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Rooted & Grounded: The Church as Organism and Institution
Abraham Kuyper’s Rooted & Grounded is the Word of the Lord for the Christian church today. Christians know the Gospel must permeate every area of life organically, that every vocation is integral and not accidental to the missio Dei, as my friend and colleague Steven Garber is fond of saying. This is what Kuyper means when he talks about the church being rooted in the organism of the Gospel. But Kuyper goes much further, reminding us that the church is “First rooted, then grounded” in an institutional form with core doctrinal, liturgical, and office-bearing responsibilities that norm its vital organic life.
74 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
21 people are currently reading
188 people want to read
About the author
Abraham Kuyper
542 books115 followersAbraham Kuyper was a Dutch politician, journalist, statesman and theologian. He founded the Anti-Revolutionary Party and was prime minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 12, 2024
Organism before institution. Institution exists to cultivate and protect the life of the organism.
October 26, 2020
This is the money quote:
"And yet, I may not deny that there is something in this restless drive that disturbs me. Conversion is pressed, but instruction of the converted must be postponed—how could it be otherwise?—there is no time, for eyes and hearts are already focused on making more new converts. People rejoice especially in the number of converts. So they think they can dispense with any test and they welcome with nebulous indeterminacy every person as an ally who, on whatever basis, along whatever path, from whatever motive, simply wants to march in our ranks and join us in talking about the Lord, as though prevenient grace has stopped working, covenant blessing has lost its power, the church’s past is purposeless, and every conversion, beyond the influence of God’s faithful covenant, is an isolated fact, an incidental work of the Lord’s Spirit. Sometimes it appears as though God’s elect are not generated through rebirth from the one Christ in shared parentage, but are plucked from the river like drowning victims by the arm of the Spirit. That may not remain unchallenged, beloved! Spiritual revival is an extraordinary grace, I know, sometimes the only saving means, but when it is made the rule it subverts Jesus’ church. Then it is nothing but cuttings planted together here and there in beds, but then there is no root, and the vine has no stem that binds the branches into a unity. “Together with all the saints,” says the man from Tarsus in the verse following our text, and that connection is never neglected without very serious injury. For the bitter fruit is already manifested. We already see how each one wants to travel under his own flag, to privateer under his own ensign. Already the many-headed monster of that all-fracturing individualism is sticking out its horns. O, if people only realized that in this way bricks are indeed brought in and piled up, but that pile of bricks cannot stack itself up into a wall. Without design, cement, and builder, a house will never emerge from those stones."
"And yet, I may not deny that there is something in this restless drive that disturbs me. Conversion is pressed, but instruction of the converted must be postponed—how could it be otherwise?—there is no time, for eyes and hearts are already focused on making more new converts. People rejoice especially in the number of converts. So they think they can dispense with any test and they welcome with nebulous indeterminacy every person as an ally who, on whatever basis, along whatever path, from whatever motive, simply wants to march in our ranks and join us in talking about the Lord, as though prevenient grace has stopped working, covenant blessing has lost its power, the church’s past is purposeless, and every conversion, beyond the influence of God’s faithful covenant, is an isolated fact, an incidental work of the Lord’s Spirit. Sometimes it appears as though God’s elect are not generated through rebirth from the one Christ in shared parentage, but are plucked from the river like drowning victims by the arm of the Spirit. That may not remain unchallenged, beloved! Spiritual revival is an extraordinary grace, I know, sometimes the only saving means, but when it is made the rule it subverts Jesus’ church. Then it is nothing but cuttings planted together here and there in beds, but then there is no root, and the vine has no stem that binds the branches into a unity. “Together with all the saints,” says the man from Tarsus in the verse following our text, and that connection is never neglected without very serious injury. For the bitter fruit is already manifested. We already see how each one wants to travel under his own flag, to privateer under his own ensign. Already the many-headed monster of that all-fracturing individualism is sticking out its horns. O, if people only realized that in this way bricks are indeed brought in and piled up, but that pile of bricks cannot stack itself up into a wall. Without design, cement, and builder, a house will never emerge from those stones."
August 26, 2023
I picked up this work on the advice of one of our TEs and I loved it. This was a delightful little sermon by the Dutch minister and politician Abraham Kuyper. In this brief sermon Kuyper argues that the church exists both as a formal institution and an organic spiritual body. And for the Christian to have a complete view of the church we must embrace both aspects.
