The church may close, but Christ is Risen!

by George Bailey.

Alleluia, the Lord is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

The resurrection is a key foundation of Christian faith. It is at once the most revelatory and the most mysterious work of God in the world. Followers of the risen Christ hold the resurrection at the heart of daily life; yet as we live out this joyful calling, we also find resurrection is always elusively out ahead of us, just out of grasp.

Lately, I have been unsettled by ways we talk about the resurrection that might weaken or skew its reality for us. I have been troubled by the use of death and resurrection imagery to describe the church itself, or at least congregations within the church. I have been involved in theological reflection both about local churches which are closing, and also at the same time about plans for new churches to begin (in various ways, including ‘New Places for New People’ and ‘Church Planting’). This is a regular reality for all inherited denominations in the UK. In such contexts, I have used the language of death and resurrection myself – it can help people to seek hope through what can be a bleak experience: out of ‘death’ comes new life. Sometimes we go further and use the associated idea that, for there to be resurrection, there has first to be death. This seems to me to be even more potentially difficult! It illustrates the key problem with the analogy. When people die, the resurrection hope is about that person’s life being transformed beyond death and continuing with God eternally. However, when a local church closes (or even a whole ‘denomination’) this is within a bigger ecclesial ecology, and led by the Holy Spirit new communities of Christians will begin in new ways in new places. Churches are communities of people who live with resurrection hope, but the church itself is not a person. The language of death and resurrection is being used analogously, but if we push it beyond the point at which the analogy breaks down, it risks leaving us with an out-of-shape theology of the church.

The church is not the primary purpose the gospel. The purpose is the transformation of individuals, of communities, of humanity and of the whole creation – and the church is the gathering of those who have been integrated into this purpose, called together as a sign of that purpose being realized, and in order to join in as best we can with this work of God in Christ and through the Spirit. If one such gathering ceases to meet (to use some typically Methodist language) it is not the end of the overall purpose, not the failure of the mission, because the mission is held by God and not by the church. We can be concerned about the resurrection hope of the individuals who have been part of that congregation, but not about the resurrection of the church itself. The people of Christ, who constitute the church, will indeed die and be resurrected, but the church as a community and as an institution – by which I simply mean a community that has agreed ways of operating to hold congregations together as churches, and hold numerous local churches together, and also which enables new congregations to begin – does not have a human life, death and resurrection in the same way. It is a community and an institution, but not itself a living organism, not a person.

A counter argument to my point here might be that if we see the church as the ‘body of Christ’ then talk of the church dying and rising is indeed appropriate. I think that there are two underlying issues with the analogy of the church with the body of Christ which need attention. In 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 the point of the analogy is to emphasize the interdependence of the members of the body. Each person is in relationship with Christ, and so each person is vital to the whole church; there is a mutuality of respect and value; unity in diversity. This needs to be held together though with the other NT uses of the analogy of the body of Christ in Ephesians 4 and Colossians 2 which include the added aspect of distinguishing between the body (the church) and the head (Christ). This latter aspect of the analogy helps us avoid slipping into seeing the church as the whole of Christ, as if all the parts of the body put together (all the members of the church) constitute the whole body of Christ. Distinguishing Christ as the head of the church reminds us that the work of God is primarily in Christ, and the church is a response to this, rather than the sole locus in the world of God’s work in Christ.

Worshipping with a church congregation on Easter Day is a reminder of this humility of the church. We are blessed by gathering with people we can see in one room, or often in one location outdoors at dawn, or sometimes with those connecting together in an online location, but we are also awed by the knowledge that others are worshipping in similar ways on the same day all over the world… and yet the wonder of the risen Christ is beyond all the totality of all the gathered churches.

For some churches this will have been their final Easter Day, yet also before Easter 2027 many new churches will begin. This is not a cycle of death and resurrection, but both those churches closing and those churches opening are together a sign of faith in the resurrection hope for all the world, for the whole of humanity, and for each individual as they live out their own discipleship faithfully.

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On a related note, Theology Everywhere is entering a period of transition, and ending in the current format soon. I will be ceasing as moderator, and although there may be a way ahead for something similar to this forum, it will be not be the same. There are some articles for which work is in progress, which might continue to be released on Theology Everywhere, but these will, for the next short while, be less than weekly. I will write a final article in a few weeks, when the time is right. This is not a situation of death – ceasing this project will not mean theology ceases! I thank you all for your engagement with the articles here, both readers and writers, and I have faith that you will continue thinking and praying and sharing the gospel through theological work – and all that theology is a sign of the resurrection hope we share, and of God’s transforming Spirit at work in the world.