CONGREGATIONAL GRACE MARGINS

Ross Kingham[1]

In describing varieties of congregational cultures, US commentator Eric Law[2] talks of congregations having either ‘small grace margins’ surrounding the core membership, or ‘larger grace margins’. In Inclusion, Law seeks to “provide practical and theologically sound theories, models, and skills that are necessary for moving a faith community toward greater inclusion” (xi).  This one sentence aptly summarizes Law’s aims and general approach to the topic in this volume. In developing this model, Law found himself framing his concepts and processes with new terms (xii).  Key among these are “boundary challenge” (16-17), “boundary function” (17-21) and “grace margin” (43).  Boundaries, as Law sees them, can operate either exclusively (19) or inclusively (43).  The challenge to faith communities comes in making room for anyone perceived as an outsider.  Law argues that this vital Christian challenge needs grace as the buffer zone between the community’s own fear and its need for safety.

Churches with small grace margins could be described as having a clear covenant to which members are expected to adhere: it is therefore fairly easy to distinguish between those who are included in the church family, and those who are excluded. Churches which hold to rigid views concerning membership conditions tend to be those with small grace margins, whether they be towards to fundamentalist end of the theological spectrum on the one hand, or towards the more progressive on the other. Churches at both extremes of the spectrum may become legalistic leaving little room for the waverers, the uncertain ones, those whose faith flickers and falters in a manner that is markedly dissonant from the prevailing culture.

Small grace margins have certain apparent advantages: they allow maximum room for control, for defining what is not acceptable to the ‘core’, as opposed to what is acceptable. They may be created in an attempt to fend off discomfort and compensate for lack of security.

It would appear to be desirable to be a church that intentionally seeks to be extending its grace margin, on the basis that the gospel is indelibly imprinted with the offer of God’s grace.

However, to intentionally seek to push the grace margins wider and to be more embracing of different people who are seekers and embracers of the faith, comes at a cost. To operate as a community of faith that is defined by its members being those who are drawn to the Centre which is the life-giving well of the Spirit, rather than those who fulfil prescribed conditions, is to comprise a community open to the deepest agony. Larger grace margins increase the probability of conflict and disunity. Larger grace margins require more grace!

Any true community is an endangered species. John Murray observes: “The continuous possibility that hostility and enmity may break out between members of the community and destroy the fellowship is inseparable from any consciousness of it. For community is a matter of intention and is therefore problematical. Moreover the community so far achieved is imperfect. and contains not merely the possibility but also the evidence of failure.”[3]

It may well be that Australian churches are scattered across a wide range in terms of their grace margins. Each community of faith has the capacity to gauge its own place on the spectrum; each as its own history, each has its own faith-journey. If a congregation seeks to move towards greater inclusion, it will need to be aware of its vulnerability as it treads this risky path, where inclusiveness will test the strongest fellowship, and offer the richest rewards.

WHEN DREAMS CRUMBLE

How does this God
who allows dreams to crumble
and death
wreak havoc
on a cross

keep, hold, harness
anything?

Where is there safety
in a God who tastes dying
daily? 

I would grasp,
if I could,
such a power
that draws lines
gently
through battered time,
space,
heart,
cords of love
to bandage the bleeding,
echoes of peace
inside the screaming,
holding the pattern
of profound, chaotic strength
that rings out across the universe
a music,
catching every melody,
each possible harmony,
in every variation,
weaving each and every sound
into the score,
undoubtedly composed!

Fruit of One
who knows
far more than I can guess
dying
and life.[4]

The image of ‘core’ and ‘margin’ in relation to congregational life, moreover, is laced with complexity. Things are not as they seem. The gospels represent Jesus as viewing those who were at or near the edge of the circle of believers as in fact being at the centre (the ‘core’?), and vice versa.[5]

A congregation that prays and works to extend its grace margin would be noisy and chaotic. It would be servant, not master. It would embrace all kinds of people and offer bread to any uplifted hand. It would love the unlovable and learn from the weak. It would listen to cries of pain and share God's outrage when one person imposes suffering on another. It would be "radical," as Jesus was radical, namely, getting to the root of things and not being swayed by the superficial.

A church on the margins would be poor in coin but rich in compassion. It would see oppression at every level, including the tendency of worldly power to oppress even those who think themselves masters. It would dare to question and to disturb, knowing that good news always stands in contrast to bad news.

A church on the margins would look beyond its own prejudices and categories, its own doctrines and certainties, and would try to imagine God's fresh word for a confusing dawn. It would re-examine everything in its hunger to see the face of Jesus

A church on the margins would be a circle of friends - a disorderly circle, and an odd assortment of friends. It would be grounded in listening, not oratory; in discovery, not catechism; in catching the tunes of human hearts, not arguing over appropriate music. It would set aside all privilege, even the much-prized prerogatives awarded to clergy.

All voices would be valued, even those whom the world has dismissed as irrelevant, untutored, sinful and worthless. All questions would be honoured, all yearnings taken seriously.