Multitudinism, Institutionalism, and the Conventional
The awful trinity: multitudinism, institutionalism, and the conventional
Multitudinism is Martin Thornton's term for when the church focuses on numbers.
Institutionalism is my term for when the church focuses on the institutional needs, demands and pressures that shape the time and energy of leaders and members. A related posting on institutionalism.
The conventional is when the church focuses on the current and popular measure of parish acceptable life.
This destructive trinity, when permitted to be main stage, sucks the life out of our parishes. It tears the heart out of faithful priests and deacons. It causes the Apostolic to seek nurture and growth in places outside the parish church they love.
In multitudinism - “The emphasis is numerical, membership is nominal; which inevitably means convention, respectability, Pelagianism, apathy, and spiritual sterility. The sole pastoral function is ostensibly evangelism which is so frequently reduced to mere 'recruitment'." (Thornton, Pastoral Theology, p. 14) You end up spending your time on some form of "revival" gatherings. It will wear out the parish priest who must over-function in the hope that the numbers will show themselves. There's little or no long term payoff. In the Episcopal Church this appears every couple of decades as we hope the evangelicals can show us how to increase our numbers. Clergy trot off to places like Saint Paul's, Darian in the 70s and 80s and Willow Creek in the new century. We then try to create a more Anglican version in the hope we can be both prosperous and loyal. It rarely occurs to us that we have a tradition of organic evangelization that works if we use it.
In institutionalism - The emphasis is on the institutional life of the parish -- its roles, authority, power, and needs. Great attention is paid to administration. How might we be more a more successful institution?
The conventional - The parish behaves in accordance with the prevailing set of accepted conventions. It seeks signs from outside itself in the broader culture and becomes the Republican Party at prayer (or the Democratic Party) or how do we conform to being of the South or the Pacific Northwest?
This dreadful trinity is an interdependent system but the elements are not distinct in themselves, they overlap and are ambiguous. Three forces that appear comprehensible yet seem given, irresistible, and eternal.
A few examples:
Strengthen the Eucharist
The Eucharist will have a stronger presence in the life of most members when:
-We work at making use of music that people are more familiar with, bulletins in which everything is printed out, rehearsing lectors and the servers. We focus on the majority of people and their existing competence and by
Internal communication that builds the Body
We focus our advertising on the events that will have the largest numbers or in which key people have the greatest investment.
vs.
We focus on the Threefold Pattern of Prayer and opportunities to live the pattern as well as training and coaching that is available to assist us in running the race. We both do a lot of repetition with this as well as finding new ways to offer a deeper life in Christ. And along the way we advertise to the many.
Also -
Our home page is an entry place allowing the use of a menu. The menu lists "worship" as one of many possible things.
vs.
The home page presents information on both the Sunday Eucharist and the weekday Office and Eucharists. It communicates a cultural density and grounding in regard to worship.
My concern here isn't with which signs are more attractive. But which focus on the "awful trinity" and which on the core spiritual dynamics of the parish. The second set shows an emphasis on the Prayer Book Pattern of worship and may communicate to those passing by that this is a place of deep prayer.
It's not an either/or issue. Use the primary church sign to communicate the fullness of the parish's prayer life; the ground of its life. Use other signs to communicate special events or other messages, Though I do wonder about messages intended to insult and diminish others.
It is often a good idea to attend to the fact that there may be a significant number of people in neighborhood that will come to a special liturgy -- Easter, a special evensong. The problem isn't that we promote these things. The problem is that we don't adequately "promote" the core.
Here's an example of hanging a banner to promote Easter in the neighborhood. Do attend to the multitude but first attend to the core.
A couple of changes we might make
Change how we include
There is no avoiding all this. It's basic organizational psychology. It is the culture we live in. And like all cultures we are so used to it we barely notice - the air we breath. Members and leaders always get absorbed into the multitudinist - institutionalist - conventional culture. Always. Over time it happens or you are expelled. If it doesn't happen the priest will be unable to be an incarnate presence. We must live in the world.
So, the issue isn't whether we get absorbed into the broader culture but whether we also maintain that other culture -- the culture of the Eucharist - Office - Reflection/Personal Devotions; the culture of Stability - Obedience - Conversion of Life; the culture of losing your life to find it. And whether we maintain it at the heart of the parish's life and work.
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