It is human nature to want to know who belongs and who does not. Who is in and who is out. Christians can be adept at drawing lines, determining what it means to be "a good Christian" and judging those who stray out of bounds. Other times, they erase all the lines attempting to offer an innocuous and inoffensive version of the faith. Both approaches can stem from positive intentions. The line drawers want to ensure the faith is preserved and live according to what the Bible says. The line erasers want to embrace acceptance and inclusion and leave no room for judgmentalism. However, both impulses can lead to a stunted spiritual life and harmful relationships. Is there another way?
As we started our series in Galatians, we referenced a missionary by the name of Paul Hiebert who took a theory known as “set theory” and applied it to the church. Hiebert said church communities can fall into one of three categories. Bounded, fuzzy, or centered.
A bounded community has clear identifiable boundary markers to define who is in and who is out. The boundary line is “policed” to ensure no one ventures outside the boundary marker, thereby making them outside the group, and no one outside comes in before meeting certain requirements.
A fuzzy community sees the negative fruit that can stem from a bounded community. They see this leads to judgmentalism and legalism, and in response, remove all the boundaries. Anyone is welcome and the community has no right to say anything about how you live nor do they have any requirements for being a part of the community.
A centered community sees the negative fruit of a bounded community, but also sees the vagueness of a fuzzy community. In a centered community,
one's inclusion is determined by their orientation to the center, and observing people's relationship with the center. Everyone agrees what the community is centered around, and everyone in the community is directed towards the center and moving towards the center.
Applied to churches the theory looks like this.
Bounded churches draw a line that distinguishes insiders from outsiders, Christians from non-Christians, or true Christians from mediocre Christians. These churches have clear boundary markers that must not be crossed to maintain one’s inclusion in the group. For example, bounded churches will say things like, “True Christians don’t drink.” “True Christians only vote for this political party.” “Good Christians attend church and church events this often.” “You can’t be a Christian because of your sexuality.” So and so forth. Here are the lines, don’t cross the lines, and you can be part of the church.
A fuzzy church recognizes the problems that stem from such a community, and decide to erase all the lines. These communities have a don’t ask don’t tell policy. Don’t ask us about our doctrinal beliefs and we won’t ask about your life. Come as you are and stay as you are. As inviting and welcoming as this may sound it cannot bring about any kind of life change. No one can encourage anyone else to make progress. No one can say someone else’s behavior or beliefs are harmful to them and others. In the end, it becomes a vague and nebulous community founded on nothing. Just ask my friend who attended such a church community where the pastor exhorted the congregation through reading Bambi and Aesop’s Fables.
Finally, the centered church can distinguish who belongs to the group from who does not, but unlike the bounded church, the centered church is not concerned about boundaries, but instead direction and relation. The centered church says the center of our community is Jesus and his teachings, and everyone who is a part of the community also says Jesus is the center of their lives and they are moving towards him.
In such a community, life change is possible. Individuals can approach one another and have difficult conversations about beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes that are not in line with the center and moving someone away from the center. But this is done with a great deal of grace and no judgment because everyone is constantly moving towards or away from the center themselves. We are in pursuit of the center together.
This means, someone could be very close to the center (Jesus), but not actually part of the group because their heart is not directed towards him nor moving towards him. Think of Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus. He was as close to the center as anyone could be and, in the end, proved his heart was not directed towards Jesus at all. On the other hand, think of someone like Mary Magdalene. Mary was about as far from the center as one could be (a demon possessed prostitute) and in the end stands by Jesus at his crucifixion, is the first witness to the resurrection, and becomes one of the first Christian missionaries because her heart was directed towards Jesus and moving ever closer to him.
Centered communities can help bring about tremendous life change in the members of the community by pointing them to the center again and again, but do not need to police boundaries and create arbitrary rules to do so. Centered churches can affirm their beliefs and live out their values without such bitter fruit as gracelessness, shame, and self-righteousness on the one hand, or aimless "whateverism" on the other. They can graciously and cooperatively point people’s hearts to the center.
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