The Church and the Pragmatic Impulse
Those who have a vested claim in Christ’s kingdom have the crucial task of discerning the voice of the Spirit amid the whispers of the world. All true servants of Christ are interested in the same thing: serving the church and fulfilling the Great Commission. Along the way, however, questions arise concerning the means to that end.
It would seem that the truly spiritual mantra “whatever it takes” says it all and in many ways, this makes good sense. Paul’s assertion in 1 Corinthians, that he had become all things to all men that by all means he might save some, seems to tell the whole tale. Yet in our zeal to reach others for Christ there often is an embrace of an ethical system that is opposed to the theology of the Scriptures. This system is known as pragmatism.
Pragmatism is a distinctly American system of thought. It was developed by C.S. Peirce, William James, and John Dewey in the late 1800s. William James thought that truth, particularly ethical truths, were not derived from some external law or authority. Rather, pragmatism was an approach that claimed whatever ideas and practices had “cash value,” or whatever worked, was what was true.
I don’t intend to explore pragmatism as an ethical system in the way these men described it. However, my purpose is to reflect on the assumptions of pragmatism as it pertains to local church outreach, and why those assumptions ultimately don’t correspond with the Scriptures’ teaching on discipleship.
Typically when pastors and churchman speak about methodology in the church they think in a very minimalistic way. They don’t ask questions about wisdom, ideals, and virtues. They strictly ask, “Is there something in Scripture prohibiting this?” If not, then whatever practice in question is implemented. Innovation is the ideal, not discernment. Being missional in today’s context precludes any sort of careful consideration, or so it seems.
One of the things that many on the contemporary church are to be applauded for is the desire to be engaged with the world around it. Scripture doesn’t allow us the luxury of being complacent or content with the status quo while people die without Christ. This sort of attitude reeks of the Laodicean syndrome (see Rev. 3).
On the other hand, this mentality about ministry is risky. When “doing” becomes the operating motif of the body, it inadvertently causes a church to focus only on the efficient means to the end. They become more enamored with means and cease reflecting on the end since “doing ministry” is dependent upon technique. We often think of evangelism in this way. It’s oriented around attracting people to our churches, and getting them to assent to our credo. Even discipleship often functions similarly. It becomes an end that we reach through cutting-edge programs and nine-week Bible studies. It’s more akin to a probationary period following conversion.
A disciple is a follower, a learner, one persevering until the end. One thing that pragmatism can do to a congregation is muddy the waters and blind us to the reality that a large part of discipleship (the end-game of the Great Commission, not mere evangelism) is the cultivation and formation of dispositions and sensibilities of the mind and heart. These occur over time, often at the hands of an older mentor, not in front of a screen.
French theologian and social critic Jacques Ellul once observed that living in a technological society causes us to be much more interested in means rather than ends. We do things merely because they are possible. The church needs to consider this. Much time is spent trying to reach people that the wisdom of Scripture and the Spirit who equips disciples are neglected. Biblically speaking, disciples are who reach the world, not a cutting-edge worship service.
The book of Titus addresses this. In the face of false teachers of the Judaizing sort and a decadent Cretan culture, Paul exhorts Timothy to not only teach the truth, but to teach what accords with the truth (2:1). He instructs him to teach what is becoming of sound doctrine. He doesn’t say, “Make sure you get depravity right. Make sure you get your soteriology right.” Rather, he says, “Make sure the kinds of practices and instruction you give your people are consistent with the explicit doctrine you’re already teaching.”
Much is said about the virtues and moral habits that characterize this Christian community. The Gospel is explained in 2:11-14, and 3:5-7, which is the truth Paul roots all godly morality in. He isn’t being legalistic because he shows that the works they ought to do are rooted in the Gospel, and that disciples of the church aren’t people who segregate themselves, abandon ecclesial traditions, and accommodate to the decadent culture. Ultimately this counter-cultural community’s works of love and faith are what will make the difference in Crete.
In summary:
1) The church that embraces the spirit of pragmatism, a system concerned ultimately with efficiency, action, and productivity, may in fact undermine the church’s ability to make disciples.
You cannot love your wife efficiently. You cannot paint a portrait efficiently. You certainly cannot worship efficiently. Quick transitions, sharper images, and witty one-liners may attract the lost, but they ultimately do little to build deep disciples in the context of the local church. The leaders of a Christian community have to decide if their faith, hope, and love in the form of service in the world are what draw people to Christ, or if reinventing their ecclesiology at the expense of shallow disciples is.
2) Ecclesiology always assumes a certain anthropology.
All church practices assume that people are a certain way, with certain needs and desires. Discipleship is undermined when pragmatism shapes believers instead of the living word. Sanctification, in part, teaches us to see things as they are. This entails that we see ourselves for what God made us to be, creatures with certain limitations that are gifts not hindrances. Therefore we must not obsess over looking to the latest device or technique to make our ecclesial lives better.
3) As philosopher Bruce Little says, when you become a task-oriented people, means become incidental.
The church of Jesus Christ in the contemporary world must learn that means cannot be easily disentangled from ends. She must remember that, while for Paul the Gospel going forth was of paramount importance, he also understood that the message is always heard in a particular cultural context (see 1 Cor. 1). A particular tool or medium says something about the message itself. We must sensitive to that or else they will become inconsequential and not subject to biblical discernment.
Ken Myers poses a provocative scenario: Assume that tomorrow everyone came to Christ. How would we do things then? What kinds of questions would we ask about how we live, in forming worshipers of God who knew what embodied life looked like? These are questions that church leaders must consider. We aren’t trying to make sheer converts, but disciples. The same pattern of teaching in the Bible that forms disciples is the pattern that should form the ecclesia, not the pattern of this present evil age.
_______________________________________
For Further Reading:
Dawn, Marva J. A Royal Waste of Time: The Splendor of Worshipping God and Being Church for the World
Ryken, Philip Graham, et al. Give Praise to God: A Vision for Reforming Worship
Schultze, Quentin. Habits of the High-Tech Heart
Wells, David F. Losing Our Virtue: Why the Church Must Recover its Moral Vision
Recent Comments