A Church as One of the Important Foundations of Community - Literature review Example

Introduction For centuries church has been one of the important foundations of community. Religious and ethical norms promoted by the church, as well as its social activities, have been helping to shape social values and beliefs of communities. However, as time passes, church is slowly becoming just an attribute of the consumer society. Attitude towards church has, consequently, changed as well. While decades ago it was a temple of God, today many treat churches from the perspective of individualistic consumerism, thus making it hard or even impossible for churches to effectively implement biblical Discipline. As a result, churches fail to distinguish themselves from the rest of the society. While among its major goals have always been the task of shaping and improving people’s moral and ethical norms, today the church has to, on the contrary, adapt to the norms and values formed by the community. Church in Consumer Society The culture of consumerism, according to Brooks (2), is the main problem that has undermined the biblical model. Communities frequently view classical church as archaic or oppressive. As a result, church is viewed by the public as a provider of religious services only. Furthermore, churches of different congregations have come to inventing multiple creative ways of attracting people to them – attracting new ‘clients’, just like it happens in corporate world. Churches compete among themselves to offer the most attractive array of programs to potential ‘clients’. People, in their turn, are free to move from one church to another depending on their individual needs or preferences. As a result, they do not form a single community of believers, because their interests and activities may be scattered across a wide array of different programs offered by different churches. So, the biblical discipline should be enforced in order for the communities to become more united. First of all, and it should be among the tasks of the church, it is necessary to deliver to the people the need for the unity. Knowledge, intelligence and virtues are the foundation for making church a community consolidation institute, instead of just a temporary community of parishioners (Hauerwas). Public and private moralities, as Stanley Hauerwas suggests, should be united in order for people to change their perception of churches. The society has to realize the very nature of church as an institution. Secondly, churches themselves should start acting as religious, not business, organizations. In particular, the church culture should be promoting religious principles and guide people in their faith instead of devoting most of the time to attracting new visitors. Thirdly, the church has to devote attention to the changes within communities in order to understand how in particular those communities can become united in faith. Mark Henderson outlines that “works best and enjoys its greatest strength and stability when all of its parts are working together in unity”. Similarly, it can be said that a church that unites the community is much more valuable to the society. Unity provided by the church will, in its, turn, strengthen the moral and ethical values of the community, thus making it a better place to live in. Abandoning business practices will enable the church to concentrate on and devote its resources to its major task – providing people with joy and hope in faith. Finally, monitoring the trends of social development will help churches to determine the best ways to communicate and interact with the hosting communities. Combined, all these achievements are likely to strengthen local societies in their faith, as well as improve the image of the church. Such changes, will also have a positive long-term effect: best values and norms will be continuously passed to younger generations, within each church community. From some perspective, it is true that the church does have to compete for people’s attention with other institutions that may provide people with guidance and security, such as gymnasiums or psychologists (Lategan 72). However, the church should not, together with its parishioners, forget its major goal – that of guiding, leading and helping people. Consumerism does have a positive impact on the church because it helps to revitalize churches and their activities. Still, as Lategan (76) outlines, the number of negative outcomes is higher. In particular, the core tasks of the church, such as being associated with Christ, building close relationships between the believers, showing righteous acts of the community of faith and giving people joy and hope, have been undermined as the church started behaving as a business organization, marketing faith and its services (Lategan 77). So, it would be very useful and meaningful to utilize modern business trends for bringing churches to the state when they are religious institutions, but not heavily marketed places to spend time in. Conclusion In the era of globalization and consumerism, it is becoming more and more difficult for churches to remain effective and respected religious institutions. On one hand, the situation is caused by the society that started viewing the church as a vendor of religious services. People stopped perceiving the church as a place of expressing faith and communicating with God. Instead, people are more attracted by various programs designed by churches to attract visitors. So, on the other hand the problem is partially caused by churches themselves. In wars for parishioners churches started acting as business organizations in terms of using up-to-date marketing and branding strategies. Public events and special interest groups replaced traditional church ceremonies to attract more visitors. Therefore, it is recommended that churches realize the need to unite the people that visit them. A united community is the one that has strong and constant moral and ethical values. These norms, in their turn, contribute to the wellbeing of the community and, having been shaped by the church, change people perception of the church to better. So, the two-way interaction (church influences community while community influences church) is the key to restoring the position and positive role of the church in the society. Churches should not be an object of consumer culture, but rather institutions that positively influence that culture. References Brooks, Matthew. Church Discipline in a Consumer Culture: A Call for Compelling Community. Web. 06 Dec. 2011. Hauerwas, Stanley. Discipleship as a Craft, Church as a Disciplined Community. The Christian Century, October 1, 1991, pp. 881-884. Web. 06 Dec. 2011. Henderson, Mark. People Need the Unity-Committed Church. February 19, 1996. Web. 06 Dec. 2011. Lategan, L. Remarks on the Church in the Consumer Society: Similarities and Dissimilarities. Acta Theologica 2004:2. Web. 06 Dec. 2011. Read More