Institutional Church

I have been a member of the staff of a Baptist Church for 52 years. I have been a student Pastor, Family Life Minister, Pastor, and Pastoral Counselor. As of January 2024, I am no longer on the staff of a Baptist Church and “No,” I have not retired, just altered how I am paid. I think I am ready to leave the institutional Church and its staff positions. I am having difficulty affirming the institution of Church with its denominational arguing, large buildings that are mainly empty during the week, programming primarily for its members, etc. I suspect the real church which Jesus described in the 25th chapter of Matthew’s gospel meets in Alcohol Anonymous and Al-Anon meetings, in food pantry distribution places, where they are building homes for those without shelter, in homeless shelters, etc. I have experienced the presence of God’s Spirit in some conversations that happen in my consulting room as a therapist. I suspect God’s Spirit is alive, changing and redeeming lives in thousands of consulting rooms with therapists who may or may not think of their consulting rooms as places of worship. I believe that God’s Spirit is alive, well and redeeming in thousands of places that are not thought of as places where a person would expect God. God seems not to fit our expectations of a god.