Cadres for Christianity: They Rebel Against Busyness

Some Christians feel an occasional twinge of doubt over the busyness of their churches--the activities (see box) that seem at best irrelevant to the Christian mission. To Lutheran Theologian Loren Halvorson, the busyness of the "crowded temples" is worse than irrelevant; it is a threat to the vitality of the faith. Writing in the first issue of Dialog, a handsomely printed new Lutheran journal of theology, he foresees a radical regrouping of Christians, with the cadres of dedicated believers in an open and creative rebellion against the "organization church." Dr. Halvorson, assistant director of the American Lutheran Church's board of college education, reports that "A rising crescendo of questions regarding the vast amount of seemingly aimless activity is coming from the center of the church. Innumerable meetings, immersion in 'churchiness,' the not-a-minute-to-spare crowding of the temple calendar and the pursuit of statistical success have left many of the most active members exhausted both in body and spirit."

Such empty activity produces by reaction a new kind of Christian rebel--''fiercely loyal to the church and her mission and yet severely critical of the organization church." To these believers, the church has become concerned chiefly with a wide range of useful but peripheral activities in a way harmful to the inner spiritual life of the church. From the dissenters, says Halvorson, comes "a serious urging for the withdrawal of the church into retreats, into a disciplined inner life, and into secluded communities.''

Economy of Twelve. This ideal of a ''creative remnant" is not new to the church: at the beginning of Christianity there was "our Lord's peculiar economy of the twelve.'' Now, Halvorson says, the Christian remnant is visible in the growth of retreats, study groups, Christian cells, and disciplined lay communities--such as France's Taize Community (TIME, Sept. 5. 1960)--dedicated to the preservation of Christian asceticism. "These communities are very small in size but extremely significant in pioneering new patterns for the church. Although they may seem little else than probes on the frontier of the entrenched positions of the church, [but] they are potentially the initial stages of major breakthroughs." Halvorson is convinced that these dedicated believers will bring new life to the church--although it may not be a church that many today recognize. "The temple is destined to become much less congested. The decrease in traffic will be accompanied by the increase of small but solemn assemblies engaged in the kind of worship that expresses its Te Deum Laudamus in the market place and civil courts. The throngs of the disenchanted will be replaced by the communities of disciplined Christians equipped to be the church as they invade the social orders."

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