In recent years, I’ve come to understand that the influence of culture on our behavior is far more powerful than almost any other factor.  We believe and internalize the messages that our culture sends us, and eventually, those beliefs become part of our sub-conscious world-view, shaping our actions and molding our conscious beliefs.

This is probably most powerfully true in the realm of religious beliefs. The Western Christian culture so subtly and powerfully shapes our beliefs that most Christian aren’t even aware of the possibility that there may be other perspectives on some of these deeply-held beliefs.  We never even question these beliefs as we are too intimidated by the culture to do so.

In some cases, the commonly-accepted beliefs actually limit our impact and impede our spiritual growth.

Here are three questions that contemporary Christians should ask, but which the contemporary Christian culture suppresses.

There are lots of reasons to ask that question.  First, let’s define our terms: The Institutional Church System is the term I use for the entire infrastructure of modern day ‘church.’  It includes all the local congregations, their denominations, the universities and seminars and denominational offices that support them and the people who make a living, or a great part of it, from that organization.  The ICS is a huge industry, spending billions of dollars every year, whose financial impact reaches into every community in the country.

There are practical as well as Biblical reasons to question it.

From a practical perspective, the ICS has been incredibly incompetent at the Biblical goal of making disciples of all nations.  For example, in the last 20 years, the system has burned through $530 Billion dollars, and not increased the percentage of Christians in the US a bit. (1) As a matter of fact, fewer people identify as Christians today than 10 years ago.  (2)

In business terms, the ICS is burning through billions of dollars and actually losing market share.  What other organization would be allowed to continue with such a poor performance?   Isn’t it time to question it?

The most common response to the fact that Christianity is losing ground in this country is this: “The problem is the quality.  What we need are better churches.”  There are two problems with this thought.

First, it is an indication that the questioner can’t really question the ICS.  The response comes from a mindset locked within the ICS paradigms.  Instead of questioning the existence of this mammoth enterprise, we look to the margins of the organization – let’s have more contemporary music, a new youth minister, etc. – all the while keeping the fundamental structure in place.

But, what if the problem is the fundamental structure?  If you had a $530 Billion enterprise that was consistently losing market share, the solution would not be a new set of corporate colors, nor opening a new branch somewhere.  The solution would be to kill the enterprise. We would almost universally recognize that the fundamental business model is flawed.

It’s as if you owned a company who manufactured vacuum tubes for televisions.  With the world around you changing to transistors and chips, it is foolish to think the solution is a better vacuum tube. The wisest course of action would be to get out of the vacuum tube business entirely.

Those folks who propose the solution is ‘better churches’ are not seeing the big picture. The solution may very well be to get out of the church business entirely.  Unfortunately, that is too big a question for most Christians, who make their livings from the ICS, or who are content to remain with their comfortable rituals.  Those Christians willing to question the fundamental model are still in the minority.  It’s a question we should all ask.

The real problem with the “do church better’ response is that it has, since the beginning, been the stimulus for the division that is one of the hallmarks if the ICS.  Beginning with Luther, who wanted to do church better, to every disgruntled pastor who has a bone to pick with the existing powers and sets off to start a new church, the desire to ‘do church better’ ultimately results...[Click Here To Read The Entire Article Online]