries, incorporated too many "Pagan" or external influences is beyond dispute. That they should jettison virtually all human authority, order, and organization to compensate for that is not only unscriptural, but it calls to mind the old proverbial saying of "throwing the baby out with the bath water."
Related Reading
Like this article? Check out "The Biblical Role of a Pastor" and "Is Christianity Evolving?"
House Churches have no pulpits or pews
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