Doing the same things, expecting different results

This is the classic definition of madness, and yet I have touched on it in a previous post, that the CofE seems to be doing this.

Some people will disagree with me, and point to new things that are being done by some people - all of the Fresh Expression work is often pointed to as new ideas and new innovations in worship and structure.

Which they are, but they are not enough. While they can be successful (Messy Church, for example), and/or highly innovative (which are the ones you have probably never heard of. Or at least, I haven't heard of them). But they are all, at heart, tweaking of the worship and meeting style of churches, without looking at the bigger picture. Tweaking with the style has been done for decades, and does not work longer term.

But the problems with the CofE are more fundamental than this. the problems are twofold, in my opinion (and that is all I post here, my own explorations of the topics that I cover. I am open to discussion!).

Firstly, the significant problems are not with the style of the meetings, the format of the worship. Yes, many of the ideas are good ones, but they are good ideas that need taking further. The core problems are with the system and structure of the church.

The second issue is related, because so many of the innovative ideas in the church at the moment are serving not as new expressions of the church, but as means of getting new people - and people who would not generally come into a church - into the existing structures. The problem is that these fresh expression need to be the church, not just support the church.

The core problem is that the existing church system is moribund and dying, One of the reasons for this is that the church continues to do the same things, and expects different results. If that isn't institutional madness, I don't know what is.