The word “unchurch” has been used by several different organizations. I wasn’t aware of any of them when I decided to steal the idea of “uncola” and apply it to church. I wrote up my concept 20 years ago; my original document is here (HTML document). It’s a bit long and reflects where I was at the time. Not much has changed, except that I’ve extended the idea somewhat.
The whole point was that I had encountered people far too often for whom mainstream church was simply not where they belonged. What they needed was something that didn’t exist. I was trying to deconstruct the historical expressions of church and get to the crux of what it was supposed to do.
Having established that much, I now want to take the next step and think about an “un-seminary” to educate the leadership for such nonconformist faith communities.
The biggest problem right away is that the mainstream educational institutions are even stickier than the mainstream churches. We don’t need stuffy professional standards and certified degrees to get this job done. What we need is simply the curriculum and materials available for those who want them.
This would never work unless you are a self-starter who can stay with the studies; you must be driven. I know that such a thing is possible because I’m one of those people. My biggest problem is not the work; it’s the price tag. Next to that is the strict control you would expect from sectarian overlords who can’t stand the idea that someone might not end up a carbon copy of themselves. They demand you jump through all their hoops and get your tickets with all the proper punches.
Granted, in recent years we’ve seen folks like Michael Heiser who have dropped an awful lot of writing and videos on the Net for free. A few of his associates also offer copies of their stuff where you can get your own if you know where to look. Still, it amounts to very little compared to what is possible and needed.
I’ve been doing what I could since I first got on the Net. It’s not that I’m such a great scholar, but what I have, I’ve always made have free for everyone. I want to see more people with better expertise doing that on some scale. Neither Jesus nor the apostles charged for their teaching. God always provided their needs. I can testify that I’m doing just fine, myself.
We already have very expensive institutions (seminaries and churches) that represent keeping leaders very comfortable. We need churches that don’t cost a fortune to operate. We need high-level education in the Bible that doesn’t require going hundreds of thousands into debt. The solid academic background necessary to grasp the Hebrew mind of Jesus Christ should be as free as the Blood He shed for us all.
I’ll keep doing what I can. When I can get my hands on an electronic copy of anything that fills such a need, I’ll be glad to offer it to anyone. Yes, I must be careful to avoid getting sued by copyright holders, so I can’t just post links to a private repository. Still, I’ve managed to avoid the hassles so far because it’s all done privately. I plan to keep doing that as long as possible.