I think this work is almost prophetic. I have worshipped with more charismatic Christian’s who view the church exclusively as a spiritual organism, and I have worshipped with Reformed Christians who views it exclusively as an unchanging institution. But Kuyper points out that in order to pursue catholicity we must embrace a holistic view of the church. This was a spiritually challenging read because it puts a spotlight on my own spiritual blind spots. I will revisit.
Edit: let me also say that this particular copy was incredibly well edited. I loved the preface, notes, and the chapter breaks the editors imposed on the text. I think the editing elevated this work from a wonderfully written sermon to a practical tool for the edification of the church.
I think this work is almost prophetic. I have worshipped with more charismatic Christian’s who view the church exclusively as a spiritual organism, and I have worshipped with Reformed Christians who views it exclusively as an unchanging institution. But Kuyper points out that in order to pursue catholicity we must embrace a holistic view of the church. This was a spiritually challenging read because it puts a spotlight on my own spiritual blind spots. I will revisit.
Edit: let me also say that this particular copy was incredibly well edited. I loved the preface, notes, and the chapter breaks the editors imposed on the text. I think the editing elevated this work from a wonderfully written sermon to a practical tool for the edification of the church.
January 15, 2024
A quick read that makes a great point. The church is both an organism and an institution (organisation). There exists something that God starts and that grows organically, and then there exists something that man continues to bring out the best from the natural.
Swaying to either extreme is a bad. Church is not wholly organic or wholly institution. Then thirdly a person cannot survive by him/herself but must be found within a church.
Although no all in line with my beliefs, these facts are good ones to keep in mind.
Swaying to either extreme is a bad. Church is not wholly organic or wholly institution. Then thirdly a person cannot survive by him/herself but must be found within a church.
Although no all in line with my beliefs, these facts are good ones to keep in mind.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 5, 2014
Although Kuyper may have (I'm not sure) taken some liberties with Ephesians 3:17, he nevertheless unpacks the “rooted and grounded” dynamic of the Christian life honestly and convincingly. In his message, Kuyper specifically applies these two true, essential principles -- organism (rooted) and institution (grounded) -- to the church (with biblical evidences), but also notes their presence can be observed in virtually every sphere of existence. He intended to show that the church is necessarily both an organism and an institution. He succeeded!
Many of Kuyper's observations and illustrations will undoubtedly stick with me for a lifetime and I anticipate that they will remain fresh and relevant to the church for quite a while. Finally, I was surprised to catch a sense of Kuyper’s zeal and passion as he “spoke” this address -- at times I felt like I was actually sitting under him lecturing!
This book is well worth your time -- quick read, rich resource!
Many of Kuyper's observations and illustrations will undoubtedly stick with me for a lifetime and I anticipate that they will remain fresh and relevant to the church for quite a while. Finally, I was surprised to catch a sense of Kuyper’s zeal and passion as he “spoke” this address -- at times I felt like I was actually sitting under him lecturing!
This book is well worth your time -- quick read, rich resource!
March 4, 2022
großartig 👍 In einem Satz: "The church, [Kuyper] said, was at once an organism and an institution."
Aus der Einleitung:
Moreover, these two, the hidden mystical life and the outward form, were not to be separated, but existed in a reciprocal dependence. In another metaphor, Kuyper likened the church to the spontaneous force of a river that would nonetheless dissipate were it not for the banks that held it. This was a sacramental vision of the church. What Avery Dulles said about sacramental ecclesiology in the twentieth century—“The corporal expression gives the spiritual act the material support it needs in order to achieve itself; and the spiritual act gives shape and meaning to the corporal expression”—neatly fits the way Kuyper had described the church a century before.
This is not completely surprising, since other institutions, particularly the omni-competent state and the amorphous market, have taken over the role as the prime meaning-making institutions in society, leaving the churches lying somewhat confused on the therapist’s couch.
Institutional forms like creeds, which provide Christians with the common reference point necessary for life together and by which they can make a shared witness to the world, are the most threatened by the emerging religious culture.
Über Humanismus und Calvinismus:
There are only two principles that carry within themselves a characteristic world, an entirely distinctive world: eternal election and humanism. As long as orthodoxy does not choose between them with self-conscious decisiveness, then through its own fault it is leaving David’s sling lying unused, the very weapon it possesses with that tremendous principle of election, according to Scripture and Augustine and Calvin.
