Church historians often ask, ‘Is the church a movement or an institution?' . I think it is both. I believe the people of God in history live in a tension between an ideal--the universal communion of saints--and the specific--the particular people in a definite time and place. The church’s mission in time calls for institutions: special rules, special leaders, special places. But when institutions themselves obstruct the spread of the gospel rather than advancing it, then movements of renewal arise to return to the church’s basic mission in the world. . Bruce L. Shelley
About This Quote

The church is both a movement and an institution. The church has the goal of spreading God's love throughout the world, but it also has the goal of protecting its members from sin. The church is a place where people can worship God, find fellowship with one another, and be protected from evil influences. There are rules that are not meant to keep us out, but to keep us in.

The most important of these rules are those that protect our relationship with God. When the people of God are blindly obeying these rules without understanding what they are doing, then movements arise to bring back the church to its true mission: living out the gospel in the world.

Source: Church History In Plain Language

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