Authors Heather Morgan (she/her)👩🦼🏳️🌈 🇨🇦
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Okay ... ready to try the first one. I just read Alister McGrath's 'Theology: The Basics' and have been thinking through his chapter on The Church through the lens of the work I'm doing on Belonging, so here goes ...
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In the study of the theology of the church McGrath notes two ways of viewing the church, both of which are problematic if 'belonging' is our goal. The first view is of purity and the second an idea of a 'mixed body' of sinners and saints.
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In the purity model, cohesion/acceptance are based on a person's commitment to a narrowly prescribed list of rules/requirements. Succeed at keeping these rules and you can stay. Otherwise, you will need to be put 'out' because your failure risks the purity of the Church & u.
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Those churches most concerned with keeping out (LGBTQ, women in ministry, whatever) are most likely to adhere to a purity model of church (and although this goes beyond purity culture, it's part of where that idea comes from).
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The search/drive for purity creates evermore insular groups of individuals to the point where one church in our city is convinced that in a city of 74 churches the only Christian's in the city are the 17 that attend their church.
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Thinking about ways to translate what I am doing at school into everyday words, and wonder if anyone would be interested in me trying to tweet some of my readings this year?
— Heather Morgan (she/her)\U0001f469\u200d\U0001f9bc\U0001f3f3\ufe0f\u200d\U0001f308 \U0001f1e8\U0001f1e6 (@poweredbylove2) January 3, 2021
I don't I can get them into single tweets, but if folks were interested I'd try 4 short synoptic threads.
In the study of the theology of the church McGrath notes two ways of viewing the church, both of which are problematic if 'belonging' is our goal. The first view is of purity and the second an idea of a 'mixed body' of sinners and saints.
2/
In the purity model, cohesion/acceptance are based on a person's commitment to a narrowly prescribed list of rules/requirements. Succeed at keeping these rules and you can stay. Otherwise, you will need to be put 'out' because your failure risks the purity of the Church & u.
3/
Those churches most concerned with keeping out (LGBTQ, women in ministry, whatever) are most likely to adhere to a purity model of church (and although this goes beyond purity culture, it's part of where that idea comes from).
4/
The search/drive for purity creates evermore insular groups of individuals to the point where one church in our city is convinced that in a city of 74 churches the only Christian's in the city are the 17 that attend their church.
5/