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. -Stephen Grabill Senior Research Scholar in Theology, Acton Institute