The Problem with Wineskins

Church Structure In A Technological Age

by Howard A, Snyder

**Summary**

Howard Snyder believes it is imperative for the Church to embrace the radical changes that are sometimes necessary in fulfilling her reconciling role in God’s Kingdom. We must allow God to dwell in and transform us as individuals, local congregations, and the Church at large. We must submit to God’s will as a fluid, living organism rather than rigid institutional structure.
Taking great care not to become enslaved to our buildings, staffing, and finances—we can function as people on mission, the ‘witnessing soldiers’ of a conquering King—accomplishing Kingdom work beyond anything we could ever do on our own.

Favorite Quotes

“But with time the old wineskins begin to bind the Gospel. Then they must burst, and the power of the gospel pour forth once more. Many times this has happened in the history of the church.”

“…our king is at war, and we are called to be his witnessing soldiers.”

“A gospel with New Testament dynamic does not need to make a good impression on the world through the appeal of an attractive building. That is rather like wrapping a diamond in tin foil to help it sell. In fact, a fine church building may simply attract the Pharisees and repel the poor. That has, after all, happened before in church history.”

“One seldom finds within the institutionalized church today that winsome intimacy among people where masks are dropped, honesty prevails and there is that sense of communication and community beyond the human—where there is literally the fellowship of and in the Holy Spirit.”

“The church faces an increasingly difficult task in imitating the mind of Christ. It will be tempted to rely on secular propaganda techniques to win converts and produce ‘Christian’ behavior rather than taking the harder but deeper road of true spiritual growth-toward-maturity through the recovery of the biblical meaning of the church.”

“…church structure must help sustain a Christian’s life in the world. The church’s task is not to keep Christians off the streets but to send them out equipped for kingdom tasks. The Christian community must be structured for such equipping. The more society becomes hostile to Christian values, the more a Christian will depend for his very life on living, supportive structures of community.”

“[There is a] painful contrast between what the church is called to be (the holy, righteous people of God) and what it too often in fact is (an unholy, cantankerous organization of men).”