Faith Without Corporate Church Structure

As those who regularly, physically attend church in a corporate church building have, in recent months, no longer been able to maintain that routine, this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer scholar Dallas M. Roark might be a good way to pause and consider the actual role we assign to church in our Christian walk. 

In summarizing Bonhoeffer's thoughts, Roark writes:

"A doctrinal system, a church structure, and other substitutes for the Living Christ render discipleship irrelevant." Dallas Roark

Lest we think of discipleship in terms of applying to someone else, I take the above quote to point directly to each and every Christian, including church leaders. 

Discipleship is something that all Christians, as disciples of Christ, participate in on an on-going basis, and the Discipler is Christ. 

The minute a person or group attempts to intervene, co-oopt, downplay or remove that truth, is the minute corporate church reveals itself as being more about anything and everything else than about Jesus.

copyright Barb Harwood