There’s a lot of hostility toward the “institutional” church today. Many see it as inauthentic, bound by bureaucracy, and a barrier to true Christian community.
Are there problems with institutional churches? Of course—every human organization has problems. But do those problems outweigh the benefits? I don’t believe so. Here’s why the institutional church makes sense.
I could make a biblical case for the institutional church, but instead, let’s think about it in terms of human society. Suppose we had no specific instructions on church structure and simply asked: what happens when Christians try to gather together?
1. Love Leads to Organization
The foundation of Christian community is love. We gather because we love one another. But should we only gather with those we naturally like or who are in our age group? No—that contradicts the very heart of Christianity. We are called to love and fellowship with Christians of every background.
Now, suppose a group of Christians in a local area decides to meet. What will they do when they gather? Worship and fellowship.
Who decides when they meet? What they do? In what order? How often? These decisions inevitably fall to someone. And in any society, such decisions require leadership. That’s why nearly all societies—formal or informal—develop officers to organize communal life.
2. Beliefs Require Boundaries
Sooner or later, someone in your group will say something like: “I think Buddha is just as good as Jesus.” Should that person continue as part of the group? You might say, “Well, we follow the Bible.” But what if they also claim that their view is biblical?
At that point, you’ll need to clarify what you believe and don’t believe. In other words, you’ll need a confession of faith. Even if it’s not written down, there will be a shared understanding—an informal creed. And that’s exactly how it happened in the early church.
3. Accountability Demands Structure
What happens if someone’s behavior causes public scandal? Should you address it? What if they don’t listen? Who handles it? As soon as you decide that scandals must be addressed, you’ll need a process—a form of discipline.
And then you’ll need leaders who can oversee worship, teaching, and discipline. But who chooses them? How? You’ll need a method for selecting and installing leaders.
At some point, you’ll need to determine who actually belongs to your group. Initially, it may be “whoever shows up.” But when leaders try to correct someone, that person might reply, “You have no authority over me.” And they’d be right—unless they voluntarily joined the group. That’s when you realize you need a membership process and vows.
4. Institutions Are Inevitable
At this point, your group looks very much like a church. And not just any church—a structured, institutional one. You notice other churches have done the same. You begin to talk with them and even consider meeting regularly to learn from one another and build unity. After all, love for the broader body of Christ compels us to connect beyond our local gatherings.
But what happens when one church in your fellowship teaches that baptism automatically confers salvation? You know that’s wrong, but now you’re faced with a corporate problem. You need a process for addressing doctrinal error at the regional level. That means developing means for discipline between churches.
Then you wonder—what if your own leaders change their views and adopt such a doctrine? What recourse would you have? You realize you need accountability not just within churches, but among churches. So, you develop structures of mutual oversight.
5. From Love to Lasting Structure
In the end, the institutional church arises naturally when Christians take their faith and each other seriously. If we’re going to gather, worship, hold beliefs, share life, and pursue holiness, we will—over time—form institutions. An institution is simply an organization with endurance. And if Christians are called to love one another, they will inevitably form institutions.
Will those institutions be perfect? No. But trying to avoid all structure usually results in worse structure. You might say, “Why not just build your own institution from scratch?” Sometimes, like during the Reformation, that may be necessary. But even then, the Reformers looked to the best of the past to guide them.
You might think you can build a better institution on your own—but you probably can’t. Most likely, if you avoid the institutional church, you’ll still end up creating an institution. It just won’t be a good one.
Just as God never presents Himself to the creature’s eyes without all the marks of His infinite majesty, so the creature should never appear before God without being seized with a religious fear and making the strongest efforts to put himself into an attitude of respect and profound humility.
A friend of mine wrote me to tell me that I needed more balance in my presentation of how the church should relate to society. I decided I would try and give a positive presentation of my own views on this matter (at the risk of alienating some). My views are substantially those of Charles Hodge on this matter. I think he eloquently states the obligation of the church to speak to violations of moral law in society but to avoid becoming a policy maker or getting involved specifically in politics. He writes in his