The Persistance of the Church

I wonder how long churches are supposed to be incorporated. If the church is really the people, then why does First Baptist Church of Anywhere last for 200 years or more? Why aren't churches more fluid and organic, living while the people who started it are alive and transitioning to something else as the people die away. I don't believe this is heretical or even mean. I'm just trying to understand the nature of the church as a body.

As I think about this, I'm trying to understand what the original intent of the church was supposed to be. As I read scripture, I'm convinced that the church is much more of an organic body than a static structure. If the body doesn't change and grow, it stagnates and dies. In my mind, I'm beginning to wonder if that means a body should morph into something else as members die away and new life comes into it. If a church is really the people, this seems to be the only way it can persist. It must change, it must grow, painfully if necessary. The church is alive, it is moving. To limit its growth or its ability to redirect its focus is to risk killing it altogether.

Perhaps churches shouldn't try to exist for hundreds of years. Perhaps churches should be planted with the mindset that after a certain amount of time they would re-incorporate as something different, a new body with a new mindset.

If we began to view the church as a living organism and not a static body, I believe it would help us understand what and who we're supposed to be as individuals. I think we would be more loving as a people and less interested in maintaining our political power. I think establishment breeds pride and apathy, two things that bring about destruction wherever they are allowed to exist.

I'm not completely sure how to process all of this, just an thought I had this morning.