Pastors
Tuesday, July 12, 2005 at 10:23PM This post is from the defunct blog "Dying Church"
From Stupid Church People:
Pastors.
That's the number one weakness in the modern church today. Paid pastoral leadership is the reason the church is weak, inefficient and to a point...neutered...
Before all of my pastor friends send me hate mail, I don't think it is all your fault. I think the church culture has caused you to function as CEO's and not pastors. We need you to resign yourself as the CEO's of your church or ministry. As fast as you can run away from treating the church as a business. Leave your church meetings, your planning sessions, your growth conferences, and go and interact with far from God people where they are - outside of your church. Stop bearing the burden of whether your church offering or attendance is what it should be - you just aren't that important!
Start encouraging your congregations to stop coming to so many church meetings and ask them to get involved in the local community activities outside of the church. Asking them to do both is only burning them out. And asking them to make a choice is only making them feel guilty. Encourage them to immerse themselves in their "work culture" and to get to know their co-workers and become their friends...not so they can convert them...but because all people need friends.
Finally, please stop asking us to bring our "unchurched friends" to your church to fill the empty seats around us. Do you actually know how difficult it is to get someone who is seriously "far from God" to come to church? By asking us to do this, you imply that the only way we can truly make a difference in someone's life is by getting them to the church building.
Reader Comments (9)
It was a well put article you've posted. I am a scientist and the higher we reach in our careers, the more bureaucratic, political and managerial skills are expected to be developed. The days of working in the lab become numbered. It would seem the same with the church, and certainly the larger the church the more acute the effect. They become more like corporations than the early church we were originally presented with. But I also think many in leadership prefer it that way.
Amen! How sad it is that as a follower of Christ, we tend to try and get the world to tell us how to follow and not go directly to the Leader. And how sad that we devote ourselves to bounty hunting. Find the unchurched person, get them to church, turn them into believers and then send them out to find new unchurched people. Clones. How rare the church that grows spiritual giants. Perhaps if we devoted our efforts into deep study and searching God's Word and growing up others who also hunger and thirst after the Word, we'd see a revival and the growth we seek. How can God bless a church whose main focus is merely "winning souls" and not nurturing them or helping them grow. It's like a woman who wants a child and once she has brought that child into the world tells it to go find more children. How can we restore the right focus? What can we say? What can we do? There must be some way to fix all this.
Amen, preach it.
Bravo! Very well said! I totally agree! I have recently written a book entitled, "Church, Who's your Daddy?, which speaks of this very thing. It's really time for the church leadership to realize that the old wineskins of doing church should have been thrown away years ago and come back to listening to The Holy Spirit on how to minister to His people!
YOu know, I have studied God, Theology, Church History and the Bible. I've done so at one of the finest schools of theological education in this country. But honestly, it took working in the church to learn about evil - as taught first hand by those who claim to love 'Jesus.' The church is dying - and rightfully so. Certainly there are some who will say I am off base. But 15 years of ministry - among people who claim to love Jesus, follow Jesus, and the like - has produced in me nothing but cynicism, disillusionment and discouragement. It would be nice to see some evidence of the fruits of the spirit every now and then. And I guess I can say honestly that I have. But what is discouraging is that the spirit of evil dwells in the midst of 'good christian folk' in far larger numbers than does the spirit of God. Randy
I agree for the most part. As a Pastor of a small country church, I receive a check every week just to preach and make hospital visits. The problem that I've run into, is several years of teaching my church has received from former Pastors. They all seemed to believe that everyone should invite their friends to another boring service, pick a church department to work in, show up 3 times per week, have "fellowship dinners" and sing the same old dead songs week after week after week. If they will do that and "defend the faith" then they will be successfull. Every church I've worked at has always been the same story, "Well, don't try to make people change because you know how traditions are." My heart bleeds to make a difference in the world. I would love for my fellow members to have a heart for everyone, not just each other. The church will never die. Jesus said he would be with the church until the end of the age, however, I believe that many "churches" will dissappear because they are to concerned about themselves and not others. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, whoever will lose it shall find it. I hope that more Christians will choose to lose themselves to God, that he might give them life more abundant.
I am so for what you said. Just today I expressed to my wife my anguish. I told her I die daily in Christ. Today it seems that if you have the right car the right job and the right reputation that you are accepted in the so called clicks within the church. I find just the opposite when I follow Jesus in my heart. I find that I despise even the clothing on my own back not to mention theirs. and I keep wanting to look for clothing not made by mans hands. I find that my own supplication everyday leads me as one with posture that isn't of a stature of glorying in my flesh but rather being led into suffering hoping and groaning for the total adoption of my being. Each step in God leads me more and more to a higher faith that is just the opposite of many of the things I see around me even in some of the churches. God forbid that I would open my mouth wide against anyone who is sincerely trying to follow Jesus. I am just agreeing and do believe what was said here today. We all know that when Jesus does return their will be a falling away of the church. What was its cause? Are they the signs of what we see today? I am not bent nor am I saying we shouldn't attend. I am saying the focus needs to remain Christ and a change in our lives by his hand. However that cant be performed if we all roam around like peacocks or flocking to him who has a bigger stick... or neater pair of shoes or a bigger income or nicer home. Just like in the story of the Wemmicks by max lucado. I told my wife the churches today just seem too bent on the prestige thing or having a respect of persons and social standings. As a follower of Christ I have become a man who is crucified to the world and the world is crucified to me. I die daily in Christ Jesus. I can't lie to myself and refuse to put on a charade. By putting on a charade I am showing I am embarrassed of his work in me. He desires I be clothed with Christ not an outfit of mans design in which I prat myself around in further delaying the work of Christ in me the hope of Glory. And If I do appear as Christ would have me appear many would look at you as though you have done something terrible to supplicate that way all the time when praying without ceasing is what is required of us as we watch continually for his return. Oh how blind we really are. Of course I speak as one who is truly awaiting the adoption of Christ when he comes. Also you will quickly find many have no intentions of taking this faith he has bestowed upon us literally. The focus is not the building it is in edifying of the Christ in us. The process begins with us dying to ourselves. Will the real men and women in Christ please stand up? I think I would be shocked if I walked into a church today and I saw its members supplicating and praying together. I think if I walked into such a place I would most certainly wish to stay! ~ Desperate for his total adoption John
I am so for what you said. Just today I expressed to my wife my anguish. I told her I die daily in chist. However I dont think the church is dying nor do I think church people are stupid. ~ Desperate for his total adoption John
I couldn't agree with you more!