Stephen Barkley
We’ve all heard the saying:
The church isn’t a building, it’s the people.
Well yes, of course. I stress this point in my own ministry. The church is made up of people who form the body of Christ, bound together by the Spirit. That’s a good theological answer, right there.
Buy why, then, is there a sign on my building calling it a “church”? Well, because in another sense, it is. Things are rarely as simple as the slogans make them sound. As we pastor through this time of accelerated change, it’s worth taking a deeper look at how the church is formed. Pierre Bourdieu, a French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher can help us sort this out.
Bourdieu, Habitus, and Chord Sheets
Pierre Bourdieu
We humans (especially in the western world) see ourselves as free agents who can choose to do whatever we want at any time. (An aside: sometimes the church contributes to this fantasy by playing fast-and-loose with Galatians 5:1!) This just isn’t the case. The structures of our social world strongly shape our actions. This is why we stifle nervous laughter during funerals, use cutlery in restaurants, and keep the weight-loss industry in business. But if we’re not free, are we just creatures of our environment, our every action predetermined?
Enter Bourdieu. He used the concept of habitus to puzzle out the relationship between structure and agency. Now I’ll admit, his definition of habitus sounds a little bit like a riddle, but it will help us to understand our situation. Habitus are
structured structures predisposed to function as structuring structures [which] become the basis for the intentionless invention of regulated improvisation. (from Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice)
Okay, in English now. What Bourdieu calls habitus are those structures in our lives—everything from the federal government’s legal system to the way we’re predisposed to respect our elders—that influence our actions and decisions. However, habitus do not completely undermine our freedom. Instead, they function as the basis for intentionless regulated improvisation.
Think of it like jazz. Within the basic chord structure of a song, musicians have the freedom to improvise in ways that add novelty and life to the music. The community of musicians that make up the band determine how far those improvisations can wander. Habitus are like the underlying chord structure of our lives. Our community—the church and other social circles—describe the shape of our freedom.
So, Is the Church a Building?
With that in mind, let’s return to the beginning. Is the church a building? Theologically—no. But, the church building with all of the activities it facilitates form the structure on which the church grows and improvises the faith. (I know that not every church owns a building, but this applies to rental buildings and house churches too.) That structuring structure has now been pulled away from us. We’re like a bunch of musicians who have lost their lead-sheets in danger of sliding into polytonal chaos.
There’s one more important word in Bourdieu’s definition of habitus that we should consider: intentionless. We do not often intentionally reflect on the structures that shape of our lives. These structures—the church building, Bible studies, pot-lucks, worship styles—recede into the background as we improvise our faith. And this is how it should be! We would be paralyzed by indecision if we forced ourselves to think about all of the overlapping structures that form the scaffolding of our lives.
We cannot live without structure. Now that the structure of ‘going to church’ has been pulled away, other structures will take its place. We have a unique opportunity right now to develop the new structures that will shape the church for years to come. I know we pentecostals are a pragmatic bunch: if it works, we jump on board. We just need to remember that these pragmatic decisions have consequences. Our leadership decisions create and reinforce the new structures that will shape the faith for years to come. Momentous times like this call for prayer, discernment, and (then) action.
Of course the church isn’t a building, but the building has (for better or for worse) shaped the faith of believers for centuries. What will take its place remains to be seen.
We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams.
—”Ode” by O’Shaughnessy
When I hear pastors say church isn’t a building (which we have been hearing a lot lately) then what comes to mind is “thou doth protest too much me thinks”. In other words it is a defensive response to closing their church during covid.
Ok fine then why don’t you sell the building? Oh no that building is too precious.
(So they don’t really believe what they say).
I recall something in the bible that says about – “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” ‘So much more’? We seem to have that backwards. I believe in a church building. It could be a house but we all know that it will morph into something larger over time (I don’t like the mega church). Where else can people gather? People need to be together. Christians need to be together. Face to face. We need a place to encourage one another in the most holy faith. Christians throughout history have risked their lives to meet together for the breaking of bread and prayer. Until now… (something about the word ‘risk’ I think)
It is unprecedented in Canadian/US history to close churches like we have done. And without hardly a whimper. Church leadership has never been weaker and lacked so little courage. Certainly not being salt and light. The argument is to pass out Romans 13 with little or no explanation. I would argue that they don’t know how to explain it. Funny thing is we can never get them to preach Romans before and now the 13th chapter is being flaunted all over the place.
I see this as a persecution dry run for the Church and PAOC in particular. Big failure. Now when the real persecution shows up (just around the corner) we will fold faster than a cheap tent. As one American pastor Bishop Wooden said recently, “there was a time when Christians never thought of their own safety to preach the gospel. The foreign fields are littered with dead bodies of missionaries that went to preach and help and contracted malaria and a host of other diseases willing giving up their lives to save lives for eternity.” mmm… us? we just close our doors on the unsaved trying to get in. Very sad and not loving our neighbour as some would think.
Yes the PAOC (and others) have an identity crisis. Nothing new there except the consequences of that is now upon us.
Thanks for your reply here, Ed. I think you might have misunderstood what I was trying to say. The church is not a building (theologically). Jesus is the new Temple and we are his body. However, the church building does form the church into a certain shape. I was trying here to gently push back against the church-is-not-a-building crowd by emphasizing the significance of how our building create a scaffolding upon which we grow. Personally, I’m grateful for the buildings we have when they’re used to advance the kingdom through worship and witness.
As for your bit about persecution and the church folding, I see things differently but that’s beyond the point of this post.