The writer of this chapter, Howard A.Snyder, is a Free Methodist pastor and Wesleyan Theological professor.
He has authored eighteen books. His interest in church and renewal has been the focus of his career.
Five portions of Scriptures help us to understand the biblical image of the church.
- John 15:18-19 In the world not of it
- Romans 12: 2 conformed to Christ not the world
- Luke 12: 29-32 the flock of the kingdom
- John 17:18 sent into the world
- Revelations 21:23-27 the glory of the nations
Snyder believes the church must be a kingdom community. If the church is not at odds with the world it’s alligence to Jesus is suspect. The church is not merely a religion organization but people of God, community of the Spirit and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, our Sovereign Lord.
While studying this I thought of the difference between disciplineship and believer. Disciplineship = desire, discernment, decision making, discipline, dwelling in the Word and dependence on the Holy Spirit. While a believer =professes faith but doesn’t include the action that disciplineship has. Counterculture of our time seems to be the disciplineship vs. Believer. The Sunday church attendees vs. the food kitchen volunteers. The big church building vs. homeless sleeping in the streets.
To better understand the author I read parts of two books by Snyder.
- Homosexuality and the Church:Guidance for Community Conversation published 1984 during the Aids crisis
- The Problem with Wineskins:Church Structure In Technological AgeIt is hard to escape the conclusion that today one of the greatest roadblocks to the gospel of Jesus Christ is the institutional church. “new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. ” The old Judaism could not contain the new wine of the gospel of Christ. Which raises the question – is it time to burst the old wineskins of the present church to allow the freshness and newness of the WayShower to come again.
I come to this sharing late, but Sister! Your blog set me thinking. I struggled for a long time with the reality that ¨faith¨ is not an expected set of beliefs, a catechism if you will. But that faith is lived in service of the All Holy, whose divine thumbprint is on all of humankind.
The Order of Charity was a leap of faith for me then, where the rule of life – the Founding Document, did not so much impose regulations, but give freedom to answer the Spirit´s call, or rather Her constant whispering in my life. Thus, the EOC compells us to fulfill the two commandments as Jesus did: to love the Holy with all our heart and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Wow.
Thanks for this summary! It inspired me to look up the author and his book on New Wineskins.
40 years ago he was talking about what is happening now!
Just today I ran into a priest from Philadelphia sitting in the Piazza here in Assisi. I sat down to talk with him and within minutes I realized how different our worldviews are.
(Interestingly, I very recently celebrated the funeral for his sister. She worked with me when I was pastor of St Patrick Parish and we became friends. She asked me to celebrate her funeral because she knew her brother would preach from “old wineskins.”)
This priest talked about what a liberal his four older siblings are and how he and his three younger siblings are conservative. He complained about how all his nieces and nephews have “lost the faith” and how it’s a good thing his father is now senile so he doesn’t have to see what’s going on. Everything g he said was about the need for folks to come BACK to the Church. The modern world is suffering from relativism and everyone needs to come BACK to the truth.
In terms of this blog, I couldn’t help thinking g that he just wants everyone to “fit” into old wineskins and yet there is no going BACK. It didn’t occur to him that the Church needs new wineskins. It’s all about going forward, creating [smaller] more authentic communities built on love of Jesus and commitment to his Way.
Yes! New monastic communities line ours are part of the new wineskins. And I really believe that smaller communities where members share intimately their faith inJesus and his Way and encourage each other in living it out will be essential to the new wineskins.
As I was reflecting on this chapter and the commentary concerning what Jesus taught was not considered relevant in the present time, I wonder if some of this boils down to literalist interpretation of scripture. This is just a question I have. Suppose we give context to scripture and understand that seven days was a period put into context so that all could understand. I would agree that the institutional church is a problem. There is so much to be learned and so many growth opportunities. I believe that we as a community are a new wineskin ready for a beautiful new crop.
Bro. Therese Mikel Francis
When I read his discussion of the five portions of Scripture describing the biblical image of the church, I became aware that much of what is he said is found in various places in the Founding Document. We have also discussed all of it at various times either at General Assembly or in online meetings. That was an encouraging realization. The call to mission is also clear in the Founding Document.
I think “new wineskins” is an unavoidable reality today. We are living in an interim, liminal period where the Spirit is at work and things in churches are changing, whether we are comfortable with it or not, and future forms are not yet known. We go forward knowing that which is of the Holy will endure.
That said, is it not possible that New Monasticism and new monastic communities, with their link to interspirituality, are in fact a form of “new wineskins”? What he says about biblical images of church and discipleship seem to be part of our community life. Is the Ecumenical Order of Charity a form of a new wineskin? If so, what is the meaning and call of that realization?
Yes…the institutional church…of which I am still apart…and I agree…the institutional church does seem to be a problem….what you have written prompts me to dig deeper than just my being critical of the institution…I need to be willing to work through if not the institution then what? How much of myself am I wiling to invest?
Thank you for this!