The Dissolution Of Religious Institutions

In an article about a prominent non-denominational pastor who has decided that he needs to go to seminary, the writer, Michelle Boorstein, discusses non-denominational churches as an example of the larger phenomenon of “the dissolution of religious structures.”

Now we usually think of the decline of religious institutions in our culture in terms of fewer people going to church, the rise in the number of “nones,” the general climate of secularism, etc. But this suggests that Christians too are complicit in the decline.

There are the “me and Jesus” people, who see no need for church in light of their “personal relationship with Jesus.” But churches themselves are rejecting any kind of larger affiliation with other churches, belonging to no denomination, accepting no single theological tradition, and submitting to no authority beyond itself.

This is of a piece, I suppose, with the distrust of “big government” and “big corporations,” but I wonder if the “anti-institutional” mindset is completely healthy. The family is another institution that is threatened by “dissolution.” So are communities of every kind. But it seems that a healthy culture needs institutions, including religious institutions. Shouldn’t we try to reform and rehabilitate institutions rather than try to do without them?