Der Vergleich der Gemeinde mit einem Fluss
Free, for the stream of Christian living must be able to flow unhindered, but let it continue to be church, for the stream will dissipate across the flat plains if its banks are demolished. “A free church”—there you see what can solve the riddle for us, for we must be free in order to escape Rome’s paralysis, but no less must we be church in order to escape the draining away of our lifeblood as a result of spiritualism.
...
The organism of the church is the nourishing source for that stream, but the institution is the bed that carries its current, the banks that border its waters.
Gewurzelt und gegründet (Eph 3,17)
“Rooted and grounded,” says the apostle, and thereby declares with equal brevity and succinctness that twofold requirement, that double character trait of the Christian life. Rooted—that is the description of organic life; but also grounded—that is the requirement of the institution.
Ohne dem Organischen gibt es keine Gemeinde:
That organism is the heart of the church. From that heart her lifeblood flows, and where that pulse of her life ceases, the institution alone never constitutes the church
Über die Apostel:
They arrange, they regulate, they include and exclude, and they seek to give a form to this life that would preserve it from dissipating.
Finally, since its own life constantly threatens to dissipate into the life of the world, it must not merely allow a spiritual sorting to function at the depth, but also allow a tangible authentication to function at the surface, which determines inclusion and exclusion.
Über das Zusammenspiel von Organismus und Institution
From now on, there is mutual interpenetration, a reciprocal influence. From the organism the institution is born, but also through the institution the organism is fed.
...
Her womb granted us life; her care nurtures us.
Ein Calvin-Zitat
“She is a mother”—to use Calvin’s beautiful expression—“whose womb not only carried us, whose breast not only nursed us, but whose tender care leads us to the goal of faith.… Those to whom he is a Father, the Church must also be Mother, and apart from her motherly care no one grows to maturity.”
Über den Individualismus:
Already the many-headed monster of that all-fracturing individualism is sticking out its horns. O, if people only realized that in this way bricks are indeed brought in and piled up, but that pile of bricks cannot stack itself up into a wall. Without design, cement, and builder, a house will never emerge from those stones.
Aus der Einleitung:
Moreover, these two, the hidden mystical life and the outward form, were not to be separated, but existed in a reciprocal dependence. In another metaphor, Kuyper likened the church to the spontaneous force of a river that would nonetheless dissipate were it not for the banks that held it. This was a sacramental vision of the church. What Avery Dulles said about sacramental ecclesiology in the twentieth century—“The corporal expression gives the spiritual act the material support it needs in order to achieve itself; and the spiritual act gives shape and meaning to the corporal expression”—neatly fits the way Kuyper had described the church a century before.
This is not completely surprising, since other institutions, particularly the omni-competent state and the amorphous market, have taken over the role as the prime meaning-making institutions in society, leaving the churches lying somewhat confused on the therapist’s couch.
Institutional forms like creeds, which provide Christians with the common reference point necessary for life together and by which they can make a shared witness to the world, are the most threatened by the emerging religious culture.
Über Humanismus und Calvinismus:
There are only two principles that carry within themselves a characteristic world, an entirely distinctive world: eternal election and humanism. As long as orthodoxy does not choose between them with self-conscious decisiveness, then through its own fault it is leaving David’s sling lying unused, the very weapon it possesses with that tremendous principle of election, according to Scripture and Augustine and Calvin.
Der Vergleich der Gemeinde mit einem Fluss
Free, for the stream of Christian living must be able to flow unhindered, but let it continue to be church, for the stream will dissipate across the flat plains if its banks are demolished. “A free church”—there you see what can solve the riddle for us, for we must be free in order to escape Rome’s paralysis, but no less must we be church in order to escape the draining away of our lifeblood as a result of spiritualism.
...
The organism of the church is the nourishing source for that stream, but the institution is the bed that carries its current, the banks that border its waters.
Gewurzelt und gegründet (Eph 3,17)
“Rooted and grounded,” says the apostle, and thereby declares with equal brevity and succinctness that twofold requirement, that double character trait of the Christian life. Rooted—that is the description of organic life; but also grounded—that is the requirement of the institution.
