Stop Blaming the Church

Image by Ian

I’m the exception.

A good part of my past is wrapped up in ministry life. I won’t recite resume bullet points, but let’s just say I’m more qualified for a career in some type of ministry than I probably am for anything else.

In every ministry opportunity and position, in all different contexts and settings, I’ve emerged relatively unscathed. That, unfortunately, is not the norm.

I have many friends who either are currently serving or who have served in ministry positions. The vast majority of them have been wounded - some in a way that will keep them from ever serving in that context again.

Don’t get me wrong - I’ve dealt with my fair share of church politics and people issues. They’ve just never grown to the scale where they have driven me away. At each turning point and job change, I’ve moved on with an overwhelmingly positive experience and on good terms.

When you get a group of pastors or ministry leaders together the topic invariably turns to the difficulties faced within that environment. Many (if not most) tend to talk like the issues they face are solitarily related to serving within a church context - as if this setting lends itself to unique issues that aren’t faced elsewhere.

For the most part, I’d have to disagree.

With the disclaimer that I know there are some unique aspects to ministry life, I’d have to say that these aspects aren’t what lead to many of the problems ministry leaders face. Most issues that leaders face within the church are, in my opinion, products of one of two things:

Bad leadership
A broken system

Many church leaders have a leadership deficiency. Ministers are trained in how to study Scripture, how to preach and/or develop programs, and how to run religious institutions. Very little, if any, leadership training is accomplished. Ministry leaders are not, for the most part, equipped with the skills on how to handle people, how to lead teams, or how to be an effective staff leader. I know - I’ve been there.

Many churches are built on out-dated and broken systems/models, as well. They create an unhealthy imbalance that set ministers up for difficulty and even failure. Just turn on an old movie featuring some glimpse into church life fifty years ago - you’ll see a picture of what many churches still look/function like today.

There are problems in churches, just as there are problems elsewhere. The people issues and politics I’ve faced in my ministry past, however, would have existed had the church where I served been a business. All professions face these types of issues.

Hear my heart… I’m not discounting or belittling the pain that many have suffered serving in ministry. I’m not even defending “church as usual” (if you know me at all, you know I have strong feelings otherwise). I just feel like we need to move past the blanket “woe is me” attitude that may help soothe the conscience, but does little to bring about change.

Posted 07.28.2009

Share this post on...

Conversation About This Post...

Gregg Stutts shared their voice on 07.28.2009:

Great post, Chris! I’ve got to agree with your assessment. Many other problems and issues flow from poor leadership. Sure, the church has its own unique issues, but so do other non-profits, retail stores, the construction industry, etc.

At Catalyst last year, Reggie Joiner talked about constantly changing systems in the church. I suspect it just doesn’t happen very often.

Grant shared their voice on 07.28.2009:

You are in a groove, Chris. Another great post.

To further complicate issues - it’s not a vision problem either. Most churches have a great vision - to reach lost, to serve community. (Are they actually DOING their vision? Another post, another day perhaps…)

I wonder if one of the differences in changing the system inside the church as opposed to a business is how closely tied the system is to a person. If I change how we payroll at IBM, it’s a procedure. If I change it at Baptist Church Wherever, it’s a personal attack on Ms. Linda who’s been doing it since 1958. Do other companies have this situation as well?

Bryan Bulmer shared their voice on 07.28.2009:

I agree with you most of the time. However, there are very few resources out there to help ministers grow in these two areas outside of Maxwell and Andy Stanley. There is just not that many resources out there, but if you have ideas let me know.

Chris shared their voice on 07.28.2009:

@Gregg: I think we too easily draw walls around the church (little ‘c’) as if Satan only wants to affect what happens/the leadership within those walls. I think he is just as interested in affecting what happens in business/life elsewhere - wherever the Church (big ‘C’) exists. Thanks for your comments!

@Grant: What can I say :-) Only thing I can think is that you handle it just like you would in a business. Again, we like to claim that the church is so much different than a business (aka “organism not organization”), but the institutionalized expression of the Church is very similar. Maybe more like a true non-profit, but you get the point. We want it both ways. We want to create a system, but claim that it’s not a system at all. From what I’ve seen, with businesses Ms. Linda might feel the same way whether she was in the church or in a business.

@Bryan: I think leadership is leadership. We can’t paint “Christian leadership” into some separate kind of box. I think Maxwell & Stanley would agree, from what I’ve read/heard them write/say. There are many great leadership books - you just need to be careful that they are values-based and not ‘Trump-style’ models. Not to be self-serving, but I’d recommend anything on the GiANT Impact store - it leans heavily toward guys like John & Andy, but there are other good ones as well.

Thanks, all for jumping in & lending your voices to the conversation!

Jonathan Jones shared their voice on 07.28.2009:

Just had to add my two cents…

Andy Stanley has said that great leaders multiply. I’ve worked in two churches and have seen through my own life that if you work with a great leader, their leadership qualities can’t help but rub off on you. In contrast, while a bad leader won’t really multiply, I have seen firsthand that working under a bad leader can rub off. Even though I completely disagreed with many of the decisions and practices of the first pastor I worked with, I found myself doing and saying some of the same things later on! And I’m not talking about doing things in submission to his authority…... I’m talking about me and a co-worker from that church moving halfway across the country to help start a new church and we caught ourselves doing and saying the very things that we could not stand our former pastor doing and saying. Thankfully, we were planting that church with a pastor who is a great leader. So while resources like books and conferences are great, nothing really replaces time spent being mentored by a great leader.

Add Your Voice...

Sorry. Commenting is no longer available for this post. In most cases, you may leave comments up to 30 days from the time a post is published.

What Are Thin Places?

"Thin Places" are rich in Celtic tradition. They are the places in our lives where the divine and the natural worlds come so close together that we can catch a glimpse of God. For the Celtics these places were very real - places within creation where we could physically go. The Thin Places in our own lives are those moments where the space between us & the Kingdom is thin, when we are introduced to a greater glimpse of Who He is through our experiences and through the stories of others.

Where From Here?

This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on 07.28.2009.

The previous post in this blog was
"If Worship is Life, Why Are We Not Celebrating More?"

The next post in this blog is
"Hand in Hand"

More can be found on the home page, by using the search box at the top of the screen, or by looking through the archives below.

The Whole Shebang

Need something older than a year?
There's a lot here (539 posts, to be exact, dating all the way back to 08.30.2003). Try using the search box at the top of the screen.

Latest Life...

Getting ready to board the long flight back home. Hoping to sleep as long as I can.
Follow me on Twitter

In The Thin Places