Relevance
As the pluralist and religion-neutral state asserts itself in our society, it causes more and more the loss of the traditional concept of "people's church" where one or more churches are acknowledged as "official churches" and they enjoy of the support of the State.
All churches today are consequently "forced" to become, as a matter of fact, "free churches", namely free-will association of persons with common religious interests. Churches thus become not dissimilar from any other association organising itself after a common interest, with their own statutes and self-governed.
The natural evolution of our society is leading to a new reappraisal of the concept of church covenant, the document which establishes the rights and duties of those who are members of the church. We see, thus, a process of de-institutionalisation of all the churches, which may issue in a real "purification" from the evils and corruption which originally were the consequence of the act by which the Roman Emperor Constantine making Christianity " the religion of the state".
Signing of a church covenant indeed makes the church member more serious, committed and responsible concerning duties which, although established in the New Testament, can easily be neglected or delegated to others.
Read more about this topic: Church Covenant
Famous quotes containing the word relevance:
“The most striking fault in work by young or beginning novelists, submitted for criticism, is irrelevance—due either to infatuation or indecision. To direct such an author’s attention to the imperative of relevance is certainly the most useful—and possibly the only—help that can be given.”
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)
“... whatever men do or know or experience can make sense only to the extent that it can be spoken about. There may be truths beyond speech, and they may be of great relevance to man in the singular, that is, to man in so far as he is not a political being, whatever else he may be. Men in the plural, that is, men in so far as they live and move and act in this world, can experience meaningfulness only because they can talk with and make sense to each other and to themselves.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
“Wherever the relevance of speech is at stake, matters become political by definition, for speech is what makes man a political being.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)