Quotable Frye

Michael Spencer interviewing John Frye, Covenant pastor and author of Jesus the Pastor:

MS: ...In a sense, the title Jesus the pastor buys into the image that Jesus established the institutional church as most Christians endorse it. I am one of those people who believe Jesus started a movement, but not an institution. What does the movement that Jesus is leading look like? How do we know it when we see it?

JF: Because we are all in liminal space, leaving some old ways of "doing church" behind and entering into yet undefined ways of "being church," I admit that I don't have definitive or settled answers to these questions. I also admit that the most sane pastoral voice in our era is Eugene H. Peterson. Eugene H. Peterson was "emergent" long before emergent was cool. While believing that the institutionalism of the Christian faith is simply recognizing its fossilization (a danger in any generation), I am not ready to say there is no place for Christian institutions. The reason I like the Evangelical Covenant Church denomination (an institution) is because it has the life, energy and feel of a movement. The ECC community is relationally driven. I believe the church is to be relationally driven, i.e., relationships with God, with one another, with those needing faith, and with creation. I think a relationally-driven Jesus community will emphasize expressions of radical love in word and action, will be uncomfortably embracing of the neglected and marginalized, will care deeply for people and their stories, that is, listen 90% in the relationship and talk 10%. There will be a lot of laughter, too, as we lived relaxed and hopeful in our faith...