Pastors
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.