Ohne dem Organischen gibt es keine Gemeinde:
That organism is the heart of the church. From that heart her lifeblood flows, and where that pulse of her life ceases, the institution alone never constitutes the church
Über die Apostel:
They arrange, they regulate, they include and exclude, and they seek to give a form to this life that would preserve it from dissipating.
Finally, since its own life constantly threatens to dissipate into the life of the world, it must not merely allow a spiritual sorting to function at the depth, but also allow a tangible authentication to function at the surface, which determines inclusion and exclusion.
Über das Zusammenspiel von Organismus und Institution
From now on, there is mutual interpenetration, a reciprocal influence. From the organism the institution is born, but also through the institution the organism is fed.
...
Her womb granted us life; her care nurtures us.
Ein Calvin-Zitat
“She is a mother”—to use Calvin’s beautiful expression—“whose womb not only carried us, whose breast not only nursed us, but whose tender care leads us to the goal of faith.… Those to whom he is a Father, the Church must also be Mother, and apart from her motherly care no one grows to maturity.”
Über den Individualismus:
Already the many-headed monster of that all-fracturing individualism is sticking out its horns. O, if people only realized that in this way bricks are indeed brought in and piled up, but that pile of bricks cannot stack itself up into a wall. Without design, cement, and builder, a house will never emerge from those stones.
November 1, 2020
A very interesting read from a historical perspective. Gives a lot of insight into the history of the Dutch church. Unfortunately, I don't know that his handling of the analogy of the church as rooted (organism) and grounded (organisation) really stands from an exegetical perspective. The ecclesiology is traditional, but not, I think, biblical.
March 15, 2023
I have mixed feelings about the distinction and find it unhelpful because things that are administrative are a part of the organic or relational side of a church. We shouldn’t distinguish these because to do admin work is to build relationship.
March 20, 2019
Here Kuyper, in his rousing and historic ordination sermon, preaches his idiosyncratic doctrine of the organic and institutional church. This is the doctrine that P J Hoedemaker responded to.
December 21, 2021
Enjoyable as usual.
November 14, 2022
Fascinating read on the Church.
April 12, 2023
My first Kuyper! His speech is very dense and difficult to follow but his passion for Christ really shines and I appreciate the doctrine he presents in this. Hopefully onto more Kuyper :)
January 14, 2016
Not many pages, but there is a need to read carefully and that takes time. I appreciated the introductions preceding the actual sermon itself for the knowledge they shared on current events of the time and explanations that would be warranted for references made. I will probably re-read this in the next couple of days, as there are points made that pertain to our day and age as much as it did in 1870 when it was written. I appreciated that at two points in the book, Rev Kuyper welcomes counter viewpoints, and explains that this one of the reasons he had his sermon put in writing for publishing. That is such a welcomed thought in this day of people not wanting to hear counter arguments, or even more so, putting the thought into their arguments like Kuyper has. It also occurred to me in the reading that many of us don't take the time to analyze individual words and choose words carefully anymore. This was a thoughtfully written and insightful book.
October 3, 2015
I don't particularly share Kuyper's (or the Acton Institute's) interest in church/state relations, and his Dutch Reformed Calvinist lens is a mixed bag for me as well. But there was some about the nature and purpose of church that was fascinating and helpful here:
-Church as institution, a kind of reservoir really, to receive and collect the streams of life God gives.
-Church as necessary because of sin, so that church becomes (not Kuyper's words now, someone else's) a teaching hospital for health and wholeness.
-Church as institution, a kind of reservoir really, to receive and collect the streams of life God gives.
-Church as necessary because of sin, so that church becomes (not Kuyper's words now, someone else's) a teaching hospital for health and wholeness.
June 26, 2014
Kuyper's inaugural message upon his installation as pastor at the Reformed Church in Amsterdam. It is the sort of sermon that raises the hackles of some and the hopes of others. A profitable meditation on the church as both living body and constructed building.
July 29, 2016
The church as organism and organization, the scaffold for the building, the tent for the soldiers - loved all the analogies. Such depth and richness. A book from a different time but timeless in its principles.
December 17, 2018
Informative and useful. I found this in my digital library and devoured it.
November 6, 2018
Read this in bits on the train to work over a few days. Kuyper's taxonomy is helpful as usual, and his use of biblical language to describe the nature and work of the church is inspiring, I just wish it was a little longer and covered more specific grounds.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews