Church: Incarnation vs. Institution

In today's sermon I contrasted an institutional view of the church with an incarnational view of the church. The diagrams below illustrate the differences in these models.Note: this discussion was part of a broader sermon, so it might be helpful to listen to the sermon to gain the fuller context (theology --> philosophy --> methodology).

Here are some contrasts we drew:

• An institutional model seeks to build members; an incarnational model seeks to build missionaries
• An institutional model tends toward separatism (leave the world to go to church); an incarnational model teaches integration of faith and life (be the church in the world)
• An institutional model has the goal of moving people up; an incarnational model has the goal of moving people out
• An institutional model tends to breed consumers (member mindset); an incarnational model tends to breed contributors (missionary mindset)