Turning lemonade into lemons

We have all heard the expression that when life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade. Of course I have the bad habit of turning such truisms on their head in order to make an entirely different point. In the case of the local church, God gives us lemonade and we make lemons. We talk about the ‘easy yoke’ Jesus but we really need the ‘take up your cross’ Jesus if we’re going to break ground on a $2 million building expansion this year. Salvation is free in the same way that 90 days is the same as cash. Admission is complimentary, but you’ll have to pay if you want to stay in.

Lately, I have been thinking about the atonement and how profoundly our preferred atonement metaphor colors the practice of our faith. There are moments in which I wonder whether the financial needs of a typical church organization make us more receptive to atonement metaphors that involve payment and indebtedness. Jesus Paid it All, all to him I owe. Bingo, Cha-ching!! Fortunately Jesus has made it easy to make your payments of time, talent, and especially treasure to the payment clearinghouse known as the local church.

I have been part of a church plant before, and one thing that I really liked about that experience was the idea that we were starting with a blank slate and where other churches had messed up, we could do it right from day one. Early on, we said things like, “God doesn’t want your money.” Later on as reality took hold, we didn’t say that anymore. God still didn’t want their money, but the church sure did.

I believe that the financial realities faced by most religious organizations lead to the temptation to monetize the atonement; to find a way to set up a quid pro quo lighting the way to salvation in return for a person’s help in meeting institutional needs. Scratch the church’s back now and God will thank you on the judgment day. God is for us, who would be dumb enough to be against us.
While atheists and cynics would conclude that the church is therefore a scam, I don’t go that far. I think that most local churches genuinely love God and love people and they just have to bend the principles a little in order to keep the love-lights burning. I think that there is a point in every church’s history where they decide to operate more like a non-profit organization supported by a handful of donors than as a fellowship of believers that has little or no financial obligation.

The questions that I now pose:

• Can a fellowship of believers accept the burdens of institution without being consumed by them?
  my answer thusfar: Yes, but the path is narrow and only a few find it.
  
• Can a local church satisfy its institutional requirements without adulterating the doctrine of atonement in the process?
  my answer thusfar: I don’t know, and that worries me